Kenya’s National Electric Mobility Policy 2026: What It Means for Manufacturers and Importers

On 3 February 2026, the Ministry of Roads and Transport launched the National Electric Mobility Policy at KICC, the first document to set a coordinated government direction for electric vehicles in Kenya. For manufacturers, assemblers and importers already committing capital to the sector, the practical question is not whether the government supports electric mobility in principle, it clearly does, but what in this policy is actually binding today, what is still aspiration, and how it sits alongside the tax and assembly rules that already govern the industry.

What the Policy Actually Is, and What It Is Not

The policy was drafted by a multi-agency taskforce established under Gazette Notice No. 10132 of 4 August 2023, and it was published and launched by the Ministry of Roads and Transport, State Department for Transport. What it is not, on the record available as at this writing, is a Sessional Paper tabled in Parliament or a standalone Act. We found no Gazette notice formally adopting it as government policy in the way a Sessional Paper would be. That distinction matters commercially: a launched Ministry policy states direction and signals where implementing regulations are likely headed, but it does not itself create a licence requirement, a tax rate or an enforceable obligation. Businesses should treat its targets and commitments as a strong signal of coming regulatory change, not as rules already in force.

The Targets, and a Gap Worth Noting

The policy sets a target of 5% of new vehicle registrations being zero-emission by 2025, against a stated 2023 baseline of 1.62%. Since the National Electric Mobility Policy itself was only launched in February 2026, that 2025 target had already passed by the time of publication, which says something about the gap between stated ambition and delivery pace that a manufacturer or importer should factor into its own planning timelines rather than take the document’s longer-dated targets, 30% of all road vehicles electric or hydrogen by 2050, all motorcycles electric by 2050, at face value. On local content specifically, the policy commits to “a clear local content requirement for EVs, phased in over time” and to sales and investment targets for automakers and assemblers, without yet specifying the percentages or thresholds. Government fleet procurement is more concrete: a target of 2% locally sourced EVs in the government fleet by 2027, rising to 3,000 government EVs by the same year.

Tax Commitments in the Policy Versus What Is Actually Law

The policy states, as Policy Statement 9, an intention to secure VAT and excise exemptions on EV parts, and, as Policy Statement 11, VAT and excise incentives on complete built-up EVs “for a limited period” and on locally assembled EVs. Read on its own, this can sound like a settled tax regime. It is not. As we set out in our companion piece on import duty and tax treatment of EVs in Kenya, the tax relief that is actually in force today is narrower and more specific: zero-rated VAT for electric buses, electric bicycles and lithium-ion or solar batteries under the Finance Act 2023, retained through the Finance Act 2026, and an exclusion of electric motorcycles from excise duty. There is, as far as the current text of the Excise Duty Act discloses, no confirmed distinct excise rate for electric passenger cars, and no EV-specific VAT relief for electric cars or standard charging equipment. A business relying on the National Electric Mobility Policy’s broader Statement 9 and 11 language to price a Kenyan EV import or assembly project should treat that language as a direction of travel, not a rate it can rely on today.

The Institutions Doing the Actual Regulatory Work

The policy assigns roles rather than creating new law itself: the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority for charging tariff and licensing guidelines, the Kenya Bureau of Standards for technical standards, and the National Transport and Safety Authority for registration and emissions classification. Of these, EPRA has already moved, its Electric Vehicle Charging and Battery Swapping Infrastructure Guidelines were published in March 2025, ahead of the policy’s own launch, and remain the one concrete regulatory instrument currently governing charging infrastructure. The policy also creates a new multi-agency e-Mobility Steering Committee, with a stated deadline of December 2025 that had already passed by the policy’s own February 2026 launch, and five Technical Working Groups tasked with, among other things, charging interoperability standards targeted for December 2026. None of this technical follow-through has yet been delivered as binding regulation as at the date of this article.

What This Means If You Are Already Assembling Vehicles in Kenya

The policy does not mention, amend or reference Kenya’s existing automotive assembly incentive framework, the Income Tax Act schedule, Finance Act local content thresholds and KRA/KEBS compliance rules that already govern completely knocked down assembly, which we cover in detail in our guide to automotive assembly incentives, licensing and local content rules in Kenya. An assembler bringing in electric vehicle kits today qualifies, or does not, under that existing general framework, since no separate EV-specific assembly incentive has yet been enacted. The practical read for an investor is that the legal architecture for EV manufacturing in Kenya is currently the general automotive assembly regime, with the electric mobility policy signalling where EV-specific rules are likely headed rather than replacing that regime yet.