Startup Atlas E-Mobility Group on Thursday announced plans to launch what it claims will be the first EV designed and built in Africa.
Headquartered in London, but with production and development facilities in Morocco, Atlas aims to begin vehicle production by 2026, initially for Africa, Europe and the Middle East, in volume more widely released in 2027.
“We feel strongly that Africa is being ignored by companies in their electric vehicle transition,” Atlas co-founder and CEO Mohammed Yehya El Bakkali said in a statement. “Atlas will create a vehicle for delivering corporate, environmental and social value to Africa and beyond.”
Atlas E-Mobility Group CEO, Mohammed Yehya El-Bakkali (left) and CTO Mohammed Hicham Senhaji Hannoun
According to the company’s press release, Atlas plans to use a platform from an existing automaker “to create an affordable, all-electric vehicle designed to take inspired by Moroccan design and identity”. The statement said it would be an Anglo-Moroccan effort, combining “British automotive industrialization expertise, ground-breaking Moroccan technology and proven manufacturing capabilities”.
Transport currently accounts for 10% of Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions, but this number is expected to grow as the number of vehicles, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, increases as a result of climate change. urbanization and rising incomes, according to McKinsey & Company Analysis. Policymakers should not assume that many of those new vehicles will be electric.
The report notes: “Given that 40% of all used vehicles exported globally end up in Africa, the continent risks becoming a dumping ground for used ICE vehicles while the rest of the world moving to the future of electric transportation”.
2014 Subaru Forester XT convoy to visit South Africa
Atlas co-founder and CTO Mohammed Hicham Senhaji said in a statement: “Simply creating an all-electric vehicle will not be proof enough. “That’s why Atlas isn’t just about making electric vehicles—we’re determined to go the extra mile and be part of a solution that delivers sustainable economic and environmental benefits to Africa and beyond. “
Such a solution could include rapid deployment of renewable energy in Africa, where some of the dirtiest fuels assigned to vehicles. Taking advantage of lax regulations, global traders imported fuel that was too dirty to sell elsewhere, a policy some African countries repelled against.
The environmental as well as economic and geopolitical benefits of decrease in oil demand led other countries without a well-known tradition of automobile manufacturing to pursue electric vehicles. Saudi Arabia launches electric car brand with Foxconn last year, invested in Lucid and will be the home of a Future Lucid Factory.
