For years, a major drag on Ethiopia’s budget has been subsidizing gasoline for consumers.
Photographer: Amanuel Sileshi/BloombergElectric Vehicle Sales Boom as Ethiopia Bans Fossil-Fuel Car Imports
The East African country is making use of cheap hydropower and Chinese electric vehicles to ditch the internal combustion engine.
Bethelhem Eshetie gave up driving her taxi two years ago. The rising cost of gas and the spare parts needed to keep her old car on the road meant that she couldn’t earn enough to make ends meet. “It was no longer worth it,” she said. Six months later, though, she was back on the road, this time in a brand new BenBen E-Star, an electric vehicle made by the Chinese carmaker Chang’an.
Unlike the second and third-hand vehicles that make up most of the traffic in Addis Ababa, the EV is new, reliable, and relatively affordable to run. “I like the car’s comfort, its air conditioning system,” she said. “And not having to go to the repair shop regularly.”