IN SHORT: Ethiopia’s target for electric vehicles to make up 80% of all newly registered vehicles by 2030, backed by tax holidays, fast-track licensing and government-funded charging infrastructure, is drawing Kenya’s leading electric motorcycle and bus manufacturers toward the Ethiopian market. Spiro, Roam and BasiGo have all signalled interest or active exploration. Spiro’s new $215 million equity raise specifically names Ethiopia and DRC as next expansion markets. Ethiopia’s EV fleet grew from 45,000 vehicles in 2024 to 115,000 in 2025, one of the fastest growth rates on the continent.
Kenya’s most advanced electric vehicle manufacturers are looking north as Ethiopia’s policy-driven EV market emerges as East Africa’s most aggressive electric mobility frontier, offering tax incentives, government fleet electrification commitments and a production gap that makes Ethiopia the region’s most commercially attractive EV expansion market for companies already operating at scale in Kenya. Spiro, Roam and BasiGo have each signalled interest in entering or studying the Ethiopian market, according to a report from The EastAfrican, as Addis Ababa’s e-mobility strategy sets a target for EVs to represent at least 80% of newly registered vehicles by 2030.
- Ethiopia’s EV fleet expanded from 45,000 vehicles in 2024 to 115,000 in 2025, a 156% increase and one of the fastest growth rates on the continent. Yet EVs still represent only about 8% of Ethiopia’s total vehicle fleet, against the government’s 80% target for new registrations by 2030. That gap, between where Ethiopia is and where its policy demands it go, is the commercial opportunity that regional manufacturers are sizing.
- Spiro, which this week secured $215 million in equity financing from Impact Fund Denmark and Equitane, has specifically named Ethiopia as one of its next expansion markets alongside DRC. Spiro currently operates in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon and Togo with 100,000 electric vehicles deployed, 2,500 battery swap stations and more than 30 million completed swaps. Adding Ethiopia and DRC represents a significant expansion of its continental footprint.
- Roam has already tested the Ethiopian market on the ground. Earlier in 2026, the company completed a 1,600-kilometre ride from Nairobi to Addis Ababa on one of its electric motorcycles, explicitly designed to showcase electric mobility and build awareness in the Ethiopian market. Roam raised €215,100 in equity funding in December 2025, a modest amount suggesting it is still in early-stage growth.
- BasiGo, which operates electric buses in Kenya and Rwanda after raising $42 million earlier in 2026, has identified Ethiopia as a potential future market. Managing director Moses Nderitu said the company is focused on consolidating profitability in its existing two markets first. That is the responsible answer for a company still building its financial foundation, but it keeps Ethiopia on the roadmap.
- Ethiopia’s policy package for EV investors is among the most comprehensive in Africa: tax holidays on EV imports and components, access to land for local manufacturing facilities, streamlined licensing, government support for charging infrastructure rollout, and a commitment to electrify all government vehicles. Fuel imports currently represent approximately 20% of Ethiopia’s total import bill, making EV adoption a foreign exchange strategy as much as a climate one.
- The production gap reinforces the opportunity. Ethiopia can currently manufacture approximately 83,500 electric vehicles annually, including 63,900 two and three-wheelers, 14,900 passenger cars, 3,500 buses and 1,200 light trucks. Kenyan EV production capacity is estimated at nearly double that figure, but Kenya’s EV adoption rate is just 0.5% of the vehicle fleet, against Ethiopia’s 8%. Kenya produces more but its home market moves slower. Ethiopia moves faster but needs production capacity it does not yet fully have.
The regional EV dynamic being described here is straightforward but consequential. Kenya has built manufacturing capability and logistics networks for electric two-wheelers through companies like Spiro, Roam and Dodai. Ethiopia has built policy ambition and market pull. The AfCFTA is designed to allow Kenyan-assembled vehicles to enter Ethiopia at competitive tariff rates. The combination of Kenyan supply and Ethiopian demand is exactly the intra-African industrial value chain integration that AfCFTA is supposed to enable. Whether it materialises depends on whether Spiro, Roam and the others follow through on the market interest they have signalled.
The Bigger Picture: Ethiopia electrifying 80% of new vehicle registrations by 2030 is a bolder commitment than any other African government has made. If it follows through, the manufacturing, infrastructure and financing requirements will be enormous. Kenyan EV firms entering the market now get first-mover advantage in a country of 130 million people with rapidly growing urban populations, a government seriously committed to electrification and a foreign exchange imperative to stop importing petrol. The Nairobi to Addis Ababa corridor is not just a geographic route. It is the emerging spine of East Africa’s electric mobility industry.
Source: The EastAfrican, June 5 2026
