Ethiopia’s shift towards cleaner transport is drawing attention beyond its borders, with Ghana now looking closely at how Addis Ababa is putting electric mobility into practice.
During a high-level visit to Ethiopia, members of Ghana’s Public Utilities Regulatory Commission met Ethiopian officials to understand how the country is changing the way people and goods move. The discussions focused on renewable energy, electric transport and public infrastructure, but the visit also pointed to something bigger. More African countries are starting to treat green transport as a practical policy issue, not just a climate ambition.
Ethiopia used the visit to show how its transport transition is being built. A major part of that shift began in 2024, when the country banned the import of internal combustion engine vehicles. That move placed Ethiopia among the boldest African governments on transport electrification. Officials backed the decision with tax and non-financial incentives to encourage electric vehicle adoption and support businesses in the sector.
The government is also trying to show that clean transport must work for ordinary people. That is why public transport sits near the centre of the strategy. Ethiopia is expanding the use of electric city buses and preparing for an Electric Bus Rapid Transit project, an effort meant to make cleaner mobility visible in everyday urban life.
Ethiopia now has about 140,000 electric vehicles on its roads and wants that number to rise to more than 500,000 by 2030. It has also established 17 local EV assembly plants, linking transport policy to industrial growth and local manufacturing.
Its rail system adds another layer to that story. The Addis Ababa Light Rail and the Ethio-Djibouti Railway now cover more than 799.5 kilometres and operate on electric power, serving both passengers and freight.
Ethiopia is also widening the conversation beyond vehicles. Its Non-Motorised Transport strategy has now reached 80 cities, going past an earlier target of 69. In one year alone, Ethiopia built more than 885 kilometres of dedicated pedestrian and cycling paths. That work reflects a broader view of mobility, one that includes how streets are designed and who they serve.
For Ghana, the visit offered a working example of how one African country is combining policy, infrastructure and industry around a single transport agenda. For Ethiopia, it was a chance to share lessons from its own experience and place that experience in a continental context.
That may be the most significant part of the exchange. Africa’s green transport shift is unlikely to move quickly if countries work in isolation. It will move faster if governments learn from one another, adapt what works and treat policy experience as something worth sharing. In that sense, the Ethiopia-Ghana engagement was more than a technical visit. It was a reminder that Africa’s future in mobility may depend as much on cooperation as on technology itself.
