Aside from a few Chinese electric scooters in Addis Abeba and Hawassa and a couple of electric club-cars at the Sheraton and Millennium Hall, electric cars remain out of the picture as a transportation option to Ethiopians. Many people may remember the green electric trolley busses on display in Meskel Square almost two years ago or the little electric cars in Dire Dawa on ETV over a year ago. But nothing has been seen of either of these in public since.
 

This situation may not last long as it has become harder and harder to name a major automaker that is not at least developing a prototype battery electric vehicle with plans for sales in the next one to three years. There is even a six-seat hatchback being developed in South Africa by Optimal Energy with delivery to prepaid customers planned for 2012.
 

But how many of these plans are actually to bare fruit is another question. Electric vehicles have been promised by many leading automakers since the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970s, yet most highway capable electric vehicles in operation today, according to the Electric Auto Association, have been converted by small third party organizations using the chassis of an internal combustion engine vehicle. Even these vehicle conversions have not been made available to African states and are as yet unheard of in Ethiopia as they are mostly limited to western countries as seen on evalbum.com.

There is an interesting albeit sad story of one particular electric vehicle that found its way to Addis and is even now in use. It was one of about only 2,000 electric vehicles manufactured by General Motors (GM) during the 1990s for the California Zero Emissions Vehicle Mandate. This California law required all major automakers in the state to sell an increasing percentage of vehicles that released no pollution. The reason for the law was the rising asthma, emphysema, and cancer rates caused by pollution from automobiles. Soon, other states began adopting the California law.

At the same time GM, Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, Nissan and Honda produced these battery electric vehicles in limited numbers, they fought the legislation. When they eventually won, they all secretly started recalling the vehicles, which were mostly leased, and crushed them as documented in the film "Who Killed the Electric Vehicle." GM even sold its battery technology to ChevronTexaco, a large oil company in the United States. They promptly shut down production and sued Panasonic for copyright infringement over the similar batteries they were making for Ford and Toyota.

Why did the major automakers take such drastic action against the electric vehicle? Because the electric vehicle required a very different business model than that of the internal combustion engine vehicle, and they did not want to be forced to change, according to former GM employee Chelsea Sexton.

GM's EV1 could go over 240km per day or much farther if charged during mealtimes or other breaks and all for a very negligible cost of electricity. It could go about 130km per hour and looked like a normal sporty car. So, why did it require a business model so different, that the major automakers chose to crush it?

The difference was that it required virtually no maintenance, a big part of any automaker's profits. Also, instead of paying for expensive fuel every month, customers would have to pay for expensive batteries every few years or every decade depending on the kind of batteries they purchased. Alternatively, the batteries could be leased on a monthly basis, but that would require the automaker's cooperation.
 

GM refused to adapt to a changing market, as many large corporations do, and even tried to pretend that they had never made the EV1. However, Toyota managed to combine the two business models by producing the Prius hybrid starting in the late 1990s and subsequently overtook GM as the largest automaker in the world with their new 'green' image.
 

If hypothetically, this brand of electric vehicles was put to use in Addis Abeba, what sort of changes can be expected of take place for life in the city? Would the city's transportation dilemma be alleviated or would this innovation bring more complications than relief? As people complain of congestion, noise pollution and the smog of unchecked the motor vehicles, would a lithe little car that runs on nothing but electricity be the answer to the city's rampant traffic impasse.
 

As Prius was immensely popular. It was popular because it used less fuel, it produced less pollution, it emitted less greenhouse gasses, and it was the new high-tech gadget.
 

Then thethe reality of global warming started to hit home with events such as hurricane Katrina, the price of oil soared to ridiculous levels past 140 dollars per barrel, and the financial crises rocked the world, the automotive industry suddenly realized that all the things that made the Prius popular would make electric vehicles even more popular.
 

Countries around the world started offering generous incentives to those who would produce or purchase electric vehicles. Then GM admitted that crushing its electric vehicle programme was its biggest mistake as it faced its looming bankruptcy. Newly inaugurated United States President Barack Obama offered 12.5 billion dollars in stimulus money to promote electric vehicles, and the race was on.
 

China stands as the country with the most to gain from electric vehicle technology. It has the world's largest hydropower resources, limited oil deposits, huge industrial capacity, and the largest emerging middle class looking to buy new cars. Also, with the price of oil, it makes more sense for other countries to pay China one time for a car that uses domestic energy from their home countries instead of buying a car that requires paying for foreign oil every month.

India is also in basically the same boat as China regarding the above characteristics and situations. Even for countries that produce all their electricity from dirty, expensive coal, the electric vehicle is still cleaner and cheaper than the internal combustion engine vehicle in the long run, according to Sherry Boschert, author of the book 'Plug-In Hybrids.'
 

Where blackouts are common, electric vehicles can act as a mobile power backup source. Like mobile phones, electric vehicles are conveniently charged at night when electricity is often wasted anyway due to lack of demand and the fact that power plants cannot be turned on and off everyday.
 

It seems like the brains behind this idea, knew exactly what the local entrepreneur faces here. While blackouts are nearly unheard of in the US, the citizenry of Ethiopia is well acquainted with the inconveniences and downright emergencies that a power outage can affect. Had this technology been available to the business men and women, imagine the loss suffered by the retailers not to mention middlemen peddling new and second-hand generators. These generators, which are after all batteries, run on diesel producing the much hated fumes and costing a fortune in the process.
 

Rarely are batteries completely depleted by daily commutes in an electric vehicle leaving the remainder available for powering a home or small business. They can even be driven from one area that has light to another area without light to provide power there.

Whether or not electric vehicles are adopted quickly in developing countries, they will surely provide huge benefits here due to their positive effect on mitigating global warming.

If some kind of carbon trading scheme is adopted in the international community, heavy polluters such as the United States and China may be required to give aid to countries developing sustainable economies. Ethiopia only needs to add electric vehicles to its portfolio of green technologies which already includes geothermal, wind and solar electricity production.

Many countries provide incentives to those purchasing electric vehicles. The United States offers thousands of dollars as an income tax credit depending on the cost of the vehicle. Singapore has a 40pc rebate on the open market value of each electric vehicle purchased. In India, several states have exempted electric vehicles from sales tax. The central government of India gives an additional 75,000 rupees to any government agency buying electric vehicles. This intelligence was according to REVA, currently largest producer of electric vehicles in the world, which is based in Bangalore, India.
 

Ethiopia, currently, has no incentives in place for electric vehicles. Surprisingly, vehicles with an electric motor have already been assigned tax rates by the Customs Authority.  They are taxed the same as a car with a small internal combustion engine. After adding the various rates the total tax amounts to more than 100pc. Instead of being on par with liquid fuel vehicles, electric vehicles should be taxed at zero per cent. 
 

Each electric vehicle increases productivity without sacrificing foreign exchange for a fuel that pollutes the air, damages health, and creates wear requiring the regular replacement of parts. This should at least be done in the beginning to encourage the early adoption of a transportation system which the public is not currently accustomed to.
 

Finally, the government should carryout cost comparison studies specific to its own vehicle fleets.  Some fleet vehicles regularly travel short distances, which require much smaller battery packs, significantly reducing their initial cost. Even the old EEPCo trucks you see driving around, for example, could be converted to electric at a fraction of the cost of buying a new vehicle, which the government has tried to limit due to budget constraints.
 

No matter what is done in the mean time, the government may be forced to use electric vehicles in the near future. As Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has stated, oil prices are unlikely to come down - due to speculation based on their finite sources. It would be tragic for the Ethiopian economy to be punished like it was when prices went up past 140 dollars per barrel, especially now that there are abundant electricity sources coming online this year that could be used to power electric vehicles.