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As anticipated, global electric vehicles (EV) production is achieving a critical mass necessary to reduce unit costs, increase affordability, and further multiply uptake. And this is mainly attributable to Chinese EV makers and a government that has taken upon itself to make China the leading global EV manufacturer and exporter, becoming the energy transition leader away from fossil fuels.
Chinese EVs affordability and attractiveness have continued to threaten European and American EV models making them lose local and export market shares, a factor that has become political as home auto industries and jobs are threatened.
Last week, a sizeable number of European Union (EU) countries voted to impose as much as 45 percent tariffs on Chinese EV car and components imports to protect local auto industries and jobs. The US and Canadian governments had taken similar protective measures.
However, China has reacted by investing in EV manufacturing industries in countries that are not subject to EU and US trade wars with China, indirectly providing Chinese access to restricted Western markets.
And these trade wars are not restricted to EVs only, as they include other renewable energy sectors like solar and wind of which China is the leading global supplier of appliances and components.
In developing countries, including Kenya, EV affordability and market penetration will increase when investments in local assembly plants take shape.
However , Africa is essentially a second-hand car market, meaning that EV uptake will accelerate when affordable second-hand EV cars start arriving in significant numbers. I am sure participants in petroleum supply chains are beginning to plan for this shift away from internal combustion engine vehicles.
Africa and Kenya need to sharpen their focus in promotion of mining investments to dig out critical technology minerals that are used in renewable energy industries.
This way we benefit from energy transition value chains, instead of becoming mere consumers of imported renewable technologies. Kenyan participants in next month COP29 forum in Baku should be seeking investors to participate in local renewable energy technologies , and critical minerals developments.
Back to China, the country has taken climate change as a major economic opportunity to upscale its gross domestic product while establishing irreversible global renewable energy leadership , a clear possibility that will be enabled by focused pragmatic economic planning by China.
Simultaneously, China continues to focus on fossil fuels, allowing the energy transition journey to take its cause without upsetting national energy security.
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