EV Daily Brief | 23 September 2026

EV Daily Brief: Nissan’s PIXO, Africa’s Electric-Truck Test, and Kenya’s Charging-Tariff Shift

Today’s key developments: Nissan has unveiled the PIXO electric city car for Europe, South Africa has begun a 4,000 km independent electric-truck trial, and Kenya’s energy regulator has removed the monthly ceiling on the special e-mobility electricity tariff.

Coverage window: 22–23 September 2026 | Prepared in East Africa Time (UTC+3)

At a glance

The clearest product news is Nissan’s unveiling of the PIXO, a small European-market electric city car using a 27.5 kWh lithium-iron-phosphate battery, up to 259 km of WLTP range, and 50 kW DC charging. [Source]

Global demand remains uneven. Europe is showing strong growth, Chinese electric-vehicle exports are surging, and North American sales are being depressed by difficult comparisons after the United States ended its federal EV tax credit. [Source] [Source]

Africa’s most concrete development is a 4,000 km independent test of Chinese-made Sany electric trucks across South Africa’s main freight corridors. The trial will generate local evidence about heavy-truck performance and whether passenger-car charging infrastructure can support commercial freight. [Source]

In Kenya, EPRA has removed the 15,000 kWh monthly ceiling that previously restricted access to the special e-mobility tariff. The government is also using the Africa EV Freight Forum to move zero-emission freight from demonstrations toward commercial deployment. [Source] [Source]

1. Global EV developments

Nissan unveils the PIXO small electric city car for Europe

Published: 23 September 2026
Topic: Vehicle launch, battery technology, urban mobility

Nissan unveiled the all-new PIXO, an A-segment battery-electric city car developed for European urban driving. The model uses a 27.5 kWh LFP battery, offers up to 259 km of WLTP range, supports 50 kW DC rapid charging, and can charge from 15% to 80% in approximately 28 minutes. It also includes 11 kW AC charging, connected functions through the MyNissan app, Google built-in, and driver-assistance features. Read Nissan’s announcement.

PIXO is being developed with Renault and will be produced at Renault’s Novo Mesto facility in Slovenia. Customer deliveries are scheduled to begin in early 2027, with pricing and pre-orders expected from December 2026.

Why it matters: The launch shows automakers continuing to pursue smaller, lower-battery vehicles rather than concentrating only on large SUVs. An LFP battery and compact format may help control cost and improve urban usability, although the eventual price will determine whether the model is genuinely accessible.

What to watch: Nissan’s December pricing, the final market specifications, and whether the model is offered beyond Europe. The vehicle is currently described as Europe-specific.

Connected vehicles face a long-term software and network-management issue

Published: 23 September 2026
Topic: Connected vehicles, over-the-air updates, EV routing, telecommunications infrastructure

Omdia forecasts that the global connected-vehicle installed base will exceed 1.05 billion vehicles by 2035, up from 473.7 million in 2025. The research identifies over-the-air updates, service-level agreements, and software-based recurring services as central to the next phase of vehicle development. Read the Omdia forecast.

Omdia warns that planned LTE network decommissioning could disrupt functions embedded in connected vehicles. These include dynamic EV routing, software updates, advanced driver-assistance functions, and real-time safety services.

Why it matters: EV ownership increasingly depends on software and connectivity, not only on the battery and motor. Vehicles designed without a credible network-upgrade path could lose important features even when their mechanical systems remain functional.

What to watch: Automakers’ modem roadmaps, support commitments for older vehicles, and whether markets with slower network upgrades receive different vehicle specifications.

Global EV growth is positive but increasingly regionalized

Published: 22 September 2026, reporting August 2026 data
Topic: Sales, exports, regional market performance

Benchmark reported 1.83 million EV sales globally in August 2026, bringing 2026 year-to-date sales to 13.4 million. Global sales were up 2% year over year in August and 4% year to date. Europe was the strongest major region, with August sales up 36% year over year and year-to-date sales up 29%. Read the Benchmark analysis.

China’s August sales were down 11% year over year but up 4% month over month, while EVs remained above 60% of China’s passenger-car market for a fourth consecutive month. Chinese new-energy-vehicle exports rose more than 150% year over year to approximately 518,000 units in August, taking year-to-date exports beyond 3.3 million.

North American sales fell 33% year over year in August and were down 21% year to date. Benchmark cautions that the comparison is heavily affected by unusually strong US purchases before the federal tax credit expired in September 2025.

Why it matters: The market is not moving at one uniform speed. Europe is benefiting from incentives and cheaper models, China is combining a huge domestic market with aggressive exports, and North America is facing a policy-related demand reset.

What to watch: The next monthly data release, especially whether North American weakness persists after the comparison effect becomes less severe and whether Chinese export growth continues to reshape African and other emerging markets.

2. Africa-wide EV developments

South African electric-truck super test begins across 4,000 km of freight routes

Published: 23 September 2026
Topic: Heavy electric trucks, freight corridors, charging infrastructure

GoMetro and flx EV, working with Germany’s Kuehne Climate Centre, have begun the Mzansi electric truck super test 2026. Two production Sany battery-electric trucks—a 35-tonne 4x2 tractor and an 8-tonne rigid truck—are scheduled to travel roughly 4,000 km from Johannesburg to Cape Town, Gqeberha, East London, Durban, and back to Johannesburg. Read the Engineering News report.

The organisers say the trial is independent of the vehicle manufacturer’s control over route, telemetry, and reporting. The trucks will carry high-resolution telematics to measure operating data across the N1, N2, and N3 corridors. The test will examine long-distance performance under South African conditions and whether charging infrastructure designed for passenger vehicles can serve commercial transport.

Why it matters for Africa: Heavy trucks are harder to electrify than urban cars because they need high energy throughput, dependable charging, and route planning. Locally generated performance data can help operators and policymakers estimate the investment required for truck charging hubs.

What to watch: The first leg is expected to reach Cape Town on 28 September, ahead of Africa E-Mobility Week. Results on energy consumption, charging availability, load performance, and mountain routes will be particularly valuable.

Chinese EV and battery investment is expanding in North Africa

Published: 23 September 2026
Topic: Manufacturing, batteries, trade, market expansion

Alhurra reports that CATL recently signed a technology-licensing and supply agreement with Egyptian manufacturer BME for a battery plant in Egypt. It also reports that Gotion High-Tech’s Moroccan battery gigafactory is expected to begin mass production in October. Read the Alhurra report.

The report says Chinese EV shipments to Egypt rose by almost 150% year over year through July 2026, while shipments to Morocco rose by almost 122%. It describes a wider shift from simple vehicle imports toward local assembly, battery manufacturing, and component supply chains.

Why it matters for Africa: North Africa is becoming an important bridge between Chinese EV and battery technology, African consumers, and European supply chains. That could bring lower-cost vehicles and industrial investment, but it also raises questions about local value addition, technology dependence, and competition with existing manufacturers.

Confidence and context: The shipment figures and investment claims come from a reported analysis rather than a single official African trade release. They should be treated as credible reported indicators, not as a complete continent-wide market census.

3. Kenya EV developments

EPRA removes the 15,000 kWh ceiling for the special e-mobility tariff

Published: 22 September 2026
Topic: Charging infrastructure, electricity tariffs, battery swapping

Kenya’s Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority has removed the monthly 15,000 kWh ceiling that previously limited charging stations and other e-mobility operators under the special tariff category. The amendment was published in the Kenya Gazette on 18 September 2026. Read the Techweez report and the TechTrendsKE report.

The reported tariff remains KSh16 per kWh during normal hours and KSh8 per kWh during the applicable off-peak period from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The practical change is that charging stations, battery-swap operators, and fleet depots can grow their electricity consumption without automatically losing preferential treatment after crossing the old threshold.

The reports say the amendment applies retrospectively from 1 July 2025. Techweez also reports that the notice includes changes to consumption-threshold calculations, an off-peak discount for qualifying round-the-clock industrial users, and definitions related to net metering and power dumping.

Why it matters for Kenya: The old ceiling could discourage operators from serving more vehicles at one site. Removing it improves the economics of high-throughput charging and battery swapping, particularly for electric buses, motorcycles, vans, and commercial fleets.

What to watch: Whether Kenya Power, charging operators, and fleet companies translate the policy change into new stations, higher utilisation, or lower customer prices. The tariff change removes one constraint, but it does not by itself solve connection costs, site availability, reliability, or financing.

Kenya places zero-emission freight on the regional transport agenda

Published: 23 September 2026
Topic: Freight, policy, investment, charging corridors

Kenya hosted the inaugural Africa EV Freight Forum in Nairobi. The two-day event brought together government representatives, freight operators, financiers, development partners, and technology providers to discuss how to scale zero-emission freight across East Africa. Read the Kenya State Department for Transport report.

The first-day discussions focused on moving electric freight from demonstrations toward commercial deployment. They addressed infrastructure, investment, policy, technology, and partnerships, while also highlighting charging shortages and border-crossing delays along African trade corridors. Kenya’s transport officials described work to coordinate the country’s e-mobility agenda across policy and regulation, energy, innovation, skills, and finance.

Why it matters for Kenya: Freight electrification could affect buses, delivery fleets, trucks, ports, and regional logistics. The forum is significant because it frames EV adoption as a transport and industrial-planning issue rather than only a private-car issue.

What to watch: Concrete corridor pilots, financing commitments, charging-hub plans, and changes to road-transport rules that enable electric trucks and intelligent transport systems.

Kenya’s industrial opportunity is being argued alongside the policy shift

A 23 September Business Daily opinion column by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers argues that Kenya should use the EV transition to build local industrial capacity across electric motorcycles, buses, tuk-tuks, passenger vehicles, and related services. The column also points to the government’s stated commitment to make the first 100,000 imported EVs duty-free. Because this is an opinion article rather than a government notice, the industrial recommendations and policy interpretation should be treated as advocacy and verified against the applicable tax and customs instruments before being presented as settled policy. Read the opinion column.

Technology and trend tracker

Development	Current signal	Implication
LFP batteries in smaller cars	Nissan’s PIXO uses a 27.5 kWh LFP pack.	Smaller urban EVs can combine modest battery size with a potentially lower-cost chemistry.
Connected-vehicle dependence	Omdia forecasts more than 1.05 billion connected vehicles by 2035 and warns about LTE shutdown risks.	Network compatibility and software support become part of vehicle durability.
Commercial EV telematics	The South African truck test will record high-resolution operating data across major freight routes.	African fleet decisions can increasingly be based on local route and energy data.
High-throughput charging	Kenya removed the e-mobility tariff ceiling for growing charging and battery-swap operations.	Charging businesses can expand utilisation without the former monthly penalty threshold.

Vehicle and product launches

Nissan PIXO is the main verified launch in this news window. It is an urban A-segment EV for Europe, with early-2027 deliveries planned. Pricing is not yet public.

The South African Sany trucks involved in the Mzansi super test are production vehicles rather than a new launch. Their significance lies in the independent real-world trial of commercial EV performance under African operating conditions.

Policy, investment, and infrastructure watch

Kenya charging policy: EPRA removed the 15,000 kWh monthly ceiling for the special e-mobility tariff.
Kenya freight policy: The Africa EV Freight Forum is pushing toward commercial zero-emission freight corridors and coordinated rules, skills, energy planning, and finance.
North African manufacturing: Reported CATL–BME cooperation in Egypt and Gotion’s Moroccan battery project point to deeper Chinese battery-industry participation in Africa.
South African freight infrastructure: The 4,000 km truck trial will test whether existing passenger-car charging can support heavy commercial vehicles and identify where dedicated truck hubs are needed.

What this means for Kenya

The most immediately relevant Kenyan story is not a new passenger-car model but the removal of a constraint on charging growth. If the change works as intended, bus operators, motorcycle battery-swap companies, fleet depots, and independent charging providers should have more room to scale. The next test is whether that regulatory improvement produces visible investment and reliable service rather than only a change on paper.

The regional freight discussion also matters. South Africa’s truck trial and Kenya’s freight forum point toward a shift from isolated demonstrations to corridor-level evidence, commercial planning, and infrastructure design. Kenya can benefit if it uses its electricity and technology ecosystem to develop charging standards, fleet data, financing products, and cross-border routes that work for buses and freight vehicles as well as private cars.

Globally, the direction of travel is mixed but strategically important. Smaller EVs are being developed for affordability, software and connectivity are becoming core vehicle systems, and Chinese manufacturers are expanding their export and manufacturing reach. For Kenya, these trends could widen the range of vehicles available, but the final benefits will depend on landed prices, after-sales support, charging access, and policies that encourage local services and skills.

Developments to monitor

Nissan’s PIXO pricing and pre-order details in December 2026.
Results from the South African electric-truck test after the Cape Town leg and the Africa E-Mobility Week programme.
Whether Kenyan charging operators announce new stations or fleet expansions after the EPRA tariff amendment.
Concrete financing, corridor, and regulatory commitments emerging from the Africa EV Freight Forum.
Whether Chinese battery and vehicle investment in Egypt and Morocco develops into wider supply-chain participation across other African markets.

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