Assessment of barriers to electrical vehicles dissemination in Rwanda

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the barriers to electric vehicles dissemination in Rwanda. Even though electric cars (EVs) are becoming more and more popular throughout Africa, including Rwanda, as a sustainable mobility solution, there are still several obstacles standing in the way of EV adoption and widespread distribution. In conducting this research, three specific objectives were to assess the key barriers to the dissemination of electric vehicles in Rwanda, to identify the factors influencing the adoption of electric vehicles and finally to evaluate the attitudes of Rwandan consumers towards electric vehicles. Population of the study was 23 employees of MININFRA / Headquarters and out of them 63 employees were selected by using universal sampling technique. Questionnaire and documentation were used as tools of data collection. Furthermore, descriptive statistics was used in analysis. Findings indicated that 63 (100%) respondents strongly agreed that electric vehicles have lower overall costs over the lifetime of the vehicle; 60 (95.2%) respondents strongly agreed that the price of EVs and environmental factors significantly influence Rwanda’s client’s consumer adoption while 3(4.8%) respondents agreed the point, finally 63 (100%) respondents strongly agreed that electric vehicles in Rwanda also are more environmentally friendly and also other 100% of respondents strongly agreed that Rwandan consumers are primarily motivated by environmental concerns; 54 (85.7%) respondents strongly agreed that electric vehicles in Rwanda have full driving automation is perceived as a useful technology and 9 (14.3%) respondents agreed the point. The study concluded that there is a positive relationship between barriers and electric vehicles dissemination in Rwanda. The researcher recommended that Rwandan government and its partners should also increase the number of public charging stations, which is a must. As a rule of thumb, regions should provide 1 public charging point for every 10 registered electric vehicles.