concluding 5000 km fully electric from Kigali, Rwanda to Beira, Mozambique
Zimbabwe Steps Into the Electric Corridor
When the Road to Africa convoy crossed into Zimbabwe at Kariba, we expected to find a market in its early conversations about electric mobility. What we found instead was a country already moving. Electric vehicles are a visible part of Harare traffic, from delivery fleets to private cars, and yes, even a few Teslas. Adoption is accelerating, the industrial pieces are falling into place, and by the time our odometers read 4,770 kilometres at the Mozambique border, Zimbabwe had shown us both how far the corridor has come and how much opportunity is still waiting on the road. Rolling through the landscapes in the fully electric truck and pickup from Kabisa.
The road tells the story
Our entry into Zimbabwe set the theme for everything that followed. The Kariba border crossing runs across the crest of the Kariba Dam, a colossal wall on the Zambezi holding back the largest man-made reservoir on earth by volume. The dam is owned and operated jointly by Zambia and Zimbabwe through the Zambezi River Authority, generating power for homes and industry on both sides of the river. It has also become an attraction in its own right, and it was a joy to watch visitors strolling along the top, taking photographs above the gorge. Two countries chose to build and run something monumental together, and more than sixty years later people come simply to stand on it and marvel. That is the conviction driving Intro Africa and this expedition: cooperation across borders makes possible what no single country achieves alone. We could hardly have asked for a better gateway.
The stretch from Kariba to Makuti was a strong welcome. This section of the Harare to Chirundu corridor has been rehabilitated and widened, and it drives like the trade artery it is meant to be. Beyond Makuti the picture changes. Long stretches are waiting for the same treatment, and the drive made a clear case for street lighting and road markings as priorities alongside the tar itself.
Here is why that reads as opportunity rather than obstacle. Zimbabwe has launched a US$3 billion highway rehabilitation and modernisation programme running from 2026 to 2030 under its National Development Strategy 2, delivered largely through public-private partnerships. The priority list includes the Harare to Chirundu highway we drove, the Christmas Pass bypass at Mutare, and the modernisation of the Forbes Border Post into Mozambique. The corridor we are testing is the corridor Zimbabwe is building. Every kilometre we documented feeds directly into where that investment can do the most for electric trade.
Then there were the police checkpoints, and there were many. Each one turned into the same scene: officers realising the convoy was fully electric, then disbelief, then questions, then laughter. Those roadside conversations may be the purest form of what this expedition is for. Awareness travels one astonished checkpoint at a time.
The economics are already proven
At the Zimbabwe Electric Mobility Ecosystem Dialogue, hosted at Cresta Lodge Harare, government set the tone. Representing the Ministry of Energy and Power Development, C. Mhungira told the gathering, “We have long passed the planning stage and we are actually moving and implementing this.”
The numbers behind that confidence are being generated by the vehicles themselves. “We have a lot of savings that you can make running an electric vehicle. You are looking at 65% to 70% savings. That’s the future where we need to get to,” said Edmond Usayiwevu, Sales Manager at CMED, the state fleet operator. “We as a department have adapted and embraced the change of the technology that is coming into the country, and the world at large.”
Those figures match what the Road to Africa initiative has documented since the beginning. On Road to Addis in October 2025, our first expedition from Nairobi to Addis Ababa, energy costs over the first half of the journey came in at roughly one sixth of the equivalent petrol spend. Zimbabwe’s operators are now seeing the same arithmetic on their own roads, and when the institution responsible for state mobility commits to the transition, it sends a signal through the entire market. The Forum was organized by the energizing parters Rudo Nundo and Natasha Chadenga.
Infrastructure finds new builders
One of the most exciting patterns along the corridor is companies discovering that the assets they already own are EV assets. In Harare, Econet InfraCo made that case directly. “We are looking forward to partnering and ensuring that the goal of EV adoption within Africa, and particularly in Zimbabwe, is driven through our towers, our infrastructure and the expertise that we do have as a power company as well,” said Munashe Gondongwe, Sales Manager at Econet InfraCo.
Charging networks do not have to be built from zero. Tower sites, distributed power expertise, and existing grid relationships can carry the corridor forward faster than greenfield investment alone. Hospitality is stepping in too. “It was a pleasure hosting the Road to Africa expedition,” said Be-Charles Dzvangah, Group Marketing Manager at Cresta Hotels, our hosts for the dialogue. “We’re actually looking to the future, to partner with some of the electric vehicle companies, and have a clean way to get our guests to and from the hotels.”
The market is answering
Distributors see the demand forming. Tafadzwa D. Nyabuta, Sales and Marketing Executive at ZIMOCO, one of Zimbabwe’s most established vehicle dealers, framed his company’s role plainly: “As long as we sell vehicles, which is our core business, we will slowly and gradually keep pushing the EV agenda, and hope that most people adopt this technology and it becomes something that’s common.”
The wider numbers support that confidence. Africa’s EV market, valued at around 450 million dollars in 2025, is projected by analysts to grow as much as tenfold by 2030. A recent D+C analysis of the Road to Africa initiative described the continent’s electric corridors as an industrial opportunity for the African Continental Free Trade Area, with EVs generating demand for electricity, software, batteries, charging services, maintenance jobs, and new financing models.
Shantha Bloemen, Founder and Managing Director of Mobility for Africa, captured the urgency driving the room: “We’ve really just got to shake up the system and be much more risk-prone, because if we’re not, we’re going to have a climate crisis, and that humanitarian consequence is going to be felt by ordinary people when we could be solving it. Hoping that things like this will build the momentum to get people pushing.”
Made in Zimbabwe
Our last evening in Harare ended around a table at Kapoto Restaurant, where our hosts treated the team to traditional Zimbabwean dishes. It was a fitting send-off, because the road east held one more discovery.
Near the Mozambique border, we visited Quest Motor Manufacturing in Mutare, a plant with roots going back to 1960 that is preparing for a remarkable second act. General Manager Carl Fernandes welcomed us and walked us through that vision, an ambition he has stated plainly: “to pioneer the assembly of new-energy vehicles right here in Zimbabwe.” From August, Quest begins assembling electric and new-energy vehicles on Zimbabwean soil, including the BAW Mini Car, the Skyworth SUV, and the GAC Aion V, alongside plans for a nationwide fast-charging network. The revival is projected to lift employment at the plant by 300 to 500 percent, with demand rippling into local suppliers of glass, tyres, and upholstery.
Think about what that means for the corridor. Zimbabwe holds some of Africa’s largest lithium deposits. A revived assembly industry puts the country in position to turn its minerals into vehicles rather than exporting raw value. The EVs of this corridor will not only drive through Zimbabwe. Increasingly, they can be built there.
From Harare, onward
Road to Addis proved that a 1,600 kilometre electric journey across East Africa was possible, and that proof unlocked partners, policy conversations, and investment along the way. This expedition has now carried that proof 4,770 kilometres from Kigali through Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to the edge of Mozambique.
Zimbabwe showed us a market where government, infrastructure, retail, hospitality, manufacturing, and grassroots innovation are all pulling in the same direction. The corridor runs through Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwe is ready.
The convoy drives on to Beira.
