Electricity distributor Kenya Power plans to invest Sh258 million in buying electric vehicles and setting up related infrastructure over the next three years to boost the uptake of e-mobility.
In a statement, the utility said the sum includes the cost of setting up charging stations at various points across the country as well as buying electric vehicles and motorbikes to aid its operations.
As part of the investment, the company launched an EV charging station on Monday at its headquarters in Parklands, Nairobi.
The charging station, built for Sh6.5 million, comprises two chargers–a 50 kilowatt (kW) direct current charger with a charging time of one hour and a 22 kW alternating current charger with a two-hour charging time.
Kenya Power also has a similar charging station at its depot in Ruaraka, which hosts its transport section and plans to install nine more chargers by July 2024.
The stations will be in Nakuru, Mombasa, Mtito Andei, Kisumu, Eldoret, and Nairobi at Electricity House, Ragati, Donholm, and Roysambu.
“The future of transport is electric, and as a company, we are 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 for the growing e-mobility sector,” said Kenya Power managing director Joseph Siror.
This comes as the utility prepares to host the Second E-mobility Stakeholder Conference and Exhibition at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi. The two-day conference, which begins on Tuesday, is themed Accelerating the Adoption of E-mobility in Kenya.
Demand for EV charging stations is high due to the increased uptake of electric vehicles, especially motorcycles.
The National Transport and Safety Authority registered a record 2,694 EVs last year, a near six-fold increase from the 475 EVs registered in the previous year.