By Kenny Suze
January 08, 2026
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 agriculturThe 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.
About the Author
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.