- USD 2.6 billion to be invested in electric commercial and school bus manufacturing.
- Eight thousand jobs are to be created.
12K Battery-Chem, a subsidiary of 12K Energy group, has revealed its plans to make USD 2.6 billion in commercial electric vehicles and school buses alongside the manufacturing of batteries in Zambia and Botswana. The battery manufacturing plant will be set up in Mansa county, while the commercial electric vehicles and school buses factory will be in Rufunsa.
Mansa was home to Mansa Batteries, a privatized company in the 1990s but stopped operation after a while. According to Professor Blessing Chitsenga, the Rufunsa-located plant will specialise in producing electric commercial and school buses, and the Mansa plant will deal strictly with the production of lithium batteries, with production expected to commence in 2023.
“12K Battery-Chem is scheduled to establish Africa’s first Giga plant, battery manufacturing to be located in Mansa of Luapula Province of Zambia. In addition, the company is expected to establish in Rufunsa district a plant to manufacture commercial electric vehicles and electric school buses,” he said.
According to Prof Chitsenga, 12K Battery-Chem will also be making similar investments in Botswana, and the construction phase of the Botswana plant will commence in 2023. The production of lithium-ion batteries will start by the end of 2023.