To mitigate the widespread effects of climate change, the global automotive industry, worth over nine trillion dollars, is shifting quickly to electric automobile technologies, thus bringing the fourth industrial revolution. During the course of the previous year, there were more than 11 million registered Electric Vehicles (EVs) operating on highways all over the world. These EVs included automobiles, vans, buses, and trucks. It is anticipated that by the end of this decade, this number will have increased to around 145 million as a result of the rising needs of customers as well as the increasing shift in the vehicle industry.
Unlike the previous industrial revolutions, this new worldwide trend would not leave behind Africa and Uganda. On the contrary, because a number of African nations have been keeping pace with new developments in technology, the continent will be able to do away with cars powered by internal combustion engines (ICE) and replace them with new electric vehicles that are friendly to the environment and efficient in their use of energy by the year 2030, which is only eight years away.
It is quite an accomplishment for the African continent that nations such as Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco, Mauritius, and Uganda are among the leading countries in the electric vehicle industry. Africa is now working toward the goal of deploying its e-mobility technology, which will assist the continent in claiming its portion of the multi-trillion-dollar global market. Through this, Africa can, at least once, go through the industrial revolution with the rest of the world.
In many developed countries, the year 2030 has been designated as the cutoff date for the production of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. On the other hand, Cape Verde is the only country in Africa that has set the year 2035 as the cutoff date for ICE production and will begin production of electric vehicles at that time. For this purpose, the country has taken definitive steps. The implementation of Electric Vehicles in Uganda, such as the Kayoola fully electric buses, was made possible as a direct result of the efforts of Kiira Motors Corporation, which is the state-owned enterprise of Uganda as well as the industry leader in the development of electronic mobility technologies. The buses manufactured are currently in the running, providing shuttle services to the Uganda Civilian Aviation Authority employees.
In order to further define the future of Uganda's multi-billion dollar automotive sector, a draft policy that is relevant to the growth of the automotive industry has been gradually produced. However, we must wait for the cabinet to first consider this plan and then distribute it before we can move forward with it. Producers of two-wheeler and three-wheeler electric motorcycles in Uganda, such as Kiira, Boadwork, Zembo, and the International University of East Africa (IUEA), have taken decisive efforts to guarantee that Uganda maintains close proximity to other e-mobility champions throughout the world. On the other hand, the administration has not yet presented a comprehensive strategy for adapting the nation to the shifting patterns of mobility seen globally. That's why the government should pass and implement the Automotive Industry Development Policy and other attendant laws in the year 2022 for Uganda's betterment and bright future in the automotive field.
