{"id":138846,"date":"2026-03-17T19:12:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/138846\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T19:12:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:12:06","slug":"tunisian-solar-powered-cars-leverage-african-sunshine-to-charge-30-miles-for-free-everyday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/138846\/","title":{"rendered":"Tunisian Solar-Powered Cars Leverage African Sunshine to Charge 30 Miles for Free Everyday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u2013 credit Bako Motors<\/p>\n

An ambitious motoring rollout is taking place in Tunisia, where a company is trying to make a splash in the market with a pair of solar-powered EVs.<\/p>\n

Including a small delivery vehicle and a passenger car, Bako Motors<\/a> is already manufacturing their models and selling them in the sun-washed continent\u2019s showrooms.<\/p>\n

CNN, which was first in America to cover Bako Motors, wrote<\/a> that the market for EVs in Africa, where many countries import most of their vehicles, is predicted to reach several billion dollars by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n

Fewer moving parts make EVs a smart solution to Africa\u2019s rugged roads, but totally-absent charging infrastructure limits their deployment. Though lacking changing points, there is quite a lot of sunshine, and with solar panels on their roof, a Bako model can get 31 miles (50 km) of charge per day for free, substantially improving dependability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe solar cells provide us with more than 50% of our needs,\u201d Boubaker Siala, founder and CEO of Bako Motors, told CNN.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, the B-Van, for commercial use, you can have free energy for about 50 kilometers per day\u2026 17,000 kilometers (10,563 miles) per year. It\u2019s huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some 40% of the material that goes into each vehicle is sourced from the continent, including the lithium-iron-phosphate batteries and steel.<\/p>\n

The B-Van costs around 25,000 Tunisian dinar, or $8,500, while the Bee, a small, two-seater city car, prices at $6,200. Neither vehicle is particularly fast, with the Bee scooting along at a top speed that\u2019s less than what most of the continent\u2019s petrol-powered mopeds can do, but a day in the sun can charge more than two-thirds of the vehicle\u2019s battery, providing what could be a substantial savings in fuel and electricity.<\/p>\n

AFRICAN AUTOS: Solar Tricycle Startup Helps Entrepreneurial Women Be Drivers of Change in Africa<\/a><\/p>\n

The B-Van can hold 800 pounds of cargo in the hold, has up to 162 miles of range, and is designed for last-mile delivery and artisanal market businesses which flourish\u2014for example\u2014along the whitewashed streets of Sidi Bou Said, near historic Carthage, where the car\u2019s publicity video was shot.<\/p>\n

For Bako Motors, the hard part\u2014design and construction of the manufacturing facilities\u2014are done. All that\u2019s left is to get the Saudi Arabian and Tunisian plants running at nameplate capacity to churn out 8,000 of these cars for the continent\u2019s cities, and eventual export to European centers.<\/p>\n

TUNISIAN NEWS: <\/p>\n

\u201cThe addressable market in Africa is about 1 million vehicles per year. We have to prepare ourselves for this transition (and) offer affordable and good products for the African citizen,\u201d says Siala. \u201cWe are targeting maybe 5 to 10% of this market.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH the story below\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

SHARE This African EV From Tunis With Your Friends\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2013 credit Bako Motors An ambitious motoring rollout is taking place in Tunisia, where a company is trying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[57],"tags":[37130,63,4841,75037,19225,174],"class_list":["post-138846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tunisia","tag-evs","tag-africa","tag-automotive","tag-developing-nations","tag-solar","tag-tunisia"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116246108284740413","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}