Zimbabwe’s Leap into Green Tech: Successful Test of Locally Made Lithium-Ion Battery Signals New Era
- Southerton Business Times
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
In a groundbreaking development for Africa’s clean energy ambitions, Zimbabwe has successfully tested its first locally manufactured lithium-ion battery, a key milestone in the country's green industrialisation drive. The battery, developed by Verify Engineering (Pvt) Ltd, recorded a zero-failure rate after a full year of rigorous testing.
Verify Engineering, a state-owned company under the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science, and Technology Development, has emerged as a technological trailblazer. The tested lithium-ion battery, designed for small electronic devices like smartphones, boasts a lifespan of up to 10 years, rivalling leading international products.
“We are happy that the product went for some tests lasting the whole year, and we can confirm that only last month we recorded zero failure rate on the product,” said CEO Engineer Pedzisai Tapfumaneyi. “This means the product is functioning well with a normal lifespan of 10 years.”
This success follows the firm’s 2024 Presidential Innovation Award, awarded in recognition of its lithium battery initiative.
From Lithium Riches to Battery Revolution
Zimbabwe is home to the largest lithium reserves in Africa and ranks among the top five globally. With global demand for lithium skyrocketing—driven by electric vehicles (EVs), renewable energy storage, and consumer electronics—Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth presents a game-changing opportunity.
To seize this potential, the government implemented the Lithium Beneficiation Policy in 2022, banning raw lithium exports by 2027 and prioritizing value addition and local processing.
The development by Verify Engineering aligns with this policy shift, and the company is now seeking US$28 million to build a large-scale lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant.
“We are engaged in perfecting the raw material base so that we reduce the import bill,” said Tapfumaneyi. “Our aim is to use around 80% local raw materials and reduce imports to 20%.”
Economic and Industrial Impact
The proposed plant would:
Reduce Zimbabwe’s dependency on imported batteries
Generate foreign exchange
Create local employment opportunities
Stimulate regional clean energy trade
This positions Zimbabwe as a potential continental leader in green technology, contributing to the nation’s Vision 2030 goal of becoming an upper-middle-income economy.
Furthermore, lithium-ion batteries are pivotal to reducing carbon emissions and building sustainable energy systems—making this innovation not just an economic milestone, but an environmental one too.
Scaling Up: Challenges and Opportunities
While the technical success is promising, commercial scale-up requires investment and industrial partnerships. Verify Engineering is actively seeking collaborators, both local and international, to:
Support supply chain development
Assist with battery-grade lithium compound processing
Drive mass production and distribution
Currently, components like lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide are still partly imported. Ensuring full beneficiation and processing within Zimbabwe will be key to achieving energy sovereignty.
“We thank President Mnangagwa’s leadership for allowing research to be extensive and giving people an opportunity to make mistakes in the path of realising tangible outputs,” Tapfumaneyi noted.
Zimbabwe as a Regional Clean-Tech Pioneer
This lithium battery breakthrough could pave the way for:
Regional technology transfer
South-South cooperation on green innovation
A pan-African clean-tech ecosystem
Other countries in Southern Africa, including Namibia, Mozambique, and South Africa, could benefit from shared research, supply chain synergies, and cross-border energy collaboration.
Zimbabwe’s success shows that resource-rich nations can move beyond raw material exportation into value-added production, shaping their futures through innovation, not extraction.
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