Tunisian mechanic Boubaker Siala grew up watching cars bake under the relentless North African sun. Now he is putting that sunshine to work. His company, Bako Motors, builds electric vehicles with solar panels built into their roofs — turning one of Africa's biggest headaches into an energy source.
Africa sits on a goldmine of solar power that most of the world has barely touched. Although the continent holds roughly 40% of the world's theoretical solar energy potential, it currently accounts for less than 2% of global installed solar capacity. The numbers are striking: Africa records the world's highest average solar yield at 4.51 kilowatt-hours per kilowatt-peak per day, making it the only continent where conditions qualify as "excellent" for solar generation. More than 85% of the continent receives over 2,000 kilowatt-hours of solar radiation per square metre every year.
Researchers at ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute studied over 2,000 locations across 52 African countries and found that small EVs running on solar charging could become economically competitive across most of Africa before 2040. Their study suggested that compact solar installations could reliably power a compact EV driving about 50 kilometres a day — a distance that covers the daily commute of most urban drivers.
Bako Motors is already turning that research into reality. The company's flagship Bako Bee, a compact city car designed for urban mobility, travels between 70 and 120 kilometres on a single charge. Its rooftop solar panels supplement a lithium iron phosphate battery, cutting how often drivers need to plug in. The company has also built a delivery van called the B-Van with up to 300 kilometres of range, 1,320 litres of cargo space, and a solar roof that powers refrigeration, lighting and air conditioning while out on delivery routes.
Bako has just completed its first export delivery of the Bee to Italy — one of the first times an African-designed solar EV has been sold commercially in Europe. A new factory in Kalâat el-Andalous, Tunisia is being built to produce up to 8,000 vehicles per year, with about 80% earmarked for export to Italy, Germany and France. The company also manufactures in Saudi Arabia for Gulf markets.
International manufacturers are noticing the opportunity. Chinese company Solarky Mobility Technologies is preparing to launch its sunV in South Africa. The company already sells the four-seater in Tanzania, Thailand and Indonesia. The sunV comes with a lithium iron phosphate battery and a rooftop solar array that can unfold from 1.6 square metres to 3.2 square metres, dramatically increasing energy capture when the vehicle is parked.
Not everyone is convinced the technology will scale widely. Some engineers argue that car roofs are simply too small to generate meaningful power and that the extra cost may not justify the gains. But for places where charging stations are few and sunshine is plentiful, solar-assisted EVs offer a practical bridge — a way to travel further on clean energy even when the nearest plug is hundreds of kilometres away.
For Siala and other African EV makers, the logic is straightforward: Africa has the sun. Now it is learning to drive on it.