The Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) has announced plans to invest Kshs 258 million to promote the adoption of Electric vehicles (Evs) in the country.
In a statement on April 22, the company revealed their three-year plan to actualize uptake of electric vehicles in the country.
“The investment includes the cost of setting up charging stations at various locations across the country and the purchase of electric vehicles and motorbikes to aid company operations,” the statement reads in part.
As part of the initiative, KPLC stated that they had launched a Kshs6.5 million charging station at Stima Plaza.
The station features two chargers: a 50 kW DC charger (1-hour charging time) and a 22 kW AC charger (2-hour charging time). Notably, this is the second EV charging station after the one at Ruaraka depot.
Kenya Power Managing Director and CEO Joseph Siror expressed his excitement about the plans, further expounding on how they plan to use the data collected from the vehicles to support e-mobility.
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“The future of transport in electric and as a Company, we are very excited to be leading the conversations around E-mobility. Alongside our need to charge our electric vehicles, we intend to use our EV charging stations to collect data that will inform the next steps of our support to the growing E-mobility industry,” said Siror.
Kenya Power to Add More Charging Stations
Siror also stated that the company aimed to add 10 more stations each year in 2025 and 2026 and has allocated an annual budget of Kshs20 million for this purpose.
Other than Stima Plaza, Kenya Power plans to install nine additional charging stations by July 2024 at various company offices nationwide.
The offices include Donholm, Nakuru, Mombasa, Mtito Andei, Kisumu, Eldoret, Roysambu, Electricity house Nairobi and Ragati.
Further, KPLC unveiled two electric heavy-duty vehicles for operational use, acquired at a cost of Kshs18 million.
In addition to the charging stations, the company plans to add on to its fleet nine more heavy and light-duty electric vehicles.
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Kenya power also noted that it intends to procure an additional 25 electric motorcycles by December 2024.
In 2021, Kenya Power conducted a pilot program with 13 electric motorcycles in partnership with UNEP gaining valuable insights into E-mobility.
Prior to this, the company experimented with electric-powered forklifts and pallet stackers between 2016 and 2018.
Following the approval by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority to further encourage the adoption of electric vehicles, motorcycles, and bicycles, KPLC has sort to implement an E-mobility tariff.
Kenya Power has championed the annual E-mobility Conference, bringing industry stakeholders together to develop strategies for sector growth and to further accelerate the E-mobility adoption.
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