Where the Electric Road Met the Value Chain
The Road to Africa Expedition Reaches Zambia
The Road to Africa expedition has crossed into Zambia. After roughly 2,500 kilometres of fully electric driving from Kigali, through Rwanda and the length of Tanzania, the convoy has arrived in Chinsali, with Lusaka ahead and the Port of Beira beyond it.
This is one of the longest fully electric journeys ever undertaken on the continent, and every km is making the same point: electric highways across Africa are possible today, with the vehicles, the grid, and the partnerships that already exist.
The convoy
Two vehicles are making the journey. A Farizon H9E, a Euro spec electric truck carrying a 162 kWh battery, and a Riddara RD6 Pro pickup with a 63 kWh battery. The truck also carries the expedition’s secret weapon: a 40 kW mobile DC charger that lets the pickup fast charge anywhere the truck can plug in.
In the pickup are Paul Kidero, videographer Enock, and photographer Jeff. In the truck, James and William, the expedition’s fixer and producer on the road. For the Kigali to Dar es Salaam leg, the pickup team was joined by Edgar, an intern at Kabisa on his first road trip across Africa.
Charging is a partnership
The question we hear most is simple: how do you charge?
The answer is planning and partnership. Every stop on the route is chosen around available substations, identified with the utility companies within a 300 kilometre range and always leaving at least 50 kilometres of buffer. In Tanzania, TANESCO provided power access points at substations and transformers along the entire route, backed by the expertise of their engineers. In Zambia, ZESCO has picked up the baton, and the first two stops at Nakonde and Chinsali have been smooth and stable.
What stands out most is the people. Utility staff along the route have supported the expedition wholeheartedly, and their enthusiasm has made hard logistics feel easy. Every charge point on this journey is a partnership.
Before the two teams reunited with the truck and its fast charger, the pickup team relied on hotels and guesthouses for overnight charging. Some hosts welcomed it. Some refused. Some quoted high prices, assuming a big pickup must consume enormous amounts of electricity. Every one of those conversations is part of the awareness work. The expedition is not just proving the technology to ministries and investors. It is proving it to a hotel manager weighing whether to let a truck plug in overnight.
Built for the unexpected
Expeditions test plans, and this one was tested early. Shortly after the convoy reached Nyakasanza, a battery issue was identified in the truck. James returned to Kigali to collect a replacement while the pickup team continued ahead to Dar es Salaam, charging on AC at 6.6 kW, a slower pace that demanded patience and careful planning.
The two legs converged in Dar es Salaam, the convoy was whole again, and the expedition rolled on. The lesson travels well beyond this journey: electric long haul transport in Africa is viable, and like all transport, it rewards teams that adapt.
What the road showed us
The journey gathered momentum at every stop. In Dar es Salaam, a high level gathering at the Royal Norwegian Embassy brought together ambassadors, government leaders, and mobility pioneers. On the way out of the city, the team visited four organisations building Tanzania’s EV ecosystem from the ground up: AG Energies, the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology, Kaypee Motors, and Oasis.
In Dodoma, the expedition joined World Environment Week celebrations alongside senior government officials and a growing field of e-mobility exhibitors, where every conversation pointed to the same conclusion: the interest is real, and partnerships will decide the pace.
And in Nakonde, just after crossing the border, something happened that no agenda could plan. A manager at the toll station test drove the pickup. A colleague drove the truck through the toll booth. Both stepped out excited, having just experienced electric driving for the first time. Moments like these are the expedition working exactly as intended.
The roads themselves told a story too. The stretch from Makambako to Tunduma was the roughest of the journey, hard on a lightly laden truck and demanding low speeds. The run from Nakonde to Chinsali has been the best so far, smooth and fast. Both are reminders of how much these corridors carry, and how much cleaner, quieter, and more efficient they can become as charging infrastructure matures.
Next stop: Lusaka
The convoy aims to reach Lusaka by 17 June for the next event on the expedition calendar, before continuing towards Harare and the Port of Beira.
None of this happens alone. The Road to Africa expedition is made possible by Kabisa, Intro Africa, and the Nordic Africa EV Summit, together with Norway, the Africa E-Mobility Alliance, ZESCO, TANESCO, UNDP, the UN Environment Programme, Smart Freight Centre, Tanzania Electric Mobility Association (TAEMA), the Impact Centre for Policy Research, the Norwegian-African Business Association, ZIPAR, the Zambia Development Agency, Zambia’s Ministry of Transport and Logistics, Tanzania’s Ministry of Works and Transport, MobilityX Africa, Tanzania Explorer, ev24 by AUTO24, Thought Leader, Zambia Environmental Management Agency ZEMA, Zambian Electric Mobility Innovation Alliance (ZEMIA) and The Pamodzi Hotel.
The vehicles are charged. The route is proven this far. The journey continues.
