The question for many African countries is whether electric vehicles can really thrive in a where second-hand petrol and diesel cars still rule the roads.
Ghana is one such country where the second-hand vehicle market dominates the mobility market. However, there a shift, though minimal, towards electric mobility.
In this episode of The Africa EV Show, Eddie Opoku, founder of Ghana’s Ryde Channel, helps us unpack the realities of electric mobility in one of West Africa’s most dynamic car markets.
From the streets of Accra, where Chinese-made EVs are popping up beside used Toyotas, to the challenges of charging infrastructure, battery confidence, and resale value, this conversation explores the forces shaping Ghana’s transition from internal combustion to electric
CHAPTERS:
- Introduction: Ghana’s Shifting Car Culture
- Ghana’s Emerging EV Trends: EV awareness and adoption in Ghana
- Are Chinese Automakers Leading in Ghana? Exploring China’s dominance in Ghana’s EV market
- Korean Automakers and Local Assembly Plans: How Korean brands like Kia are preparing for Ghana’s EV market
- Barriers to EV Adoption in Ghana: Misinformation, lack of public awareness, and limited charging infrastructure.
- The Second-Hand Market vs. New EVs: A look into Ghana’s strong used-vehicle culture
- Policy, Duties, and Price Parity: How government incentives and duty structures are encouraging local assembly
- Local Assembly and Job Creation: Ghana’s plans to build components locally — starting with basic parts
- The Resale Question: Can EVs Hold Value? Exploring resale concerns among Ghanaian EV buyers
- Local Innovation and Charging Infrastructure: Overview of Ghana’s emerging EV ecosystem
- Comparing Ghana with Other African Markets: Ghana’s strong uptake of electric two-wheelers and growing Chinese presence.
- Ghana’s Electric Future: Balancing secondhand car dominance with a fast-rising electric wave
Show Notes:
About Eddie Opoku:
Edward Boateng Opoku, known as Eddie Poku, is an automotive enthusiast and the creative force behind Ryde Channel on YouTube, TikTok and on all social media platforms. His channel features in-depth car and motorcycle reviews, profiles of auto enthusiasts, and coverage of automotive events. Engaged in the automotive industry, Eddie is a journalist who actively participates in discussions about cars and motorcycles.
Transcript:
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Hello everyone and welcome back to The Africa EV Show where we unpack the future of mobility across African countries, from EV charger manufacturing in Ethiopia to charging hubs in Nairobi to the rise of electric SUVs in Cape Town and now the shifting car culture in Ghana.
Today we are zooming in on this West African nation, a country where second-hand vehicles still dominate the roads but electric mobility is quietly taking root. Joining us is a special guest, the creator of Ryde Channel, Eddie Opoku, one of Ghana’s most insightful automotive YouTube platforms.
Through reviews, test drives and street-level conversations, he’s been tracking how Ghanaian drivers are thinking about EVs, affordability and the evolution of the used car market. We’ll be talking about everything from the latest EV trends and what’s fueling public curiosity to whether Ghana’s charging network can keep up with the demand. Also, we’ll dive deep into the second-hand vehicle market, why it’s still booming, how electric cars fit into it and whether concerns around resale value, reliability and battery health are justified.
From EV charging access and local innovation to the policies that could accelerate Ghana’s electric transition, we are covering it all. Let’s welcome our guest from Ryde Channel and find out, is Ghana ready to go electric? Hello Eddie and welcome to the Africa EV Show.
EDWARD OPOKU: Hi everyone, thank you for having me and it’s great to be here.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: It’s a wonderful morning that we are having this conversation in Nairobi and for you in Accra. What is it that you do with Ryde Channel? Do you just talk about vehicles or do you also dabble in sales and things like that?
EDWARD OPOKU: All right, so at Ryde Channel, we say motoring information for trouble-free motoring. So we believe that if people are informed, they get the opportunity to enjoy motoring. Motoring is not just about movement from point A to point B, which is very, very necessary, but it has to be done in a way that is safe, is affordable and also you have the added source of enjoyability.
So that is what we are about, giving out information to people. We really, really believe in that. So we try to cover every aspect of mobility in Ghana, mobility in Africa, ICE mobility, EV mobility and we try to abreast ourselves with all the issues that are in between so that we can speak to the conversation and contribute to policy shaping and things like that.
So that is what Ryde Channel is about and we do that by creating content on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, writing stories for our website www.rydechannel.com. Yes, we get opportunity to sample vehicles at vehicle launch events worldwide when we are invited and we look at the offerings and we also inform ourselves of latest happenings in the industry so that we can educate, inform the public. That is what Ryde Channel is about.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Nice. And the fact that you’re able to access all these people who are selling vehicles or buying them, how long have you been doing this and what trends are you seeing in Ghana’s EV market right now?
EDWARD OPOKU: Alright, so Ryde Channel, we started, I started Ryde Channel in 2015, but I got serious with Ryde Channel just before COVID. So before COVID, I was working with the media house and I was in charge of online media and I also hosted a show, an auto show on radio. So although Ryde Channel was already registered before, it gave me a sense that people needed more information because sometimes for that one hour that I’ll be on air, whatever topic we are discussing, questions keep coming up.
And when people connect with me on social media, they are always consulting with me, asking me so many different questions. So I felt that it is very, very important that I do this. Yes.
So I’ve been doing that since. Talking about EVs, EVs have become very, very important in the conversation of mobility. You cannot talk about mobility without talking about EVs.
In fact, the term mobility became popular with the popularity of EVs, you know, but of course, when we’re talking about mobility, we can go as far back as a prehistoric era with the horse-drawn cart and all those things. Yes. So the EV conversation is big here.
A lot of companies are taking advantage, mostly Chinese companies, and they are doing pretty good. The trend is that there are a lot of small companies coming up, you know, offering charging infrastructure, offering EV sales, different kinds and different brands. And they are doing pretty well because a casual drive on the streets of Accra, you see a very good mix.
In fact, on the streets of Accra, you see everything from Cybertrucks to Nanobox and very tiny EVs. You see everything. Even what you call Boda Boda, we have the electric ones.
In Ghana, we didn’t have our own term. We didn’t have our own term, so we borrowed the Nigerian term. They call it Okada, so we borrowed the Nigerian term.
Nigerians are brothers, you know, so we borrowed that term. So you see the electric Okadas or electric Boda Bodas on the street. We have a company like Kofa.
Kofa is huge in that area because they don’t only offer the electric Boda Boda, but they also have a swap and go kiosk set up at different parts of the city. So if you are using any of their motorcycles, when you’re running low on battery, you just have to try and get yourself to any of those charging stations or swap kiosks. They just take one, pay a fee, put in the other one, and just get going, which is a great, great, great, great model.
And we’ve seen that working. So that’s where we are now. I’m sure as we go on the conversation, I don’t want to eat all this soup.
So I’ll reserve some of the information as we go along. Yes.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Yes. And I know that when we talk about vehicles, we are not just talking about four wheelers, especially on this conversation on the African EV show. We talk about all wheelers, two wheelers, three wheelers, four wheelers, all the wheelers that you can think of.
And so I think when you talk about this transition and the Chinese being a big player, you’ve mentioned the Cybertruck, which is a Tesla. If you look at the competition, if we may call it that, would you say that the Chinese have an edge or they are leading in the market? And for what reasons?
EDWARD OPOKU: Yes, the Chinese have an edge because the Chinese obviously they control the battery materials and the battery making industry. It’s giving them an edge. They are able to offer EVs on the Ghanaian market at a lower cost.
I let’s say even a Model 3, let’s say if it costs you 60,000 USD, by the time it gets to the market, probably you are paying double the cost because you have 25% tax and some charges as well. But because they control that, they are able to manufacture their vehicles at a lower cost and give us those cars or offer the cars for sale at a lower cost. So importers are able to bring them in and absorb that 25% and still offer it at a reasonable price.
I’ve seen some very, very interesting prices for BYDs, for all manner of Chinese vehicles on the Ghanaian market and they are very, very, very competitive. I know some of the big players are preparing to step in as well, mostly Korean and Geely is Chinese, but they have an authorized dealer. Now one of the happening is that most of the Chinese brands don’t have an authorized brand apart from Geely and I think GWM.
Even GWM, are they doing EVs? I’ve not seen their EVs yet. But Geely, they are doing ICE vehicles, but I know that they have plans of introducing their EVs.
In fact, they’ve brought a few that they are trying as we speak. But I know the Koreans are also poised and ready to come because a company that I’m familiar with, which is a dealer, has a memorandum of understanding with Kia and with that, they’ve brought equipment and training at their training school to train EV mechanics. So with that, we train trainers of trainers and eventually the information or the knowledge trickles down so that they can support EV vehicles.
And I know their plan is to eventually start bringing EV vehicles. So there are a couple of Kia EVs also available. And I know some private people too, who are bringing them in from Dubai, especially.
So yes, the Koreans are also preparing to step into the game, but I would say largely Chinese. The Chinese don’t have a monopoly, right? Yes, yes, yes.
At this moment, they have the monopoly. Yes. There was this company called Solar Taxi.
They started all this EV, even before EV became a thing. And George and his crew, you know, did a lot, a lot, a lot of work bringing in so many EVs, even when nobody will even blink an eye at EVs. But currently, well, the uptake of EVs is huge because the ride hailing business have jumped on it.
Okay. Because there are several importers bringing very small, small Chinese vehicles. So the ride hailing companies have jumped on it.
In fact, I made a mistake. I didn’t add a third. There’s a third dealer doing LipMoto.
I think LipMoto is under the Stellantis brand. Grace Mobility is doing LipMoto. In fact, they are doing LipMoto and they’re also doing Hongqi.
I don’t know if my pronunciation is right. Hongqi is more of a luxury EV, a Chinese EV. Yes.
So they are doing those. Yes, yes.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: And because all these are coming into a market that is still very interesting in many ways, because there are many factors at play. What do you think and what have you seen as the barriers to a wider EV adoption in Ghana?
EDWARD OPOKU: I think it’s information. There’s a lot of misinformation. People don’t understand.
Well, I wouldn’t say understand. People are either not informed or misinformed. Because when I go around and I meet people around EVs, always you hear them banding around all manner of information about charging and a whole lot of other things.
And they are clearly misinformed. Unfortunately, I think that those who are investing in bringing the vehicles are not investing adequately. I wouldn’t say they are not investing at all in informing people.
I think that the better way of positioning EVs in Ghana especially is encouraging people to charge at home, because there’s very few charging infrastructure, even now that there are quite a number of EVs on the market or even in customers’ hands. So that is what I believe. There’s not enough information.
People are not informed. Let us say that you have an EV that can do 200 miles on a charge or even 150. On a full charge, that’s almost a week of charging to the average city dweller in Accra.
But people go like, oh, there’s not enough electricity. To a large extent, our electricity is quite stable as we speak. But let’s assume that even you are having power outage, let’s say one day in a week.
If you have an EV that can do 100 miles on a full charge and you are even getting 20 miles of charge every night, you shouldn’t have a problem if you lose one or two days without charging. And this kind of information has to go down for people to understand so that they can appreciate the technology.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: But there is still a lot… So you mean that information, the lack of awareness is what is limiting the adoption. And so I connect this to, if this is the case then, how do you compare the interest and consumer behavior between new EVs and the second-hand conventional vehicles which are run on petrol or diesel in Ghana?
EDWARD OPOKU: Okay, so now there’s a very, very big issue for used vehicles or salvage vehicles. Most of them are salvage vehicles from the US market, US and Canadian markets. Now they are hard pressed because, one, the taxes are creeping up because government wants to transfer the market to the assembled in Ghana vehicles.
So the previous government started an effort to grow the auto industry locally. So they started with SKDs, local assembly of SKDs, and almost all the dealers jammed on board and they’ve invested heavily, heavily, heavily, heavily into this. So we have so many different assembly plants.
Some have capacities that they can easily scale up to, let’s say, even 7,500 vehicles annually, which is enough to even feed most of Africa. So it’s huge. So in order to meet their end of the bargain, one of the things was the duties.
And they also get 25% of the duties. It just pays some charges and that’s it. So there’s a bit of price parity between the salvage vehicles and brand new assembled in Ghana vehicles.
And these vehicles are the latest quality vehicles. Some have the latest technologies and everything. So if the average person is looking to get in a car, unless they are not informed, because I think that there is still more information to be done to make people understand the price dynamics.
But now I know that those who bring the salvage vehicles are crying because it doesn’t make a lot of sense for people to go in for the salvage vehicles.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Correct me if I’m wrong, because what I am getting now from that is that people are starting to shift more towards the EVs because they are new, probably at price parity with the salvages and the saving aspect when it comes to cost, right?
EDWARD OPOKU: Yes, yes. So your analysis is right on point. So now there’s a shift.
A lot of people have started getting brand new cars, ICE vehicles and EVs. And I think that is helping these small companies bringing these Chinese EVs to sell. Because you see a lot of them on the market, all manner of brands, either buying from the dealers like Blipmoto.
You have Jettor, for example, it’s big. You see a lot of small, very small, tiny ones that are used for the ride hailing business. When you talk to the drivers, they just wax lyrical about these cars because it’s saving them a lot of money.
And I think to a certain extent, that convenience and you getting to understand the whole process. I mean, now that they are buying, they are getting to experience and they know how to organize themselves in terms of charging, in terms of resting, in terms of being on the road, making money. And I think a lot of them, it works for them and they say good things about them.
So there’s actually a shift now. There’s actually a shift now for new vehicles and it is trickling down to EVs. And I think that is also going to go up because for EVs, I mean, most of us were hoping that the same way the government putting these interventions for assembled in Ghana vehicles, they were going to do that for EVs.
But what they did was that they said, no, we’re not going to do it blanket for EVs, but we are going to do it for assembled in Ghana EVs. So for most of the big players, bringing in EVs is tantamount to getting them knocked down to a certain extent and doing some of the assembling locally so that they can get the price down for them. Because one other barrier is that the duty regime at the ports, all EVs are regarded as luxury vehicles.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Oh wow. Even the smallest that are used for ride hailing. Even the smallest.
EDWARD OPOKU: So usually it attracts some extra charges, which make them a bit more expensive, but the Chinese are able to evade that because the cars are cheap anyway. So even with those charges, they still end up becoming affordable. But when the bigger players start assembling, then I know that they are going to get better quality EV vehicles like the KIAs, the Geelys, and others coming in at a very, very low price and possibly a BYD.
I don’t know. There’s been talk of BYD, a dealer handling BYD, but I’ve not received any concrete information yet on that.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: Let me come in there and ask about local job creation, because that is also one thing that a number of African governments have been driving at when it comes to the requirements for electric vehicles. And I know that when they say we need to create jobs, most of the manufacturing in quotes is assembling, whereby you’re bringing the CKDs, SKDs and screwing them together. Voila, you have a car.
Is there any kind of manufacturing beyond the screwing together the parts in Ghana that you can say they are building cars from scratch?
EDWARD OPOKU: As of now, no. There’s nobody building cars from scratch. The government policy is to eventually have some components being manufactured locally.
For example, we have a rubber industry in Ghana. So probably maybe water cans and things like that can be manufactured locally. So the idea is that once this assembling process succeeds and the dealers are receiving good value for their vehicles and manufacturers are also benefited, eventually it’s going to trickle down and say, OK, when you are bringing the car, don’t have your wiper tanks in it.
We can manufacture some locally. So we have this company that will supply all the dealers and things like that. Those are the things that are on the minds of government and also on of the industry.
But the whole process to have the industry start rolling so that at some point in time, there will be a certain point of intercession so that we can have some local manufacture of cars. I know that very soon we’re going to have some EVs being assembled in Ghana, but that is where it stands now.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: And I think, let me come back to the new EVs that are becoming popular in Ghana. And I know the reason many African markets have stuck with secondhand cars is because of their resale values. Have you come across anyone who’s like, am I going to be able to resell this vehicle if I ever need to?
EDWARD OPOKU: I think that those who are buying now ask those questions. And I think that the current crop of EVs that are on the market, those who are, let’s say the middle income to high income individuals who go into EVs, they are very much into resale value. So they buy the BYDs, they buy the known names.
But those who are using them for ride hailing, they know that, okay, I’m going to use this car for four years, after which I know there will not be any value in the car. You get it. So you see, especially those who bought the very, very, very early EVs, a lot of them, you see them on the road.
That is, if they are on the road, they are totally tattered and torn because those ones were not real good quality products. But now we are seeing the real good quality products. But those that the ride hailing individuals can afford, usually are not those high quality ones.
But their mindset is that I’m going to be using this car four years down the line. Most important thing, as early as possible, I have to get the break-even point. And once I get to the break-even point, make a bit of money, I have to put money aside to be able to get my next car, after which I’m just going to dispose of this one.
So for that crowd, they don’t really think about resale value. But the middle income to high income individuals who are going into EVs, they are very, very much aware of resale value. And because of that, they will not buy, unless it’s a known name.
And that is why I keep coming back to BYD. In certain instances, we can even talk about Jetor. Jetor, they are doing both ICE and EVs, but their EVs are also catching on.
And I have a lot of people who are middle income, high income, asking me for their Kia EVs, for example. Asking me about Geely and those ones, because they know that those ones, they have a certain reputation now, even in the Western world. And so they have that confidence that if they invest their money into it, after five years, after seven years, they can move them on.
Then there’s that very, very high net worth individuals who don’t really, really care. They buy the Cybertrucks. You see everything.
You see everything. The VW ID Buzz, the Mustang Mach-Es. You see almost everything on the streets of Accra.
Everything you see them on the streets of Accra.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: It’s interesting. And I think I want to go back to awareness and just ask, are there any local initiatives? I know, of course, we have mentioned SolarTaxi and the work they have done since 2019.
So they are now not just bringing in, but they are also locally assembling. But are there local entrepreneurs or innovators that are helping advance EV adoption in Ghana? Like charger manufacturing, conversion of old vehicles?
EDWARD OPOKU: No, we don’t have anyone doing conversions as we speak. We don’t have any. Government has mentioned in pockets efforts to support the EVs.
But what we see now is a trend of people also setting up charging infrastructure. Okay. So that is also something that is coming up.
We have several startups who are doing very well. We have some, even some auto dealers have even invested at their locations. Although they are not officially bringing in the EVs, they’ve already invested in charging infrastructure, but it’s still very few and far between.
We had Total also announce, some years I was at the program and I know they built one, but I’ve not seen any others yet. I might be wrong because I don’t deal directly with them now as I used to do before. So that is it.
But in terms of manufacturing, apart from Kofas and Solar Taxi, who are doing the electric border borders, which you know, I enjoy or make Ghana have a very high EV uptake. I mean, Ghana’s EV uptake compared to other places in Africa is very high. The majority of them is because of the electric motorcycles that Solar Taxi and Kofas and the rest have done.
Yes. So with that, yeah.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: And then I would want to ask about private and public investments. Are there any of these kinds of partnerships that are helping build networks and stations and everything, EV infrastructure to help with not just bringing in the vehicles, but ensure that they are Ghanaian if, or so to speak, in that this is ours, we are doing this.
EDWARD OPOKU: Okay. So with Rana Motors that I’m familiar with, we signed a memorandum of understanding with KIA and KIA has supported with cars, they’ve supported with motors, they are supporting with technical know-how to train EV mechanics. So that is number one, KIA supporting Rana Motors to build a knowledge base or a technical base to grow the industry or provide the fixing of EVs to the industry.
But that is about it. We had also, like I mentioned earlier, Total announced that it was going to build. It’s quite a while ago and I’ve seen very little movement in that area, but probably they are doing something that I’ve not seen.
But they announced that they were going to deploy EV infrastructure across board. I attended a UNEP stakeholder meeting. The first one, there was a second one, but I wasn’t in town so I couldn’t attend, about EV conversation and we discussed so many different things that we’re going to lobby government to do, you know.
So those are basically that. I mean, a lot of the EV push is very much being done by the corporate industry, you know.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: All right. And you mentioned that you’ve borrowed the Okadas from the Nigerians and I know you guys have an everlasting battle. Yes, you have an everlasting battle of Jollof rice, like who has the best and things like that.
But speaking of other African countries, how would you compare Ghana? I know you have a lot more in terms of like adoption, especially when it comes to two wheelers, but how can you compare Ghana to probably other countries that I’ve been to, like in Kenya or Uganda or Nigeria, in terms of EV adoption and policies?
EDWARD OPOKU: Yes, I had the opportunity to visit Rwanda, for example, and what they are doing there too is awesome. They have some charging infrastructure, they have some electric motorcycles, you know, and I know their government is very, very much into some of these efforts. They do a lot of Volkswagen and Volkswagen is doing a lot of big things with Move, which is like a ride-hailing service.
They use Volkswagen vehicles and a very big part of their fleet, Volkswagen IDs. But in Ghana, Volkswagen is one of the big players in the assembled in Ghana vehicle drive, but they are not bringing any EVs yet. In fact, they actually put out a communique warning people buying grey import ID4s and ID3s because, you know, they have been issues with diesel gate and everything.
They don’t want to take a lot of risk to their reputation because it used to be a very big brand in Ghana, but over the years they lost that and they are trying to revive. So they are very, very, very risk averse. But I know that I’m quite familiar with them and I know that with time we are also going to get on board with the EV adoption in Ghana.
So Rwanda is doing pretty good, but the only thing about Rwanda is that it’s very similar to what is happening in Ghana, but because Ghana is bigger, you know, so it tends to have bigger numbers. But yes, Rwanda is doing pretty good as well, especially with the efforts from Volkswagen. And yes, I know Kenya, you are familiar with your, I know you have a lot of ride-hailing, ride-hailing EVs as well.
South Africa. Yes, South Africa, South Africa.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: It’s a totally different case altogether because South Africa, they have a very vibrant manufacturing sector and then they import like half of what comes to Africa goes to South Africa, but they still have issues with EV.
EDWARD OPOKU: And the reason why they have issues with EV is because technically it doesn’t make a lot of sense to be running EVs in South Africa because they get most of their electricity from coal. You know, so most of the time when you engage with the industry, the manufacturers and say, well, why are you not very, you’re not hitting it big with EVs, what do they tell you? It doesn’t make sense because we are running on coal, but I think that demand is calling.
So they are responding with the ID buses and Nissan Ariyas and all the other kinds of EVs, but they tend to attract the big names. But I know from the figures that the Chinese are making big, big, big inroads into their local automotive industry. As we speak, the Chinese are controlling about almost 30% of the market, you know, with the GWMs, the Jators, the Omodas and all that, you know, so a lot of things, a lot of movement in that area.
Yes, a lot of movement in that area. And I think that the next couple of years is going to be interesting.
NJENGA HAKEENAH: And I think last month in South Africa, I think it was Chery that sold the most vehicles, became profitable and things like that. So there is a lot that the Chinese are moving when it comes to the African EV market. And guys, that wraps it up for today’s episode of the Africa EV show.
OUTRO: A big thank you to our guest Opoku from the Ryde Channel for sharing deep insights on how Ghana’s EV scene is evolving, from the rise of affordable secondhand imports to the local push for charging infrastructure and innovation. What stood out today is that Ghana’s EV journey is as much about opportunity as it is about transformation. With growing consumer curiosity, private innovators stepping up and a secondhand market adapting to the electric era.
Well, maybe they are being edged out already. The future of mobility in Ghana looks charged with a possibility. Now, if you enjoyed this conversation, don’t forget to like, share, subscribe and hit the notification button so you never miss our weekly deep dives into Africa’s electric mobility shift.
And if you haven’t already, go check out Ryde channel for more great stories on Ghana’s auto trends and on the ground EV insights. Thanks for tuning in. My name is Njenga Hakina and this is the Africa EV show.
See you next time when we continue with the conversation powering Africa’s electric future.
