Green Tech Update - August 20, 2024
Electric vehicle (EV) news in East Africa and Europe, new and redux EV car models, and community-focused EV car-sharing in the United States
Yesterday, CNN reported that electric car use is rising in Ethiopia. Earlier this year, the Ethiopian government enacted a total ban on importing gas-powered cars. Displacing gas-powered cars with electric vehicles (EVs) means the country can move toward energy independence. Nearly all electricity in Ethiopia comes from domestic hydroelectric dams, and the cost of importing gasoline is high. Other factors, such as lowered tariffs on EV imports and increased domestic EV manufacturing are also playing a role.
Kenya–Ethiopia’s neighbor to the south–doesn’t have a ban on gas-powered cars, but the Kenyan government passed tax incentives, after which electric motorbikes on the road rose from “the low hundreds” to around 3,000 in one year. According to Hezbon Mose, the Kenya country director for e-bike company Ampersand, the rise in e-bikes is helping to reduce noise pollution in Nairobi, the capital and largest city in Kenya.
Another project to support EV adoption in East Africa is the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Climate Aggregation Platform (CAP). This program is focused on developing a financing platform for investment to bolster e-mobility in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. According to UNDP’s website, “In East Africa, emissions and air pollutants from the transport sector are high and growing rapidly.” It continues, “They are responsible for 10% of the continent’s greenhouse gas emissions and are set to increase.”
In Europe, there are headwinds for the EV (electric vehicle) industry. Last week, Reuters reported that the market for EV leases is challenged by “low resale values.” Leasing firms are considering stopping their leasing programs for EVs altogether.
A government program in France that helped consumers buy EVs had to be closed due to unexpectedly high demand. “Today, there is a great demand and we don’t yet have enough products made in France,” said the industry and energy minister, Roland Lescure, as reported by the Guardian in February.
Adding to uncertainty about EV prices in Europe, a Chinese EV company named BYD “is vying with Elon Musk’s Tesla as the world’s largest electric carmaker, and Europe is its key export target,” according to the Guardian in June. The EU (European Union) imposed temporary tariffs as high as 37.6% on Chinese electric vehicles in early July. It said that “unfair” subsidies threatened to harm European car makers economically, according to Deutsche Welle. The EU and the Chinese government will negotiate the issue further this fall.
Consumer Reports published a list of EV cars that are “worth watching” and are set to become available in the next couple of years, many by late 2024. Some are wildly stylish, like the DeLorean Alpha5 and a “lower-priced rear-drive” version of the hyper-angular Tesla Cybertruck. Others are EV versions of familiar models like the Mini Cooper and the Dodge Charger.
For drivers who want to go electric but can’t or don’t want to buy a car, there are at least two co-op programs for EV car sharing in the United States.
A Geekwire article yesterday featured a Seattle car-sharing cooperative called ZEV co-op, which is helping people use electric cars when and where they need them without having to buy one of their own. While starting small with 11 cars, their goal is to grow the fleet to 250 cars by the end of 2027. ZEV co-op has partnered with community organizations such as Estelita’s Library. Together, they have connected people who need temporary use of a vehicle to take family members to medical appointments with an “electric disability-compliant van” for as low as $8 per hour.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) provided a state grant to help fund Míocar, a nonprofit car-sharing cooperative in San Joaquin County, an area east of San Francisco. Government Technology described one program site which is at a low-income, multi-unit property run by the housing authority. Charging stations were installed and Nissan Leafs or Chevrolet Bolts can be booked by residents for as low as $4 per hour. CARB Chair Liane Randolph provided this statement, “Beyond cleaner air and public health benefits, the program also makes sure residents have reliable transportation to access everyday needs, improving their quality of life and economic opportunities.”
Green Tech Update provides context about news in green technology innovations and public policy changes related to the environment and climate change.
Notes:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/17/climate/ethiopia-evs-gas-car-ban-climate/index.html
https://www.undp.org/climate-aggregation-platform/e2w-africa-financing-platform-electric-vehicles
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-slaps-tariffs-of-up-to-38-on-chinese-electric-vehicles/a-69557494
https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/hybrids-evs/hot-new-electric-cars-are-coming-soon-a1000197429/
https://www.govtech.com/transportation/electric-car-share-operation-expands-in-california