Will Electric Vehicles Become The New Norm In SA?
Sustainability is a topic that is on everyone’s lips of late, and with good reason – our planet’s natural resources are under severe pressure and something needs to change if we wish to call Earth our home for much longer. This is why the EV (electric vehicle) revolution is such a big part of the planning for automakers around the globe.
In sunny South Africa, vehicle manufacture makes up a whopping 7% of our GDP. BMW, Ford, Isuzu, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, and Volkswagen all have assembly plants within our borders and in 2018 alone 610 000+ vehicles were produced, to be exported to Europe and other African countries, as well as being sold locally. This makes RSA the 25th largest vehicle producer around the globe and the largest by far on the African continent.
Which begs the question, when will the automakers with a foothold in South Africa turn their sights on the production of e-vehicles? The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) has already reported on the decline of sales of vehicles with internal combustion engines in major economies around the world, but currently, the only two EVs that are for sale in SA are the Jaguar I-Pace and the BMW i3. This puts us quite far behind our American and European counterparts.
At this point, the major issue that keeps South Africa from adopting e-car technology is a lack of infrastructure. Our major power supplier, Eskom, still relies mainly on coal-generated electricity, which means that the makers and distributors of EVs will have to take it upon themselves to roll out privately-owned renewable energy projects in order to sustain public charging stations that will make the ownership of e-vehicles viable for South Africans who want to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
However, the cloud does have a silver lining. According to industry reports, South African-born Elon Musk will bring his right-hand-drive Tesla e-vehicles to SA in the near future (some say as soon as early 2020). Additionally, Nissan, BMW, and Volkswagen are all engaged in dialogue with the auto industry to drive the EV revolution locally, which includes the possible production of e-vehicles in SA for local use as well as export.
What an exciting time to be alive! Keep an eye on the blog in the coming weeks and months for more insider info. In the meantime, feel free to get in touch with a member of the professional team at Group1 Cars if you would like to find out more about the cars we have on offer. We have branches throughout South Africa and would be happy to assist you at every point along your purchase journey.
