Rwanda Development Board, the bus operator Ecofleet Solutions and Chery Holding Rwanda signed an agreement on 30 October under which Ecofleet will buy 300 electric buses, about 200 of them assembled in Rwanda. The order is almost nine times the 34 electric buses the transport agency put out to tender in August; the first 100 are due by March 2027, the rest by December 2027, and 100 will be built in China. The cabinet approved Chery’s plan for a vehicle assembly plant in Rwanda on 18 September. Local assembly would give Kigali’s public transport a domestic source of buses and industrial jobs, but its scale depends on the investment, capacity and site, which the partners have not disclosed.
Sources
- The New Times: https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/40119/news/energy/over-200-buses-set-for-assembly-in-rwanda-under-chery-deal/amp
- Umunota: https://umunota.com/u-rwanda-rwasinye-amasezerano-yemeza-kubaka-uruganda-ruteranya-imodoka-zamashanyarazi/
- Agaciro Press (cabinet approval): https://agaciropress.com/chery-approved-to-build-electric-vehicle-assembly-plant-in-rwanda/
- allAfrica / The New Times (34-bus tender): https://allafrica.com/stories/202608280066.html