Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) has terminated its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Addis Ababa-based electric vehicle (EV) startup Dodai Inc. five months after it was signed. The Ethiopian government’s investment arm attributed the termination to a realization that a venture capital fund (VC), currently under formation by EIH, would better manage such investments. In a statement shared on Saturday morning, EIH indicated that a VC would be better suited for risk management, realizing targeted investment returns, and enhanced operational support for early-stage ventures.
“Pursuing the battery-swapping initiative directly through EIH is not deemed feasible at this stage,” reads the statement.
The October MoU entailed support from EIH to deploy 100 battery swap stations in the capital over the next year, with plans to expand to 300 stations over three years. Estimates during the period suggested that investments ranging between 30-40 million dollars would be needed to realize the partnership targets. Dodai which is currently working to scale up and diversify its operations, announced plans in March to cover license plate fees for 250 members of an EV association as it navigated regulatory hurdles in Addis Ababa.
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