The Electric Vehicles Revolution Africa (ERA) e-mobility conference – an annual EV focused event that seeks to influence policy and deepen experiences – begins at the Alisa Hotel, Ridge-Accra, today.
The conference is assembling speakers from across Africa and EV dealers from Ghana as well as representatives from the Ministries of Energy, Finance and Transport to dialogue on the future of transportation and green energy in Ghana and the West Africa sub-region.
Government platform for green and sustainable transportation
Conference Convenor Lesley Arthur, the Founder of the Energy Quest Foundation – organiser of the conference – said the two-day event will serve as a platform to discuss government’s programme for going green and the significant shift that is expected in the next five years to catalyse the country’s adoption of Electric Vehicles.
“The Ministries of Finance, Transport and Energy agree that Ghana cannot be left out of the electric vehicle revolution. However, they are not harmonised on a policy as a governmental approach. The objective of this two-day conference is to learn from best practice in Africa and the world, in a way that influences our own approach and policies to promote an electric vehicle revolution.
Ghana lags behind Burkina Faso in EV manufacturing
In 2024, the total number of EVs in the world reached 58 million units with 20-25% of all new car sales being an electric car. The number is more than double the 26 million cars that were in use for 2022.
Africa’s market is projected to be growing, with South Africa and Ethiopia leading the way into the US$25.4billion continental market by 2029. However the emergence of Burkina Faso’s ITAQUA – a solar-powered car with the ability to travel 330 kilometres on a 30-minute battery charge – is proving to be the game-changer.
“Burkina Faso’s ITAQUA is made in Ouagadougou with local resources and by local engineers. How did Burkina Faso become the emerging country in Africa with this incredible EV story? It all began with policy, a can-do mind-set and willingness of the country’s leadership to create the momentum required. If Burkina Faso can do it, Ghana can certainly do it too,” said Lesley Arthur.
The total number of EV units in Ghana for 2025 is still less than 25,000. The unavailability of public charging units and cost of models seem to discourage their uptake.
Ashie Galloway, a premier entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer of Drive EV Gh, says the opportunities for growth are simply difficult to ignore.
“The technology is changing so quickly. It is very exciting for us. The real advantage is carbon credits, sustainability and saving the planet’s future. In Ghana, the opportunity is immense. The future is upon us.
The switch to EVs is inevitable. Imagine replacing even 20% of Ghana’s 3.5 million vehicles on the road. That is about 700,000 units to be sold in the next five years – and with it comes the provision of infrastructure. The opportunity is humongous,” said Ashie Galloway.
A West African manufacturing and power production hub
The two-day ERA Mobility conference will have exhibitors and speakers from across the industry. While the mainframe of the conference is to deepen experiences and spotlight Ghana’s policy on the adoption of EV’s, the greater projected vision is to spark conversations around making Ghana the EV power-hub of West Africa.
Power production for this new industry is a major topic for consideration. While EVs save on fossil fuels, renewable technologies in power production have to increase tremendously to power the the cars’ adoption. This powerpush is crucial to success for the EV industry in Ghana and all of West Africa and represents another opportunity for business growth.
“The real measure of success from this conference is to create stickiness around making Ghana the hub of everything EV in West Africa, especially as pertains to power generation and development of the value chain.
“We can begin manufacturing, sales and servicing while building an integrated industry chain through manufacturing lithium batteries due to Ghana’s discovery of lithium and actually position ourselves to become integral to EV development in West Africa.
That is what success will mean to us during these two day. We are really looking forward to a fantastic conference. Aside from the front focus on policy and adaptation, all attendees can have a free EV experience by actually driving some of the models over the two days,” concluded Lesley Arthur.
The post 2025 Electric Vehicles Conference begins today appeared first on The Business & Financial Times.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS