Electric vehicle (EV) users in Rwanda have said that long waiting times for charging remain a challenge due to a shortage of public charging stations, especially fast chargers. Most of the available chargers can take up to one hour before an EV battery is fully charged. The charging process for electric cars is different from that of electric bikes. Cars must stop at a charging station and wait to be charged, whereas bikes can simply swap batteries and continue their journey. EV users called for more charging stations, telling The New Times that the shortage is particularly affecting electric truck drivers transporting goods and passenger vehicles. ALSO READ: Call for more e-charging stations to deepen adoption of EVs We often face challenges due to the shortage of charging stations. You arrive at a station and find all the charging bays occupied. In such cases, you have to wait not only for others to finish but also during the time your car is charging,” said Freddy Shema, a driver based in Kigali. I drive different types of cars, some that can go 400km or 500km on a full battery. The cars with problems are those that have batteries that cover shorter distances, around 200 km, especially the vehicles carrying heavy loads, he added. His recommendation is to set up more chargers, particularly in secondary cities. ALSO READ: SP, Kabisa to roll out EV charging stations across Rwanda We often wait for up to one hour to charge, which is even more challenging for those using trucks with batteries that don't last long. Imagine someone transporting goods and having to wait that long—it leads to significant time loss. As of August 2024, there were 24 public charging stations for EVs. According to data from Rwanda Revenue Authority, 7,172 cars were imported from 2020 to 2024, with 512 or 7 per cent of them being electric, while 6,660 were hybrid. Celestin Nsengiyumva, a bus driver in Kigali, explained the challenges caused by the shortage of charging infrastructure. We usually charge buses overnight, but the biggest problem is that if we had more fast chargers, the company could keep the buses running 24 hours a day, without having to park them just to charge,” Nsengiyumva said. ALSO READ: Rwanda's EV adoption won't overload electricity supply - REG “During the day, waiting for recharge is impossible because of the long queues at charging stations. This really affects our operations, especially during rush hours when demand is high, he said. Remote areas with no chargers Solange Iyabivuze, who owns an electric car, said that there are challenges people often overlook. Apart from the long waits at charging stations, one of the biggest issues is the lack of chargers in remote areas,” Iyabivuze said. “When I take long trips outside the city, I have to plan my route around where I can charge. At some stations, you get stuck behind large trucks using the same chargers. If that happens, you end up waiting forever, which is really frustrating when you’re in a rush. Government’s plans Theogene Dusabumuremyi, Acting Director General in Charge of Transport at the Ministry of Infrastructure, outlined the plans to address shortage of EV chargers. “We conducted an analysis and developed a master plan outlining where the infrastructure should be set up to make it easier for people to own electric cars,” Dusabumuremyi said. He said an initial 10 locations for EV charging stations had been identified in Kigali, secondary cities, and satellite cities, where there must be at least one station with super-fast chargers. ALSO READ: Rwanda develops master plan for EV charging stations “Other strategic areas may also be selected due to factors like high traffic volumes or the nature of activities, such as along the northern corridor and central routes, which may justify placing stations there even if they are outside the satellite or secondary cities. The next step is to establish the necessary rules and regulations,” he added. He urged private investors to invest in the construction of charging stations. Teddy Mugabo, Chief Executive Officer of Rwanda Green Fund, said that the fund is financing several e-mobility companies to set up the infrastructures. Mugabo said that through the private sector facility called Ireme Invest, the Fund recently partnered with the EV company Kabisa to establish East Africa's fastest charger in Kigali. The charger located in Kanombe, Kicukiro District has the capacity of 240kW, charging up to 10 times faster than existing charging stations, which range between 7.43 kW to 22kW. Recharging takes 15-20 minutes compared to one hour spent at other stations. “If we're talking about rolling out electric mobility, we also need to look at the value chain. So, that's going to require skills, it's going to need infrastructure,” Mugabo told The New Times. “We're working with most of the players at the moment. This also requires several partners to come on board. You need the financial sector; you need the banks.”
