Tax incentives that drove EV numbers from 1,200 to over 35,000 at risk as zero-rated status shifts to exempt. ICPAK and tax analysts caution that removing incentives will trigger job losses.
President William Ruto alights from an electric car, at KICC. [PCS]
The country’s ambitions to green up its transport sector could be dealt a major blow if proposals in the Finance Bill, 2026, sail through Parliament.
The Bill is threatening to roll back tax incentives that have been key in growing the number of electric vehicles on Kenyan roads by shifting e-mobility components and solar technologies from VAT zero-rated to VAT exempt.
Premium Article
Get Full Access for Ksh299/Week.
Duty cuts aim to boost EV adoption
Budget proposes higher taxes on fuel cars, sweeping duty cuts for electric vehicles
Kenya’s new tax proposals threaten M-KOPA, Sun King phone assembly plants
Mbadi’s new dilemma in funding Sh4.8trn budget
The proposal reclassifies electric motorcycles, buses and bicycles, as well as solar batteries and lithium-ion batteries -- which…
Kenya wants to impose 16% VAT on electric vehicles, batteries and electric bicycles, a move that could slow the rapid growth of…
It also proposes lowering taxes on imported electric vehicles
Manufacturers have opposed the Ruto administration’s Finance Bill 2026, warning that new levies on imports from EAC partner…
Kenya plans to introduce value-added tax (VAT) on electric buses, lithium-ion batteries and electric bicycles.
When the law treats a fully built import more favourably than a raw component destined for domestic manufacturing, something has…
