Sundaymail EditorHarmony Agere
Fossil fuel prices have been on a rampage since the beginning of the year, triggering immense headaches for businesses and motorists.
Diesel is currently retailing at a maximum of US$1,76 per litre, up by US$0,50 since January.
Petrol, on the other hand, is selling at US$1,77 a litre, following a US$0,36 price increase over the same period.
Motorists have been forced to dig deeper into their already constrained pockets to keep their vehicles on the road.
This price volatility has been attributed to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and supply chain disruptions occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic over the last two years.
For local industries, the consequences have been a spectacle of rising operational costs.
According to Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Kurai Matsheza, the impact has been far-reaching.
“To the common man, the margins seem little, but fuel touches every sector of the economy mainly through transport costs,” he said.
High fuel costs, said Consumer Protection Commission chairperson Dr Mthokozisi Nkosi, erode the consumer’s purchasing power.
Pioneers
However, for some pioneering Zimbabweans, the impact of the volatile fuel prices has not been as disruptive.
An increasing number of motorists in the country are turning to Electric Vehicles (EVs) to circumvent the rising cost of fossil fuels.
Mr Tanaka Kutama owns a fully-electric Nissan Leaf and the savings he has made on fuel costs are immense.
He has been unscathed by the biting fuel price madness.
“Electric cars are very efficient, I have had an electric car for four years and I can’t say I have had many challenges,” he told The Sunday Mail last week.
“The great part about it is that electricity is not as expensive as fossil fuels.
“To charge a Nissan Leaf 24 kW/hour you need about US$3.To charge high-range vehicles like BYD E6 or Tesla you need about US$30 and you get about 500km to 600km.
“For the same distance with a Honda Fit using an internal combustion engine you need about US$60 or more.
A budding transition
Not many Zimbabweans, however, are in Mr Kutama’s position and cannot easily transition to EVs.
For most people, the cost of purchasing an electric vehicle remains prohibitive.
Illustratively, the Mini Cooper SE, which is considered one of the cheapest EVs on the South African market costs between US$26 900 and US$32 000.
As a result, the Zimbabwean vehicle market remains beholden to the Japanese second-hand car market, where internal combustion engine vehicles are dominant.
Creditably, in recent times the country has witnessed a steady influx of hybrid second-hand cars, signalling a fledgling transition to greener vehicles.
Experts, however, say the speed of transition in the country will depend on affordability of the new cars and availability of requisite infrastructure, such as vehicle charging stations.
The slow evolution
Globally, the transition to EVs has not been without its fair share of glitches.
Many countries are struggling to meet ambitious transition targets.
According to the International Energy Agency, EVs made up just 8,3 percent of total light passenger vehicle sales in 2021 globally, up from 4,2 percent the previous year.
Even in advanced economies, the transition has not been swift.
In the United States, EV car sales stood at only 3 percent of total vehicle sales last year.
Norway has the highest number of electric cars per person in the world at 18,9 people per every electric car. The Nordic country also has the highest percentage of electric car sales of about75 percent of all new cars sold in 2020.
In Zimbabwe, electric car purchases remain low.
According to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera), there are only a handful of electric vehicles in the country.
Zera chief executive Mr Edington Mazambani said, ” . . . the number of pure battery electric (zero-emission) vehicles in the country does not exceed 30.”
He added: “On another note, the number of hybrid vehicles continues to grow and could be anywhere near 1 000 to this day.
“The Central Vehicle Registry is yet to distinguish between electric and internal combustion vehicles and this shortcoming hinders quantifying the statistics of EVs.”
Incentives
While Zimbabwe has been slow to the party, there are signs of a growing appetite for EVs.
Experts agree that electric cars will not go mainstream until they are as affordable as their internal combustion counterparts.
As a result, governments around the world are incentivising their purchase.
Last year, the Government announced a set of incentives to promote wider use of EVs in the country.
The incentives, which are yet to be gazetted, include a proposed total waiver or drastic reduction of import duty on EVs and a preferential licensing system.
The Sunday Mail understands that an Electric Vehicle Policy is under development and is set to be published this year.
According to Mr Mazambani: “The policy is expected to address bottlenecks to the uptake of EVs such as removing duty on EV imports.”
Transport and Infrastructural Development Deputy Minister Mike Madiro said authorities were actively pursuing policies to stimulate uptake of EVs.
“From a policy perspective, we are not restrictive at all, actually we are encouraging more businesspeople to come and invest in this sector,” he said.
“As a Government we are pro-innovation and this technology is in line with the times. So anything which can result in the consumer paying less is welcome.”
The successful transition to EVs in Norway has been supported, but strong policy measures that helped induce an appetite for the vehicles.
Norwegian citizens who drive EVs enjoy road tax exemptions, toll exemptions, purchase price reductions, and a 50 percent discount on parking.
To stimulate local uptake, some Government departments have begun adding EVs to their fleets.
The Central Mechanic Equipment Department (CMED) has already added 14 EVs to its fleet.
CMED managing director Mr Davison Mhaka said the department’s EV fleet will reach 150 by 2030.
“We introduced the Electric Vehicles in 2020 and now we have a fleet of 14 vehicles,” he said.
“We are looking at acquiring five more light vehicles plus three minibuses before the end of the year to take our fleet to 22.”
Some innovators have started investing in charging stations in anticipation of a burst in EV numbers.
In a first, Zuva Petroleum recently partnered local startup Electric Vehicle Centre Africa (EVCA) to set up charging stations at service stations countrywide.
EVCA, which is also known as Build Your Dreams Zimbabwe (BYD), also manufactures and markets EVs in the country.
EVCA general manager Mr Mufaro Mugumbate said the project will kick off with the installation of a 60kW super-fast charger capable of charging 300 and 500 km range batteries in less than an hour and half.
“That is to say after a single charge of 1 hour 30 minutes, one can get a driving range of 500km and 300km respectively.
Zera, in conjunction with the Standards Association of Zimbabwe, has developed standards for charging , and a regulatory framework for e-mobility.
The agency has also commissioned charging stations at its headquarters and regional offices in Bulawayo and Mutare.
An additional charging station will be commissioned at a service station in Gweru later this year.
International investors are also financing EV projects in Zimbabwe.
South Africa’s green technology firm, Agilitee, which recently set up shop in Harare, plans to develop a local EV assembly plant.
Agilitee announced last week plans to raise US$2 billion through a global capital raising roadshow, with part of the funds expected to be sunk into Zimbabwe.
Said South African businessman Dr Mandla Lamba, who fronts the company: “With the IPO of its entire business, Agilitee intends to raise a total of US$2 billion equity capital and this will be conducted through a global capital raising roadshow.
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