AUTOMART AFRICA - AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY DIRECTORY | KENYA | TANZANIA | ETHIOPIA

As electric vehicles become more common in Nairobi Kenya, with Toyota the most recent company to announce big investments in electric vehicles and components, mineral-rich African countries are hoping to capitalise on the need for automotive metal components to improve export profits.

The worldwide competition to produce electric vehicles (EV) is boosting demand for Africa's metals, potentially injecting billions of dollars into the continent's GDP.

According to statistics, demand for metals such as nickel, aluminium, and iron, which are essential components in EVs, will increase 14 times by 2030, providing mineral-rich African countries with an opportunity to profit from the green vehicle revolution.

“This growth in demand can be clearly connected to the forecast for electric cars over the next ten years, with vehicle battery output anticipated to climb by tens of millions,” according to the estimates. Toyota announced a $13.6 billion US investment in electric vehicles and hybrids this week, with 9 billion US dollars going into battery development alone.

“This demand for metals is prompting a rush from top mining and investment firms around the world to invest in the acquisition of key materials primarily used in the construction of electric car batteries market outlooks for solar energy and electric car batteries all appear to point to an enormous boom in demand and an opportunity to make even more money than in previous fossil fuel endeavours.”

EV sales and manufacturing will also accelerate internationally, with double-digit annual growth predicted in the projection timeframe. Major mining countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Botswana are on the radar of EV producers.

As “first-mover” electric car producers like Tesla are joined by larger corporations like Toyota, certain African mining governments will move faster than others. Hichilema lost no time in proclaiming his administration's intention to join the EV battery supply chain and invest the revenues in development. Lithium-ion battery technology is crucial to increasing the driving range of electric vehicles –– and there is a lot of lithium buried under Africa's surface.

Posted on : 29 Apr,2025 | News Source : www.knls.com