Africa’s electric vehicle (EV) market is accelerating rapidly — projected to reach $4.2 billion by 2030, more than double its current value, according to market research firm Mordor Intelligence. Yet most EVs still depend on grid electricity, which often comes from a mix of renewable and fossil fuel sources.
Bako Motors, a Tunisian startup, is looking to jump on the EV trend, while tapping into one of Africa’s greatest natural resources — sunshine. Its compact cars and cargo vans have solar panels on their roofs. While the vehicles still have lithium batteries and can be plugged in and charged at home or on the road, the solar panels give them access to a free energy source, charging the batteries directly. So far, the company has made just 100 vehicles but it plans to scale up and increase exports over the coming year.
“The solar cells provide us with more than 50% of our needs,” says Boubaker Siala, founder and CEO of Bako Motors. “For example, the B-Van, for commercial use, you can have free energy for about 50 kilometers (31 miles) per day… 17,000 kilometers (10,563 miles) per year. It’s huge.”
The company, founded in 2021, began making three-wheeled cargo vehicles, but has since moved to four-wheeled models. The B-Van, which can carry 400 kilograms (882 pounds) of cargo and has a 100 to 300-kilometer (62 to 186 mile) range, is designed for logistics and last-mile delivery, with prices starting at 24,990 Tunisian dinar ($8,500).
The other is the Bee, a tiny 2-seat car with a 70 to 120-kilometer (44 to 75 mile) range and a max speed of 45 kilometers per hour (27 mph). It’s tailored toward daily, in-city trips and starts at 18,264 Tunisian dinar ($6,200).
Khaled Habaieb, COO of Bako Motors, tells CNN it is also designing a third model, the X-Van, which will fit two passengers and have a larger cargo area.
He says that more than 40% of the parts of each vehicle are sourced locally, including the lithium-iron-phosphate batteries and steel. This helps to provide much-needed local jobs, Habaieb adds.
Scaling up
Globally, startups like US-based Aptera Motors are developing cars with solar panels. Their coverage is more extensive and offers bigger ranges, but they are also a lot more expensive, costing from around $30,000. Bako Motors is looking to fill a gap in the African market, while maintaining affordability.
More established players in Africa’s conventional e-mobility market include BasiGo, with its fleet of hundreds of e-buses operating in Kenya and Rwanda, and Spiro, one of the leading providers of electric motorbikes, supplying seven African countries, but Bako Motors is distinctive in its use of solar.
“It’s a really good concept because it helps to extend the range of your EV,” says Bob Wesonga, operations and research associate for Africa E-Mobility Alliance, a think tank. “Among the biggest inhibitors of EV adoption has been range anxiety. If you can tell a person that while the battery itself will give you 250 kilometers (155 miles) of full charge, solar can extend that by another 50 (31 miles), it gives them the confidence to choose EV.”
He adds that the trends in e-mobility in Africa are localized. “Different African countries have different modes of transport,” he says, citing how in South Africa, four-wheel passenger vehicles lead, whereas in Kenya, motorbikes are king. This means that there is room in the market for many players, especially if local manufacturing allows companies to tackle local infrastructure problems such as road quality with their designs. By building locally, “the vehicles are suiting the mobility needs of the continent,” he says, as well as boosting the economy and creating jobs.
Currently Bako Motors is small, but it recently started building a second, larger factory in Tunisia, expected to open toward the end of 2026, and aims to manufacture up to 8,000 vehicles per year for Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
“The addressable market in Africa is about 1 million vehicles per year,” says Siala. “We are targeting maybe 5 to 10% of this market.”
He adds that the next five to 10 years will be the peak of the electric mobility transition: “We have to prepare ourselves for this transition (and) offer affordable and good products for the African citizen.”