As part of the Energy Commission’s mandate to recommend national policies for the development and utilisation of indigenous energy resources, the Commission in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy started promoting electric vehicles to create demand and drive the productive utilisation of our excess electricity supply in the system.
This initiative, dubbed, “Drive Electric Initiative” (DEI) was launched by the then Senior Minister, Hon. Yaw Osafo Marfo and Deputy Energy Minister, Hon. Owuraku Aidoo at the 5th Renewable Energy Fair in October 2019. The DEI is intended to usher in an era of green and sustainable technology for the future.
The objective of the initiative as outlined in the concept note (available on the Energy Commission’s website) is to create productive demand in order to utilize our electricity productively, usher in an era of green and sustainable technology for the future, reduce pollution and contribute to our efforts towards climate action while helping to resolve the electricity generation over-capacity in the short to medium term.
Since its launch, the country can boast of more than five charging stations, driven by the private sector and an increased number of e-vehicles in the country. The private sector has and will continue to be instrumental in this initiative. For instance, some logistics companies are steadily changing their fleet to fully electric buses, while other individuals are using EVs and charging at home. Other private companies have started selling EVs while others are leasing EVs for individuals.
The Energy Commission seeks to develop standards and regulations for charging stations in the country to create an enabling environment for the private sector to participate as charging station operators. The Commission also seeks to engage private sector and other Government stakeholders to promote EVs by hosting series of consultative stakeholder meetings to bring together individuals and companies that can buy into the initiative and encourage them to be the early adopters of this initiative. One of such stakeholder gathering is the first ever E-mobility Conference and exhibition to be held on the 23rd of September 2021 (details are available on the website for registration).
The Energy Commission is leading by example in partnering with Automobile companies create public awareness. In view of this, Egle Motors Company Limited, an authorized distributor for Wuling Automobile Industry Company Ltd, one of the world's leading manufacturers of electric vehicles is partnering with the Energy Commission's Drive Electric Initiative to promote electric vehicles on our roads. They donated a Great wall ORA Black Cat EV for a fixed period of time to help in creating public awareness by serving as a moving billboard that will sensitize the market and promote the use of the vehicles in the country.
