From Transition to Transformation: What It Will Take to Build Africa’s Electric Mobility Value Chains

Africa’s transition to electric mobility is no longer a distant climate ambition; it is rapidly becoming an industrial, trade and investment question. As global automotive value chains reorganise around electric vehicles (EVs), African economies face a strategic choice: remain consumption markets for imported green technologies or position themselves as production and component manufacturing hubs within emerging low-carbon industrial systems.

Globally, the electric mobility transition is accelerating at unprecedented speed. According to the International Energy Agency, global EV sales surpassed 20 million vehicles in 2025, representing roughly one quarter of all new car sales worldwide. The transition is being driven primarily by a small number of leading markets. China remains the dominant global player, accounting for more than half of global EV sales and producing a significant share of the world’s batteries and electric vehicles. Meanwhile, European Union member states have collectively maintained EV market shares of around 20–25% of new car sales, while the United States has reached EV penetration of roughly 10% of new vehicle purchases.

The global shift to electric mobility is fundamentally reshaping manufacturing, mineral processing, energy systems and transport infrastructure. For Africa, this transition presents both a risk and an opportunity. Without deliberate industrial strategy and coordinated implementation, the continent risks deepening its role as an importer of finished technologies. With the right alignment of policy, finance and industrial capability, however, electric mobility could catalyse a new phase of green industrialisation and regional value-chain development.

At present, Africa remains a relatively small participant in the global EV market. The International Energy Agency estimates that electric vehicles still account for less than 1% of total vehicle sales across the continent, with early adoption concentrated in countries such as Egypt, Morocco and South Africa. At the same time, Africa holds significant strategic advantages in the global supply chain for critical minerals used in EV batteries.

Countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo produce more than 70% of the world’s cobalt, a key input for lithium-ion batteries, according to the United States Geological Survey. Significant lithium reserves have also been identified in Zimbabwe and Namibia, while manganese resources in South Africa and Gabon play a crucial role in battery chemistry and cathode materials. These mineral endowments place Africa in a potentially strategic position within emerging global battery supply chains.

Discussions on electric mobility across Africa often centre on vehicle adoption targets, charging infrastructure and environmental commitments. While these are important, they represent only one dimension of a far more complex transformation. The transition to zero-emission transport will ultimately be determined by the strength of domestic and regional industrial ecosystems.

Electric mobility requires far more than vehicles on roads. It demands competitive component manufacturing and supplier ecosystems, battery and mineral processing value chains, reliable and sustainable energy systems, logistics and transport infrastructure, trade integration across regional markets and sustained investment in skills development and technological capability.

Without these foundations, EV adoption will generate limited domestic economic value and deepen reliance on imports. With them, however, the transition can stimulate manufacturing growth, strengthen export competitiveness and accelerate industrial diversification.

Many African countries have begun articulating industrial and climate strategies linked to green growth and sustainable transport. Institutions such as the African Development Bank, World Bank, International Renewable Energy Agency and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa have increasingly emphasised the importance of linking electrification strategies with industrial development and regional value-chain creation.

Yet the key challenge increasingly lies not in policy formulation but in programme-level implementation. Transformational industrial shifts require coordinated action across governments, development finance institutions, private investors, manufacturers, energy providers and regional bodies.

Large-scale transitions such as the shift to electric mobility depend on the ability to translate policy ambition into bankable projects, integrated value chains and measurable outcomes. This requires structured coordination across industrial policy and localisation strategies, investment promotion and capital mobilisation, infrastructure and energy planning, regional trade frameworks and market access, and private-sector participation and supplier development.

Effective implementation must therefore operate at programme level, bridging policy objectives with commercial realities while ensuring alignment across institutions and geographies.

South Africa remains the most industrialised automotive manufacturing hub on the continent, with established production capacity, component suppliers and export networks linked to global manufacturers. According to the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles, South Africa produces more than half a million vehicles annually, with a large proportion destined for export markets.

As global markets accelerate the shift toward electric vehicles, the country faces a decisive moment. It can either reposition its automotive base within emerging EV value chains or risk gradual erosion of its manufacturing competitiveness as global supply chains transition toward electrified platforms.

The opportunity also extends beyond national borders. Under the African Continental Free Trade Area, regional integration creates the potential for distributed manufacturing ecosystems in which different countries specialise across value chains, from mineral processing and battery inputs to component production and final assembly.

Countries such as Morocco have already begun positioning themselves as EV manufacturing hubs through partnerships with European automotive manufacturers, while Egypt has launched initiatives to localise electric vehicle assembly and battery production. These developments suggest that a regional EV industrial ecosystem could emerge if supported by coordinated investment and policy alignment.

Financing the transition will require significant capital investment across infrastructure, manufacturing, energy systems and technology development. Public resources alone will be insufficient. Mobilising private capital and development finance will therefore be critical to scaling industrial and infrastructure projects across the continent.

Development finance institutions such as the African Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the European Investment Bank are expected to play a central role in structuring financing models that support long-term industrial competitiveness. Blended finance mechanisms, risk-sharing instruments and public-private partnerships will increasingly be required to crowd in private investment and support large-scale industrial projects.

Africa now stands at a critical juncture in its industrial trajectory. The global reorganisation of automotive and energy systems is occurring at unprecedented speed, and the window for positioning within emerging value chains is limited.

The success of the continent’s electric mobility transition will depend not only on policy commitments but on the effectiveness of programme-level coordination that links investment, industrial capability and regional trade integration.

The next phase of Africa’s green transition will therefore be defined not by ambition, but by implementation. Countries that successfully align industrial strategy, financing and market integration will be best positioned to capture value from the global shift toward zero-emission transport.

For Africa, electric mobility is not simply a transport transition. It is a strategic industrial opportunity, one that will require coordinated execution, targeted investment and a clear focus on building competitive, integrated value chains across the continent.