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Accelerating e-mobility in Rwanda
We support the mitigation of climate change impacts by creating an enabling regulatory and financial environment to accelerate the transition to e-mobility.
Years active:
2021 - present
Related ICLEI Pathway(s)
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About
Project summary
African cities are rapidly growing and with this comes an increased demand for public transport services. Currently, the transport industry contributes a large portion of carbon emissions globally, and this is set to increase year on year. In Rwanda, the transport sector accounted for 13% of carbon emissions (2015), with 26% of these emissions coming from motorcycles.
Motorcycles are the dominant mode of public transport in Rwanda making up 55-60% of vehicles on the road. In Kigali, motorcycles, which are powered exclusively by internal combustion engines (ICE), account for 42% of petrol emissions. This has a number of negative impacts such as contributing a significant portion to greenhouse gas emissions, a reliance on fossil fuels, road congestion and poor air quality. The Rwandan government has indicated strong ambitions to decarbonise their transport sector by eliminating the reliance on fossil fuels and transitioning to e-mobility with targets to electrify 30% of motorcycles by 2030. President Kagame has also called for the rapid phase out of ICE motorcycles by as early as 2025.
This project aims to support these ambitions by providing technical and financial assistance to catalyse large-scale deployment of electric motorcycles, specifically e-motorcycle taxis (e-motos), thereby decarbonising a major transport modality in Kigali and wider Rwanda.
This project will facilitate this by developing a programme that enables the uptake of e-motos through access to tailored finance for both manufacturers and motorcycle drivers, as well as to provide technical support to improve the regulatory and infrastructure environment. It is hoped that this will stimulate larger e-mobility deployment integrated into the roll-out of mass public transport and provide commercial funding for other electric vehicles such as e-buses.
African cities are rapidly growing and with this comes an increased demand for public transport services. Currently, the transport industry contributes a large portion of carbon emissions globally, and this is set to increase year on year. In Rwanda, the transport sector accounted for 13% of carbon emissions (2015), with 26% of these emissions coming from motorcycles.
Motorcycles are the dominant mode of public transport in Rwanda making up 55-60% of vehicles on the road. In Kigali, motorcycles, which are powered exclusively by internal combustion engines (ICE), account for 42% of petrol emissions. This has a number of negative impacts such as contributing a significant portion to greenhouse gas emissions, a reliance on fossil fuels, road congestion and poor air quality. The Rwandan government has indicated strong ambitions to decarbonise their transport sector by eliminating the reliance on fossil fuels and transitioning to e-mobility with targets to electrify 30% of motorcycles by 2030. President Kagame has also called for the rapid phase out of ICE motorcycles by as early as 2025.
This project aims to support these ambitions by providing technical and financial assistance to catalyse large-scale deployment of electric motorcycles, specifically e-motorcycle taxis (e-motos), thereby decarbonising a major transport modality in Kigali and wider Rwanda.
This project will facilitate this by developing a programme that enables the uptake of e-motos through access to tailored finance for both manufacturers and motorcycle drivers, as well as to provide technical support to improve the regulatory and infrastructure environment. It is hoped that this will stimulate larger e-mobility deployment integrated into the roll-out of mass public transport and provide commercial funding for other electric vehicles such as e-buses.
Project aims
This project is currently in the Detailed Preparation Phase (DPP) or pre-implementation phase. The DPP includes the following key actions:
- Fully develop the e-moto transport finance facility which include two financial support mechanisms, namely a guarantee fund and a revolving loan facility targeted at moto drivers and moto manufacturers respectively.
- Confirming the electric motorcycle business model to ensure its near term viability for mass market deployment
- Design technical support programme which includes refining technical interventions based on a thorough market barriers analysis.
- Conduct Environmental, Social and Gender analysis for e-mobility in Rwanda, and develop an action plan for gender inclusion and mitigation measures to safeguard against potential negative socio-environmental impacts.
- Perform a waste management review and develop a waste monitoring framework for ICE motos and e-waste disposal, reuse and recycling.
- Conduct rigorous stakeholder engagements with policy makers, regulators, utility providers, private sector operators, financing institutions, informal transport associations and end-users to inform the e-mobility programme.
This project is currently in the Detailed Preparation Phase (DPP) or pre-implementation phase. The DPP includes the following key actions:
- Fully develop the e-moto transport finance facility which include two financial support mechanisms, namely a guarantee fund and a revolving loan facility targeted at moto drivers and moto manufacturers respectively.
- Confirming the electric motorcycle business model to ensure its near term viability for mass market deployment
- Design technical support programme which includes refining technical interventions based on a thorough market barriers analysis.
- Conduct Environmental, Social and Gender analysis for e-mobility in Rwanda, and develop an action plan for gender inclusion and mitigation measures to safeguard against potential negative socio-environmental impacts.
- Perform a waste management review and develop a waste monitoring framework for ICE motos and e-waste disposal, reuse and recycling.
- Conduct rigorous stakeholder engagements with policy makers, regulators, utility providers, private sector operators, financing institutions, informal transport associations and end-users to inform the e-mobility programme.
Project partners
