Electric Vehicles, Electric Corridors: Powering Intra-African Trade Through
Kenny Suze is a Research and Policy Analyst at the Impact Center for Policy Research and a Corporate Security Expert with a background in law and strategic thinking.
By Kenny Suze, Research and Policy Analyst at the Impact Center for Policy Research, Corporate Security Expert with a background in law and strategic thinking
The Lobito Corridor, a US- and EU-backed project linking Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia through rail, roads, and modernised border posts. Its significance was underlined in November 2025, when Zambia hosted the EU–Zambia Lobito Corridor Business Forum and witnessed the signing of a landmark memorandum of understanding. After the Lobito’s recognition we saw Anzana Electric and ZESCO committing to expand distribution networks and delivering reliable power to households and businesses along the corridor. We also see the transport sector improving by introducing Electric mobility.
The electric vehicle story is still early, but it is already moving. Between January 2024 and July 2025, 896 electric vehicles (EVs) were imported and 269 registered after customs duties were removed. . The figures may look modest beside mature markets, yet this is how new industries begin: quietly, then suddenly. Imports have surged by 1,345 percent since duty removal, signalling pent-up demand and a policy lever that works
The route mirrors the Lobito Corridor, a US- and EU-backed project linking Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia through rail, roads, and modernised border posts. Its significance was underlined in November 2025, when Zambia hosted the EU–Zambia Lobito Corridor Business Forum and witnessed the signing of a landmark memorandum of understanding. Anzana Electric and ZESCO committed to expanding distribution networks and delivering reliable power to households and businesses along the corridor, mobilising private and public capital for rural electrification and clean logistics.
Across Africa, the shift is no longer theoretical. The Africa E-Mobility Report 2025 estimates that at least 30,000 EVs are now active in Africa, dominated by two- and three-wheelers but still dwarfed by Africa’s roughly 48 million conventional vehicles. ITDP’s reflections from Africa E-Mobility Week 2025 show growth being driven by commercial logic rather than novelty: electric motorcycles, delivery fleets, buses, and taxis that save money every day. The point is not to celebrate small numbers, but to recognise what they represent: a market being born and an industrial corridor opportunity waiting for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)to turn movement into trade.
That opportunity became visible on 5 October 2025, when a fleet of EVs left Nairobi at dawn under the banner Road to Addis. Over 878 kilometres, Kenya Power’s convoy spent just US$27.19 on electricity, compared with roughly US$170 for a petrol vehicle, delivering six-fold cost savings. This was Africa’s first cross-border electric vehicle expedition and a roving laboratory. Artificial-intelligence tools optimised routing and battery health, engineers tested charging equipment under extreme heat, and regulators observed what worked and what failed. For Kenya, whose fuel import bill exceeds KSh 600 billion annually, each electric kilometre represented both fiscal relief and climate action.
The AfCFTA is often discussed in policy language, but its promise is practical: move goods faster, cheaper, and more predictably across borders. EVs matter because they are not only vehicles. They are rolling demand for electricity, software, batteries, charging services, maintenance jobs, insurance products, data analytics, and new financing models, an indication of high employment levels on the market. If the ecosystem is built deliberately, EV adoption can become an engine of intra-African commerce, not merely a cleaner way to move people.
This is where corridor logic becomes decisive. Road to Africa positions itself as a multi-year effort to test, document, and accelerate electric trade corridors aligned with AfCFTA, converting proof into actionable roadmaps. It targets real bottlenecks traders know well: road quality, border delays, grid reliability, charging access, and infrastructure gaps.
In April 2026, Road to Lusaka will trace roughly 2,440 kilometres from the port of Lobito on Angola’s Atlantic coast to Zambia’s capital, following Trans-Africa Electric Highway 9 through a corridor rich in copper, cobalt, and agriculture.
The route mirrors the Lobito Corridor, a US- and EU-backed project linking Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia through rail, roads, and modernised border posts. Its significance was underlined in November 2025, when Zambia hosted the EU–Zambia Lobito Corridor Business Forum and witnessed the signing of a landmark memorandum of understanding. Anzana Electric and ZESCO committed to expanding distribution networks and delivering reliable power to households and businesses along the corridor, mobilising private and public capital for rural electrification and clean logistics.
Optimising EV, corridors also depends on border efficiency. The AfCFTAA creates a market of 1.3 billion people, but border delays remain a stubborn brake. Something to appreciate is at the Beitbridge on the North–South Corridor, the one-stop border post investments have reduced truck clearance times from days to as little as three to six hours. AfCFTA’s digital customs platform, launched in 2025, integrates national systems and automated risk assessment, cutting document processing times by more than half. Without efficient borders and reliable power, even the best EVs will get stuck at border checkpoints.
The broader EV landscape offers reasons for confidence. Africa’s EV market, valued at about US$0.45 billion today, could reach US$4.2 billion by 2030. Electric two- and three-wheelers are the fastest-growing segment, expanding at close to 60 percent annually. Kenyan operators spend under one dollar to travel 100 kilometres, compared with more than six dollars on petrol. Ethiopia is deploying 100 locally assembled e-buses and plans to ban internal-combustion imports. Zambia’s grid is about 90 percent hydropower, meaning EVs can be powered largely by renewables, moreover ZESCO has announced plans for charging stations along cities and highways.
Utility–manufacturer partnerships are emerging. In September 2025, Eskom signed a cooperation agreement with BYD after deploying EVs and chargers within its fleet, aiming to expand public charging and integrate renewables and battery recycling. BYD plans dozens of dealerships and hundreds of fast chargers in South Africa by 2026. Similar models can be replicated: ZESCO along the Lobito route, NAM Power in Namibia’s solar corridors, and regional power pools harmonising tariffs for cross-border electricity trade.
The next phase requires deliberate coordination. Governments should embed electric corridors within AfCFTA implementation by aligning standards, border procedures, and charging rules along key trade routes to reduce costs and fuel imports. For power utilities and regional power pools, electric corridors create predictable electricity demand that justifies grid upgrades and cross-border coordination. For financiers and private investors, early corridors offer bankable, scalable projects as logistics and fleet operators begin deploying cross-border electric services.
Road to Lusaka should be promoted, but as a doorway into a bigger vision: an Africa where EVs do not merely reduce emissions, but pull AfCFTA into daily life through faster movement, smarter borders, and industries Africans own. Electric corridors can help deliver that future.
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Kenny Suze is a Research and Policy Analyst at the Impact Center for Policy Research and a Corporate Security Expert with a background in law and strategic thinking.
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