Africa is getting our gas-guzzling leftovers pivoted to EVs

While richer countries around the world transition Unpleasant EVsthat transition comes with a little-known and hardly-discussed side effect: where do all the old petrol cars go when people make the switch to electric cars? While some are getting back into circulation in the used car market, CNN reports that most others turn up in poorer West African countries where they are bought cheaply.

West African countries such as Benin and Ghana have been getting older vehicles for years, mostly from the US. Benin, for example, is one of Africa’s top importers of used vehicles from other parts of the world. The trend has gained momentum in recent years as electric cars gain traction and governments around the world world approve laws prohibit ICE vehicles. And as more and more people trade in their older petrol cars for new EVs, dealers are starting to stop wanting the cars too. It has led to a boom in used car exports in coastal cities like New York and Florida.

In states like New York and Florida, where consumers are buying more electric cars, dealers are increasingly looking abroad to sell their older gasoline models, said Matt Trapp, a regional vice president at major auto auction company Manheim.

Those states also have robust port operations, making them an ideal place to ship used cars to Africa. “It creates a really complementary dynamic,” Trapp told CNN.

“I’m not surprised how robust the export game is getting,” Trapp said. “We are starting to see that dynamic more and more. When [auto dealers] see demand in other markets, they will find a way to move the metal there.

Even worse, these vehicles pollute worse in Africa than in their home country. A car dealership in Nigeria reportedly said CNN that “tThe cars that smoke usually come from the U.S.” Because the rare metals found in catalytic converters fuel a global black market, they are often removed from vehicles before they are shipped or after they arrive in Africa.

Something has to happen. The United Nations Environment Programme has been working with US and European officials on regulations that would address the shipping of these older polluting cars to the African continent. But officials say talks are at an early stage and have not yet yielded results. Others hope that EVs will eventually find their way to Africa, but major changes will need to be made, especially with regard to infrastructure.

Until something is done about it, the world cannot sit back and celebrate the ban on EVs and petrol engines until every corner of the world has access to clean, zero-emission vehicles. Moving old, polluting vehicles from one place to another ultimately solves nothing.