Ethiopia is the first nation in the world to forbid the import of any vehicle that is not electrically driven, breaking a tradition in which less developed nations served as dumping grounds for used automobiles from other countries.
Whereas the European Union plans to outlaw the sale of automobiles with internal combustion engines starting in 2035, Ethiopia is around ten years ahead of schedule.
Speaking, Ethiopia’s Minister of Transport & Logistics, Alemu Sime said, “A decision has been made that automobiles cannot enter Ethiopia unless they are electric ones.”
The Ministry of Transport and Logistics in Ethiopia has just made the decision to exclusively permit the entry of electric vehicles, following an estimated $6 billion in fossil fuel imports in the previous year.
The dearth of affordable foreign currency in the nation, as stated by Minister Alemu Sime, is one of the factors behind this extreme decision. This makes importing gasoline and diesel challenging because of financial constraints.
Ethiopia has recently made significant investments in its energy infrastructure at the same time. For instance, the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa, which was partially commissioned on February 20, 2022, with the commissioning of the first two turbines with a combined capacity of 750 megawatts, is scheduled to be inaugurated soon.