Ethiopia’s Green Transport Crusade Spawns Market for Fuel-Saving Technology Company

Ethiopia has scaled its green transport initiatives over the past few years, aiming to reduce CO2 emissions and decrease fuel import costs. A recent ordinance by the Ministry of Transport & Logistics requires vehicle importers, assemblers, or manufacturers to obtain certificates that prove alignment with emission standards.

Against this backdrop, TBK Trading PLC, a local private company, has seized a new market opportunity by becoming Ethiopia’s first licensed importer of ‘Fuel Saving Devices’, products claimed to cut exhaust emissions by up to 80% while reducing fuel consumption by as much as 30%. Partnering with Greentech, which sources these devices from Taiwan-based nanotechnology firm Molotech Group, TBK formally introduced the technology at a ceremony on Friday at the Skylight Hotel, attended by ministry officials and representatives from the transport industry

Bekele Mamo, Co-founder of TBK Trading, says it took them over three years to introduce the product into the market. He expects consumers to quickly take up the product due to its ease of use and alignment with evolving regulations.

“Users can put it inside the fuel tank and witness the miracle,” Bekele told Shega. “No modification of the vehicle whatsoever.”

The device absorbs thermal energy from its surrounding environment and releases it at a specific wavelength that interacts with the van der Waals forces, the internal forces between fuel molecules. This interaction weakens these intermolecular forces, causing fuel molecules to break apart from clusters into individual molecules. This change alters key fuel properties such as surface tension and flash point. As a result, the fuel is atomized into much smaller droplets (nano-granules) when ejected from the nozzle. These smaller droplets increase the fuel’s surface area exposed to air and oxygen, enabling a more efficient and complete combustion process, according to Greentech’s explanation.

The devices, slated to cost between 15,000 Birr and 50,000 Birr depending on the fuel tank size, might offer vehicle owners struggling to keep up with mounting petrol prices over the past few years. The Transport Ministry recently ended a decades-long subsidy program that had kept fuel prices at one of the cheapest levels in the region. The price of a liter has increased by nearly 280% in less than four years from 31 Birr per liter. But perhaps more consequentially, it will give car owners tools to confront new vehicle standard requirements under the ‘1051 Directive on Vehicle Emission Pollutant Control’ approved in March.

Assefa Addis, Transport Service and Supervision Advisor at the Transport Ministry, stressed that the six-month grace period has less than two months remaining. He explained that car owners would be expected to attach devices that bring down their emissions in line with the recent standards.

“Car owners should start preparing themselves,” Assefa said.

He pointed out how accredited entities will be providing emission checks on vehicles to assess whether or not they will need to obtain reducing technologies. Assefa said they are providing two types of licenses currently: one to be an accredited supplier of emission reduction technology and the other to become an assessor of emissions.

“We are helping them out through the process,” the official told Shega.

While the Transport Ministry has the mandate to set the vehicle limits under the amended proclamation two years ago, Assefa says no such ordinance has yet been passed. Nonetheless, he emphasized that all vehicle owners need to ensure they meet all technical standards as they will be subject to random checks and other methods of supervision.

“No compromises in that regard,” Assefa said.

Greentech’s Fuel Saver, while still relatively unknown in the Ethiopian market, has been tested and adopted in several international settings. In India, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation conducted a three-month trial and reported an average eight percent reduction in fuel consumption, along with improvements in emissions and engine maintenance. Its compatibility with petrol, diesel, LPG, LNG, and CNG engines could prove attractive in a rapidly evolving green regulatory momentum.