How Nigeria’s Fuel Shock Sparked Its First EV-Only Assembly Plant

When President Bola Tinubu removed Nigeria’s decades-old petrol subsidy in May 2023, the effects were immediate and punishing. Pump prices jumped from ₦185 per litre to over ₦500 almost overnight, later climbing past ₦600. For households and businesses, the move triggered inflation and cost pressure across the board. But beneath the pain, the policy quietly altered the fundamentals of transportation economics in Nigeria, opening a narrow but powerful window for alternatives to petrol-powered vehicles.

That window is where SAGLEV emerged. While Nigerian automakers such as Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing and NORD have introduced electric models, their production remains overwhelmingly focused on internal combustion engine vehicles. SAGLEV, by contrast, has positioned itself as Nigeria’s first electric-only vehicle assembly operation, built entirely around the assumption that petrol would eventually become too expensive to remain dominant.

For founder Sam Faleye, the subsidy removal was not a surprise but a long-anticipated turning point. Faleye is a U.S.-trained physician who spent nearly three decades working across internal medicine and clinical informatics before turning his attention to electric mobility. His interest in EVs began in 2012, when he bought his first Tesla, the same year the Model S launched.

That experience convinced him that internal combustion engines were approaching structural obsolescence. Electric vehicles, he observed, have a fraction of the moving parts found in petrol cars, no oil changes, no exhaust systems, no transmissions, and significantly lower maintenance costs.

Once I drove that first EV, it was obvious to me these things would change the world. And Elon Musk wasn’t crazy, Faleye says.

 What Faleye believed global automakers underestimated was Africa’s long-term EV potential. Yet he was equally clear-eyed about the barriers. Weak electricity grids, scarce public charging infrastructure, high installation costs, and unreliable power supply made mass adoption unrealistic in most African markets without a forcing function. Outside major cities, limited grid coverage and poor road networks made fast-charging corridors commercially unviable. In many cases, off-grid or solar charging was the only option, and those systems were still early and fragmented.

Still, the numbers kept pointing in one direction. In Lagos, ride-hailing drivers routinely spend between ₦30,000 and ₦40,000 on petrol daily. Charging an electric vehicle costs roughly ₦6,000. That gap represented not just savings, but income, margins, and job sustainability.

The EV play in Africa is an employment opportunity play,” Faleye says. “The economics are too compelling to ignore.

SAGLEV was founded in 2017 and was initially planned for Ghana, not Nigeria. At the time, Ghana offered a more predictable business environment and a unique energy situation. Nearly half of its power generation capacity sat unused under expensive “take-or-pay” contracts, creating pressure to absorb excess electricity. With roughly 80% electrification and early EV experiments from companies like Kantanka and SolarTaxi, electric mobility was framed less as a climate initiative and more as an economic release valve.

But progress stalled as political pressure from the used-car lobby slowed regulatory clarity around automotive assembly. Meanwhile, Faleye’s long-term analysis continued to point back to Nigeria. In 2019, while participating in a U.S. Department of Commerce export programme, he reviewed more than 250 Nigerian companies and reached a blunt conclusion: Nigeria was fiscally stretched, external creditors were pushing for reform, and the fuel subsidy was unsustainable. His models suggested that once petrol prices crossed ₦400 per litre, EVs would become economically superior for ride-hailing, logistics, and fleet operators.

When Nigeria removed the subsidy abruptly and Ghana’s policies stalled, Faleye moved quickly. Equipment originally destined for Accra was redirected to Lagos. Nigerian regulators, including the National Automotive Design and Development Council, encouraged the shift.

Jelani Aliyu kept asking, Why are you not doing this in Nigeria? Faleye says. They saw before most people did that we would actually pull this off.

SAGLEV’s decisive break came with the discovery of an abandoned beverage factory in Imota, Ikorodu. Rather than build a plant from scratch or lease expensive industrial space, the company retrofitted the structure, dramatically reducing capital expenditure.

You can build an EV plant in Nigeria for under ₦10 billion, Faleye says. If you’re smart, even under ₦6 billion.

The facility officially began operations in June 2025, following a three-year build-out, at a moment when fuel prices had made electric mobility more economically viable than at any point in Nigeria’s history.

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SAGLEV deliberately structured itself as an assembly operation rather than an importer of finished vehicles. Importing used EVs is becoming harder due to tightening Chinese export rules requiring OEM-backed after-sales support. Nigeria’s proposed Green Mobility Bill is expected to favour local assembly while penalising reliance on fully built imports. At the same time, intra-African logistics remain prohibitively expensive, often making it cheaper to ship a car from China to Nigeria than from Ghana.

By assembling vehicles locally from semi-knocked-down kits, SAGLEV avoids inflated resale prices. Its vehicles sell for around ₦80 million, compared with ₦120–₦140 million for comparable imported luxury EVs.

The company currently assembles 17 models, ranging from compact sedans for ride-hailing to delivery vans, pickups, luxury SUVs such as the Voyah Free, and BRT-scale electric buses. Installed capacity stands at 2,500 vehicles per year, with room to scale to 10,000 annually through multi-shift production.

Reliable EV data across Africa remains limited, but estimates suggest Nigeria has between 15,000 and 20,000 electric vehicles on the road, including two- and three-wheelers. Faleye believes actual demand is significantly higher. SAGLEV has assembled 55 vehicles so far and sold 40 almost immediately.

Demand is becoming increasingly structured. Around 140 ride-hailing drivers have signed commitments to purchase EVs if financing becomes available. An undisclosed Nigerian corporation operating more than 2,500 fleet vehicles is exploring electrification. Commercial banks, once sceptical, are now approaching SAGLEV proactively. One bank has signed an MOU, while several others are in advanced discussions.

Two years ago, banks didn’t even want to talk about EVs,” Faleye says. Now customers are asking them directly: do you finance EVs?

Operational data from ride-hailing platforms shows most drivers in Lagos travel under 200 kilometres daily. SAGLEV’s compact EVs offer up to 330 kilometres per charge and can reach 70% capacity in about two hours. For many drivers, weekly charging is sufficient.

The cost contrast remains stark. A petrol-powered Corolla can consume ₦30,000 to ₦40,000 worth of fuel per day. An EV costs roughly ₦6,000 to fully charge. Maintenance expenses are 50–60% lower due to the simplicity of electric drivetrains. SAGLEV’s battery supplier, Dongfeng Motor Corporation, provides eight-year OEM warranties, giving banks and fleet operators confidence in long-term financing.

Concerns about Nigeria’s electricity grid persist, but Faleye argues they are misplaced. He notes that Nigeria already runs on private generators, independent power producers, and solar installations rather than the national grid. Most EV owners charge at home, typically once a week. Charging requires about 6–7 kilowatts, which many households can support with modest solar upgrades.

Faleye believes future power strain will come less from EVs and more from data centres and AI infrastructure. Many data centres already operate surplus generation and are seeking partnerships for EV charging. SAGLEV is in discussions with operators controlling up to 20 megawatts of excess capacity.

The grid won’t carry Nigeria’s EV revolution, Faleye says. Private power will.

Public charging infrastructure remains limited, but private companies such as eDryv and Qoray have begun deploying chargers across Lagos. SAGLEV plans to build distributed charging around ride-hailing clusters and inter-city routes. Apps like ConnectVolt already map an ecosystem expanding faster than public perception suggests.

Faleye also challenges the assumption that EVs are unaffordable. SAGLEV offers standard models priced between ₦33 million and ₦40 million and ride-hailing-optimised models priced between ₦19 million and ₦20 million. These prices now compete directly with used petrol vehicles selling for ₦20 million to ₦45 million.

EV batteries typically last around 20 years before dropping to 70% efficiency, and their modular design allows individual cell replacement. This durability enables banks to offer seven- to eight-year loan tenors.

It’s not an affordability problem, Faleye says. It’s a credit problem.

Local content remains a long-term challenge. Aside from labour, SAGLEV currently sources all components from abroad, reflecting Nigeria’s lack of automotive supply chains. The Green Mobility Bill targets 30% local content by 2030, but Faleye is cautious about timelines.

People dream of 100% Nigerian cars, he says. Even Mercedes is only 20% German today.

By 2030, SAGLEV aims to place 10,000 EVs on Nigerian roads annually and expand its workforce beyond 120 employees. The company plans to extend operations into Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and one unnamed market outside Africa, with the long-term goal of building a regional electric mobility ecosystem spanning assembly, charging, fleet electrification, and green transport services.

Faleye believes Africa will not electrify through mandates or idealism, but through necessity.

If you can cut your power cost by 70% and your maintenance by 50%, Nigerians will figure it out, he says. The demand will be exponential. It has already started.