Bringing THE NORDICS to The
AFRICAn EV CAPITAL
ADDIS ABABA, 14-16 Sept 2026
Addis Ababa Program | 14 – 16 Sept
Monday 14 Sept
Industry Tour
Participants will visit key infrastructure and industry sites to gain first-hand insight into Ethiopia’s emerging electric mobility ecosystem, including charging infrastructure, fleet operations, and local industry initiatives.
TUESDAY 15 Sept
Policy and Governance
The first summit day focuses on regulatory frameworks, institutional coordination, and market governance required to scale electric mobility.
Topics include:
• National EV strategies and policy frameworks
• Regulatory standards and charging interoperability
• Road to COP32
• Power system planning and grid readiness
• Public sector leadership in electrified transport
• Cross-border coordination and regional market integration
Wednesday 16 sept
Industry and Deployment
The second day focuses on market implementation and infrastructure development.
Topics include:
• Charging infrastructure deployment models
• Fleet electrification and logistics solutions
• Battery energy storage and grid integration
• Industrial partnerships and manufacturing opportunities
• Investment pathways for scaling EV markets
THursday 17 - Monday 21 Sept
Road to Nairobi
TRANS-AFRICA ELECTRIC HIGHWAY 4 (Addis Ababa - Nairobi 1600km)
The Nordic-Africa EV Summit (Addis Ababa) will followed by the Road to Nairobi expedition. This same route made history in October 2025 with the successful completion of the Road to Addis, the first fully electric cross-border convoy between Nairobi and Addis Ababa. That journey proved that long-distance electric travel across East Africa is possible, even in the absence of mature charging networks.
Road to Nairobi builds directly on that achievement. As a continuation, to test infrastructure after one year, moving from proof of concept toward realisation, refinement, and scale.
WHY A SECOND JOURNEY
The Road to Addis demonstrated that long-distance electric travel across East Africa is possible, even without mature charging networks. After that journey, the public and private sectors were given one year to respond by developing infrastructure, improving grid access, and aligning border processes. Road to Nairobi tests whether those responses have materialised.
Tuesday 22 Sept
Nairobi Forum
Following the arrival of the Road to Nairobi, the Nairobi Forum convenes key stakeholders to engage with one of Africa’s leading electric mobility markets. Kenya has positioned itself at the forefront of e-mobility adoption, with strong momentum across electric buses, motorcycles, and charging infrastructure. This makes Nairobi a critical point of engagement for understanding how electric mobility is developing at scale in the African context.
The forum brings Nordic stakeholders into direct dialogue with Kenyan and regional actors across policy, industry, and energy systems. Together with insights from Ethiopia, this creates a broader perspective on how electric mobility is evolving across the continent.
THEMATICS
Unconstrained Charging
In many African markets, charging demand will outpace grid upgrades. This pillar looks at how storage-backed charging infrastructure and BESS enable high-power, reliable charging without waiting for grid expansion, and how Nordic technologies and financing structures can accelerate rollout for fleets and corridors.
Heavy-Duty Electrification
Electrifying buses, commercial fleets and transport corridors offers Africa the fastest route to scale and impact. This pillar focuses on heavy-duty deployment models, showcasing how Nordic vehicle platforms, charging solutions and operational expertise can support reliable, high-utilisation transport systems across cities and regions.
Policy Enabler
The focus is on the regulatory, public transport and market structures that shape investment decisions, highlighting how Nordic experience in regulation, public procurement and public–private partnership models can support African governments and cities in creating predictable, investable conditions for long-term electrification.
Grid Readiness
Africa’s electric mobility rollout will be limited by grid capacity unless power systems evolve in parallel. This pillar examines how grid planning, renewable integration and system resilience can enable EV deployment at scale, drawing on Nordic experience in building robust, flexible power systems suited for long-term growth.
About the Addis Ababa Summit
14–16 September 2026 | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The Addis Ababa edition of the Nordic Africa EV Summit brings together African and Nordic leaders across policy, industry, energy, finance, and transport to advance the next phase of electric mobility across the continent.
Hosted in one of Africa’s most dynamic and fast-evolving mobility markets, the summit focuses on moving from pilot projects to scalable, bankable systems. Through high-level dialogue, industry engagement, and site visits, participants will explore how electric mobility can be deployed across cities, transport corridors, and regional trade networks.
The programme is designed to connect decision-makers with practical opportunities, aligning policy, infrastructure, energy systems, and investment to enable real implementation.
As part of the broader Nordic Africa EV Summit platform, the Addis Ababa convening serves as a working arena for partnership and execution, supporting long-term collaboration between Nordic and African actors and contributing to the development of coordinated market frameworks for electric mobility across Africa.