The government has unveiled green number plates for electric vehicles.
Transport CS Davis Chirchir unveiled the number plates on Tuesday at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, where he represented President William Ruto.
Chirchir urged the over 24,000 owners of electric vehicles to replace their number plates progressively.
“You know number plates are only 3,000 shillings. There’s the cost of production; the materials are not available for producing number plates. You’ll appreciate spending money. So we’ll ask those of us who are on EV vehicles to progressively move to green number plates; it will only cost you 3,000, and we’ll endeavour to accelerate the replacement,” Chirchir said.
When asked if there are incentives attached to the green number plates, the CS said, “The plates are good optics for our country.”
He said the plates will help the country appreciate where it was moving.
The CS also launched a national e-mobility policy.
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Chirchir, who represented President William Ruto at KICC, said the policy seeks to develop an integrated and comprehensive policy, legal, and institutional framework to promote the adoption of e-mobility.
“It will promote the local manufacturing and assembly of electric motor vehicles,” said Chirchir, who read Ruto’s speech.
The policy is also expected to develop and enhance e-mobility infrastructure capacity, enhance local technical capacity and improve fiscal and non-fiscal measures to accelerate the adoption of e-mobility in the country.
The electric vehicle market is expected to grow by 27 per cent in the next 15 years across major African markets. Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda make up 60 per cent of electric vehicle sales in sub-Saharan Africa.
Kenya is said to have unique strengths, strategically positioning it as a key regional e-mobility hub.
The country has high sales potential at 42 thousand to 70 thousand units sold by 2030, primarily driven by a lower total cost of ownership.
Kenya also has reliable renewable energy as baseload, with 93 per cent green energy from hydro, geothermal and wind. The country also has different types of electric vehicle players along the value chain, attracting investments and partnerships
by GILBERT KOECH
