Electric vehicles are all the buzz right now. Majority of the automobile manufacturers have committed to an all-electric future. Several manufacturers have announced their first all-electric and hybrid models will start arriving in South Africa from 2019 onwards.
This has been confirmed for African shores:
Jaguar
Jaguar’s electrification begun with Formula E motorsport. Jaguar was the first premium manufacturer to join the all-electric racing series. The automaker invested £4.5 billion into R&D in 2017 towards the electrified future.
Jaguar’s first all-electric vehicle, the I-PACE, is coming to South African in 2019. The I-PACE is a practical five-seater SUV that has a usable range of nearly 500km on a single charge. Exciting that it will also retain Jaguar’s sports car DNA.
In 2017 already, Jaguar Land Rover South Africa had intentions of cooperating with the Electric Vehicle Industry Association (EVIA). This industry body represents local vehicle manufacturers focusing on electrification. They were to engage with government on opportunities to develop infrastructure, along with measures to aid the adoption of EVs, and advising on charging standards.
“Our rollout plan for I-PACE includes installing electric infrastructure at all our dealers. We want to ensure our retail network can support these products in every way. At the moment, there are no incentives for EVs. We are in full support of the motor industry’s push for lower taxes on these vehicles. We will work with EVIA on this, as well as its efforts to have shared charging infrastructure in public areas”. Richard Gouverneur, Managing Director of Jaguar Land Rover South Africa and sub-Sahara Africa.
The Jaguar I-PACE – Voted Most Anticipated New Car of 2018 by a popular UK magazine/website’s readers.
Audi
Audi is planning to launch a full electric vehicle in South Africa next year. The automaker believes we will see, roughly, another 10 fully electric vehicles available in the domestic market from other manufacturers.
The brand sees strong development in electric vehicles in SA for the next 5-10 years. Even though brands are progressing fast, we will still continue to have combustion engine vehicles for many years to come. This is according to Trevor Hill, Head of Audi South Africa.
Audi is focused on getting high power charging stations installed in its dealer network, as well as creating separate battery storage areas and service bays.
“There are physical things we need to do in the dealer network so as we build new dealers now we are already laying the high-power charging stations and building them into refurbishments. We are doing e-tron readiness for our company and our dealers,” Hill said.
Audi’s e-tron vehicles will not be sold at every dealership but focused on certain pockets of the country. Such areas would include Sandton and Bryanston in Johannesburg, Claremont and Bishopscourt in Cape Town, and Umhlanga and Ballito in Durban.
Hill stressed the importance of legislation and policies to cater for electric vehicles and autonomous driving to prevent the country lagging.
Hill confirmed Audi was lobbying the government on the importance of legislation, policies and incentives for electric vehicles and autonomous driving. This comes in efforts of preventing the country from lagging and on adoption of such technology.
“Things are moving really quickly in the automotive world in Europe. We have to prepare our country, our markets, our dealers and our government for this. We deserve not to be left behind” Hill.
Government’s electric vehicles plan
Two weeks ago at the launch of Volkswagen’s new Polo, Deputy Minister of Trade And Industry Bulelani Magwanishe said South Africa was eagerly following developments in the e-mobility space. The government has in the past few years put in place regulations that allowed for the operation of electric vehicles on local roads.
Magwanishe went on to say, “Additional details on the master plan and associated support programmes will be announced in the near future following cabinet endorsement.”
