Did you know there was almost ten million EVs sold in the world last year? Though China, the United States, and the European Union seem to take the lion’s share of sales, African nations are posting significant milestones in the rush to transition towards clean and green motoring.
According to Statista, the EV market in Africa is expected to post US$85.6 million in revenue during 2024, with an expected annual growth rate of 17.33% between 2024 to 2028.
African nations are accelerating the uptake of EVs thanks to government incentives and the need for innovative transport solutions. Nigeria, for example, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to begin manufacturing electric vehicles under licence from foreign companies to supercharge a technological revolution in Africa. South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco have all established carbon reduction targets over the coming years.
Here is the state of EV sales in Africa compared with world statistics.
African EV sales
According to Mordor Intelligence, Africa’s electric vehicle (EV) market is growing slowly but steadily, with a total of 1,559 units sold by the beginning of 2022. In 2023, 931 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were sold in South Africa. Despite electricity infrastructure troubles in South Africa such as load shedding, it has not discouraged the take up of EVs as a whole. 2024 may see even higher sales of EVs in South Africa.
In Nigeria, the share of electric vehicles in total car sales has more than tripled from 2020 to 2022 – and electric vehicles as a whole (bikes and three-wheeled ‘kekes’) are gaining popularity. Again, more electricity output is needed to ensure Nigerians gain access to the benefits of EVs, as well as affordable finance.
Neighbouring Ghana has also launched an electric-vehicle only ridesharing app called SolarTaxi, which is set to boost their local EV production.
The Electric Vehicles market in Africa are expected to reach 4,190 vehicle sales by 2028.
Worldwide EV statistics
As mentioned earlier, EV sales around the world hit 9.97 million during 2023, with S&P Global predicting 88.3 million car (passenger or light commercial vehicle) sales worldwide in 2024, with a battery EV share of 17.5% – an increase of 39.5%.S&P also predicts global sales for battery electric passenger vehicles will climb even higher to 13.3 million units for 2024 – accounting for an estimated 16.2% of global passenger vehicle sales.
The United States accounted for about one million sales in 2023 with China doubling that with two million sales. Western Europe saw 1.3 million sales of EVs during the same year.
The year-to-date sales figures for all types of electric vehicles (BEVs, hybrids, etc.) topped 18.17 million, an increase of 31% year-on-year.
Australia, another major market for EVs, saw almost 46,624 electric vehicles sold the year to June 2023. Singapore saw 5,468 EVs sold in 2023, which is a large proportion for a small island nation.
Though Africa is an emerging market for EVs which comes with a host of hurdles to overcome, it seems that there is a demand and need for electrification and innovation, which will spur on greater development.