Had to check whether this story was an old April Fool's joke, but surprisingly somebody in government is pretty serious about South Africa's entry into the global electric car market.
"The project ... involves a range of stakeholders, including South African universities and industry. The first prototype of this vehicle will be launched by the end of this year, or early next year.
"Given our economy's vulnerability to volatile oil prices, and growing concerns about the pollution resulting from fossil-fuel transport, the timing of this development could not have been better," Deputy Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom said.
The passenger vehicle, "designed by a former Jaguar designer," was a six-seater. It had a range of between 100 km and 400 km, depending on the speed at which it was driven, and the roof incorporated solar panels to help charge the battery when it was parked in the sun.
But for a full charge, the vehicle is apparently designed to be plugged into the mains at night!
This is surely an oversight by the people pitching this idea. We don't have enough electricity for the whole country to make a cup of tea at the same time, let alone power our transportation needs should the concept catch on.
Plus it's probably a whole herd cheaper to just import an existing electric car rather than spend the cash on the R&D to design a brand new one.
More: South Africa to launch battery car - People's Daily
South Africa's other electric car - Tesla website
You are right! Electricity is a problem in South Africa. One thing you havent noted is that Solar panels are now available that are cheaper and can run a middle income household of 5 people,and charge your car, for free, on minimal sunlight.
Wake up...either you can stay stuck relying on fossil fuel for everything which will ultimately lead to global economic collapse or you can change..go the alternative route...save thousands now as an individual...save millions and billions or even trillions worth in environmental and economic damage...rethink your theories my friend you are sorely missing the point!
although I agree on importing the cars...definitely will be easier to start it up.. and get it going! But that shouldnt force s to rely on the rest of the world to develop what we want!
Posted by: Bianca | June 09, 2008 at 02:30 PM
Cars that run on alternative fuels are actually easy to build and maintain, there's even a diy guide for building a battery powered motorcycle for under R30000 available. The problem lies in getting the vehicles roadworthy, there's no real rules in place regarding safety issues (eg batteries overheating and maybe exploding). With the type of inventiveness typical amongst South Africans, I can only hope that we don't have to import vehicles, that they can be manufactured locally! And yes, electricity is a problem now, but if everyone switched to alternative power where possible (solar geyser's, gas cookers, ect) the demand for state supplied electricity would actually drop.
Posted by: Shelldon | June 09, 2008 at 05:05 PM
Dude, the Tesla's sick! It's Elon Musk's brainchild (Pta boys high/PayPal) superrad bit of kit).
Posted by: Rich...! | June 09, 2008 at 10:15 PM
Bianca - I totally agree with your sentiment that the environment is a critical concern and all should be done to help prevent further destruction, but I fail to see how charging a vehicle with electricity generated via a crumbling network of coal-powered power stations is going to be the answer.
You're really just replacing one fossil fuel power source for another.
If the car ran entirely on a solar resource this would obviously be ideal, but my understanding is that is just a top up mechanism while the car is not plugged into the suffering power network.
Solutions have to be found, but this is perhaps a load of hot air that is once again going to see tax payers footing the bill for government's R&D.
Posted by: Cherryflava | June 10, 2008 at 10:39 AM
The idea of an electric car is actually a great one! with the price of oil and therefore petrol this could be a better time to have such a product in the South African market.
What most of you seem to miss is that electricity consumption starts decreasing after 21H00, whereas the generators are still running which means there is spare capacity. So plugging the car in at night is absolutely now problem
Posted by: Prof | June 13, 2008 at 08:41 AM
where can i import one from, i want to buy
Posted by: supercody | July 02, 2008 at 01:31 PM
Oops. Did you not notice that the neregy crisis has been sorted ? Are you a bit slow ?
Posted by: The_Rooster | September 11, 2008 at 08:26 AM