Kayoola EV buses. Government wants to produce 500,000 Electric Vehicles and Motorcycles by 2030
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation – Office of the President has reported an average of 61% achievement in as far as implementing the 2021-2026 NRM Manifesto commitments is concerned.
Dr. Cosmas Mwikirize, the Superintendent of Industrial Value Chains Development at the Ministry, delivered the presentation on how far the ministry has gone in delivering on its commitment.
He said that although the achievement stands at 61%, the ministry intends to achieve at least 80% by 2026.
Details
The New Economy: The Ministry says that it is committed to making sectors hitherto not part of “our economy begin to significantly contribute to GDP by leveraging Science, Technology and Innovation.”
This will be achieved by prioritizing mobility, pathogen economy, aeronautics and space science, infrastructure innovations and industry.
Dr. Mwikirize argues that the prioritization of the new economy is based on data and creteria generated from a detailed analysis of including global market opportunity, potential for import substitution,national strategic importance, value addition to exisiting raw materials and potential to ignite other industries in the economy among others.
Dr. Mwikirize says that the estimated market value of the new economy is US$51.4 trillion. This includes pathogen economy (US$ 12 trillion), mobility (US$ 15 trillion), industry (US$ 5.3 trillion), infrastructure innovations (US$18.3 trillion) and aeronautics and space science (US$824 billion).
Dr. Mwikirize says that Uganda’s import value for the FY 2021/2022 in the mobility sector alone was US$ 703 million. Across the new economy areas, the import value was US$ 6.5 billion.
To this, the ministry says that the country is now building basic capacity and experience in the country, setting up incubation centres and cultivating an innovative, skilled and confident workforce capable of advancing “these industrial value chains.”
So, at the start of the 2021-26 manifesto commitment, the STI ministry committed to nine areas including the operationalization of the Kiira Vehicle Plant and setting up an Automotive Industrial and Technology Park.
This was aimed at increasing Local Manufacturing and supply of Electric Buses, Motorcycles and vehicles with associated Parts, Components and Systems.
The target here is a combined Installed Capacity of 500,000 Electric Vehicles and Motorcycles by 2030; Up to 65% Local Content by 2030, and Mobilization of over USD 500 Million for the ecosystem for Research, Production and Market Systems Development.
To date, 10, 000 installed capacity has been achieved with Shs 514 billion investment and a 5-year revenue of Shs 37 billion. Dr. Mwikirize says that local content stands at between 18-30% while 1, 000 direct jobs have been created.
He adds that at least 15,000 Electric Buses is planned for deployment for Mass Transit in Uganda by 2040; Full Electrification of motorcycles in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area by 2026 and in the rest of the country by 2030, and achieve Electric Light Rail Urban Mass Transit System for GKM (Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area).
Currently, there are 27 electric buses on Ugandan roads and 4, 300 electric motorcycles.
To date, there are five public charging stations, 150 battery swapping stations,30 DC fast chargers and two public offices with chargers.
There are also VAT exemption for the supply of: EV Charging Equipment; Charging Services, and Import Duty Exemption for Grid Power and Commercial EV Charging Stations.
In general, there are Electric Vehicles registered since 2019.
There is also VAT exemption for the supply of Electric Vehicles Locally Manufactured and Charging Services of an Electric Vehicle.
To fully leverage this sector, Dr. Mwikirize said that 25 Engineers (trainers of trainers) undertook 90 day training in China. This, he said, will be followed by 120.
Challenges
Dr. Mwikirize said that there is still a general skepticism for Ugandan made products even when they are of high quality. He also reported an unfair international regulatory landscape for some of “our products” and the general lack of appreciation of systems and core principles that guide STI in the ecosystem.
Conclusion
Dr. Mwikirize said that there is now a clear understanding of how STI leads to development in the nation. This informs the STI Strategy 2024-2030.
He added that a number of pathfinder projects have taken great strides and there is clear evidence that STI will impact the Ugandan Economy (Sales on Market, Manufacturing Infrastructure)
According to Dr.Mwikirize, STI has been included as one of the 4 Anchor Sectors for the Qualitative Leap
“We have a clear strategy for STI Human Capital Development after figuring out the inhibitors to progress on the idea-to-market journey. Next 2 years will be dedicated to ensuring that we have take-off of the Qualitative Leap,” said Dr. Mwikirize.
