Johannesburg – We could probably spend a good few hours debating what the electric car future looks like for South Africa.
Much of that time would be spent bickering about load shedding, the relative unaffordability of electric cars and the government’s failure to have put any kind of electric car policy in place to date.
Some of these things could be alleviated in the coming years, with Chinese manufacturers poised to bring in more affordable EV models (read about the GWM Ora here) and Trade Minister Ebrahim Patel has promised to finalise the country’s long-overdue EV policy by March 2024.
But regardless of what obstacles are in the way, in one way or another South Africans are going to be buying more electric cars in the coming years. Certainly a lot more than the 512 that were sold in 2022. It’s the way the world is moving and South Africans are eventually going to have to follow suit.
But how quickly will our charging infrastructure develop?
While companies like GridCars and a handful of manufacturers have made a valiant start in our major cities and on major national routes, a local company called Zero Carbon Charge is aiming to dig deeper into the rural parts of our country with sustainably-powered fast-charging stations.
Zero Carbon Charge is aiming to roll out a national network of “ultra-fast” electric car chargers at 150km intervals on all strategic routes, across all nine provinces.
The company, co-founded by Andries Malherbe and Joubert Roux, wants to meet the charging needs of those who regularly travel outside of the country’s main urban centres, which are currently under-served as far as charging infrastructure goes.
With most modern EVs claiming to cover over 300km between charges, this would certainly make road trips less stressful.
All sites will include a farm stall with restroom facilities as well as multiple vehicle charging stations. We can already smell the home-made biltong. And who needs those stale garage pies anyway?
Also, very importantly, the stations will feature solar panels to keep you off the national grid and to ensure a “sustainable” charge. Because what’s the point of buying a coal-powered car?
Zero Carbon Charge has so far entered into agreements with 91 land owners to have grid-independent charging stations erected on their land, with the first one set to go live in Dassiesfontein on the N2 before the end of 2023.
Many more are in the pipeline, pending environmental assessments, and the company plans to have the full Phase One network in operation by early 2025.
“We are excited to offer a solution that addresses both load shedding challenges as well as range anxiety for drivers outside of urban areas,” Joubert Roux enthused.
“External pressures such as the EU banning the sale of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles by 2035, as well as South Africa being a signatory to the Paris Agreement with ambitions to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 5% by 2050, are all reasons why an increased adoption of EVs can be expected and we need to be ready.”
But how much will you pay to charge up? A Zero Carbon Charge spokesperson told IOL that exact charging fees with the ultra-fast chargers have not been finalised as yet, but added that motorists driving electric cars can look forward to substantial savings versus filling petrol tanks.