Communities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face a multitude of interconnected challenges rooted in their lack of access to electricity. This is especially evident in rural parts of the region where nonprofits are attempting to lessen the negative impacts associated with inaccess to electricity grids. Most of these efforts are based on decentralized solutions, able to function without direct connection to major energy sources. In the context of SSA, many (if not most) of said decentralized solutions have come to rely on solar energy–and with reason. With its overabundance of sunlight (some regions average 6.5kWh/m2 of solar radiation per day!), sub-Sahara is seemingly the perfect locale for solutions reliant on photovoltaic (PV) technologies. However, it remains unclear whether decentralized solar-powered solutions will be able to tackle the challenges facing SSA today (and in the future). The Technical University of Munich’s (TUM) Department of Mechanical Engineering is of the opinion that, while decentralized solar energy may be one piece of the puzzle, it alone cannot adequately confront ‘wicked’ problems currently impacting SSA’S rural communities. This is especially true of the difficulties facing the continent’s 33 million smallholder farmers who, even when given access to solar energy, continue to encounter barriers to economic success. It is our belief that new sustainable modes of transportation, as well as solar energy, should be leveraged in order to improve the lives of smallholder farmers and, possibly, help reinvigorate SSA’s agricultural sector altogether. In contrast to many technology-based development projects, our focus is to increase local added value through circular principles that allow the higher utilization of material and components while reducing dependency on international supply chains. We are therefore applying for funding from the LEAP-RE programme in order to develop, build, and pilot a novel stand-alone solar charging station (SASCS) for electric vehicles (EVs) as the central component of a decentralized transportation hub (DTH). Technical designs and underlying business models are based on circular principles meant to reduce environmental impacts and increase local added value. Within the SolChargE project, the DTH will be jointly developed with South Africa’s Stellenbosch University (SBU), Ethiopia’s Adama Science and Technology University (ASTU), supported by the French Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), and subsequently tested in rural communities in South Africa (SA) and Ethiopia (ET). The project SolChargE focuses on the issues of (1) farmers’ (especially female heads of household’s) inability to reach markets and extension services, (2) children (especially girls’) inability to attend school, (3) community members’ (especially pregnant community members’) lack of access to healthcare as well as additional use cases. SolChargE is the missing piece in a conceptual transport infrastructure based on renewable energy that has been researched and developed in previous years by the above-mentioned consortium partners. An EV developed by TUM (named “aCar”) is already operational in ET and will be the second central pillar of the DTH being developed. These preceding efforts will assure a successful project implementation, as the consortium can rely on existing partnerships and research infrastructure.