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Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Ltd., the truck-assembly venture between Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote's Dangote Group and China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co., has rolled out the first electric heavy-duty truck assembled in Nigeria.
The truck was unveiled at the venture's assembly plant in Ikeja, Lagos, before executives of both groups and officials of the Lagos state government. Sinotruk Group President Liu Wei called it "the first new-energy truck to be assembled on the African continent."
The companies did not disclose the truck's price, battery size, driving range or how many electric units the plant will build.
Devakumar Edwin, group vice president of Dangote Industries Ltd., said the move into electric vehicles follows the company's earlier adoption of compressed natural gas technology. He said electric commercial vehicles can lower operating costs and cut tailpipe emissions, and described the event as "more than a launch of new vehicles."
Edwin said the company has set up an after-sales team and is preparing support for charging facilities, spare parts and technical skills, which buyers of electric trucks in Nigeria will need. Sinotruk will train Nigerian engineers and technicians, including practical training for selected staff at its facilities in China.
Olasunkanmi Ojowuro, managing director of Lagos Bus Services, who represented Lagos Transportation Commissioner Oluwaseun Osiyemi, called the rollout "a significant development in Nigeria's industrial history." The traditional ruler of Ogba and the chairman of Ikeja local government also spoke, pressing for local content, jobs and government help with power supply and charging.
A decade of assembly
Dangote and Sinotruk formally set up the joint venture in 2014. The first heavy truck rolled off its assembly line in 2017, at a $100 million plant in Lagos built to assemble up to 10,000 vehicles a year, with Dangote saying at the time that it would create about 3,000 jobs.
In mid-2024, the venture started a completely knocked-down production line for medium and heavy-duty truck cabs at the plant, covering panel welding, e-coat painting and final assembly. It was the first full truck-cab assembly operation of its kind in the region.
The venture has assembled more than 8,000 vehicles in Nigeria, Liu said. Its range has grown from heavy-duty trucks to tippers, light trucks, pickups and buses, and the partners plan to add trailers and body-building, upgrade production lines and expand capacity.
Trucks sit at the center of Dangote's business. His cement company runs one of Nigeria's largest truck fleets, and his refinery near Lagos began delivering fuel directly to retailers in 2025 with a fleet of CNG-powered tankers.
Dangote's empire
Dangote, 69, is Africa's richest person, according to Forbes and Bloomberg. He built his fortune in commodity trading before moving into cement, sugar, salt and flour, and later fertilizer and oil refining. He controls Dangote Cement Plc, Africa's biggest cement maker.
His 650,000-barrel-a-day refinery in the Lekki Free Trade Zone is the largest single-train refinery in the world and is now selling shares to the public in a record initial public offering on the Nigerian Exchange.
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