I have been watching Uganda’s e-mobility journey for a while now, and if there is one thing I am convinced of, it is this: we are standing at the edge of a transformation that can change how our country moves, works, and even breathes.
This September, from the 18th to the 19th, the Kiira Vehicle Plant in Jinja will host the second National E-Mobility Expo. This is not just another conference with speeches and photo opportunities. The gathering could redefine our transport future and put Uganda on the map as a serious player in green mobility.
Some of us still remember August 2024 when the inaugural one-day E-Mobility Expo surprised even the sceptics. Over 300 delegates showed up from the USA, Europe, China, South Africa, and Tanzania, all eager to see what Uganda had to offer. The event left attendees buzzing with possibility. We saw the buses, heard the plans, and felt for the first time that this was more than talk. That single day was proof of concept, and the 2025 Expo will be proof of scale.
I am excited because this Expo is not just about showcasing shiny electric buses. Ideas will meet investment, innovation will meet policy, and Uganda will meet its future head-on. Hosting it at the Kiira Vehicle Plant, to His Excellency the President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who on 14th August 2021 laid the foundation stone, is a powerful reminder that this journey has been years in the making. Today, the facility is complete and operational, having already built 41 buses, 29 of them fully electric, with a range of 500 km per charge. With capacity for 2,500 vehicles a year and 3,700 buses already heading for West Africa, Kiira Motors is showing the kind of ambition that can inspire a continent.
The theme says it all: “Powering Innovation, Accelerating Industrialisation, and Shaping Africa’s Green Future.” Themes only matter if action follows. This Expo could spark the kind of commitments from government, private sector, development partners, and innovators that will stick long after the tents come down.
Uganda does not have to wait for the rest of the world to decide the future of mobility. Leadership is possible now. Jobs can be created, 800 so far with over 14,000 expected. Emissions can be reduced, fuel imports cut, and young engineers and entrepreneurs inspired. Sustaining momentum is essential, which is why this Expo matters.
In my opinion, what excites me most about this moment is that it is no longer just about technology, it is about us as Ugandans deciding the kind of future we want. Do we want to remain consumers of other people’s innovations, or do we dare to become creators and exporters ourselves? For me, the Expo represents a choice: a choice to align our transport system with sustainability, to create jobs that keep our young people home and hopeful, and to show Africa that transformation can begin here. If we seize this chance, Uganda will not only move people differently, it will move minds and markets across the continent.
To anyone wondering whether to attend, this is your moment. Come to Jinja, see the possibilities, and be part of the story before it is written without you. In a few years, when people talk about the moment Uganda’s green transport revolution truly took off, they just might point to September 2025.
By Caroline Mbolanyi
Communications Officer
