Grad student aims to use education in Ugandan electric car project

Grad student aims to use education in Ugandan electric car project
The Lantern reports on an exciting government backed initiative in Uganda to manufacture home grown electric vehicles.

Established in 2014, KMC is taking part in a presidential economic initiative in Uganda, Vision 2040, which aims to transform the country to a middle-income country by that year. KMC is set to start production in 2018, attempting to produce about 60,000 cars and create more than 2,000 jobs in Uganda each year...... .......KMC is designed the first manufacturer for electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles and solar-powered busses not only in Uganda, but also Africa as a whole. KMC’s product line will include pickup trucks, SUVs, sedans and buses. 

I can just see electric vehicles taking off and revolutionizing transport in Africa once they become available. With the abundance of sunshine, it will be possible to set up solar powered charging points in virtually any location, in places far from the nearest petrol station. It will make transport more available and cheaper to people living in remote places. Not only will it improve the standard of living for many people it will also help the economies of African countries as the reliance on imported oil will drastically decrease.

It's really good that the Ugandan government are getting behind this. I'd like to see South Africa do something similar. I wonder if the government doesn't want to upset the existing vehicle manufacturers in the country.  When more people in SA become aware of the benefits of electric vehicles, specifically low fuel and maintenance costs, the demand will come.When people discover they can just plug their car into the electricity at home or the office and charge it, instead of having to pay hundreds of Rands everytime they fill their petrol tank, they will want one.

App-solutely innovative gadgets and Stuff with Toby Shapshak

App-solutely innovative gadgets and Stuff with Toby Shapshak 
Biz Community reporting on Stuff magazines annual Gadget and App awards for 2016.

Apps are having their moment, with Stuff Magazine having just announced the winners of its annual Gadget and App awards for 2016. Here, Stuff publisher and editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak shares a few of his favourite entries....... ........On his personal favourite entries, Shapshak says: “I'd love to own a Tesla Model X, the low-end of the electric supercar range. At $80,000 it's anything but low-end in rands

Please like our Facebook page - Africa Electric Car

Please like our Facebook page
Please go and like our Facebook page. Not only will it update you when there is a new blog post here, I will also share other electric vehicle related articles that I find of particular interest.

New body to tackle public perception, cost of electric vehicles

New body to tackle public perception, cost of electric vehicles 
Creamer Media's Engineering News takes a look at the Electric Vehicle Industry Association (EVIA), an organisation set up to help plan for the increased introduction of electric vehicles into South Africa. The second good article about EV's from Creamer Media's Engineering News in as many days.

The Electric Vehicle Industry Association’s (EVIA’s) first goal is to demonstrate to the South African public that they can use electric vehicles (EVs) with confidence.........

............Snyman does not believe South Africa will see the launch of any new EVs until the country ensures a “more welcoming environment” for the technology.

Cape Town to acquire ten electric buses in R126m deal

Cape Town to acquire ten electric buses in R126m deal
Another article about the electric buses the city of Cape Town are buying, a bit more in depth this time, from Creamer Media Engineering News. 

It appears to be a well thought out purchase, not only providing Cape Town with cleaner and greener public transport but also providing new jobs, assembling and maintaining the buses and associated infrastructure as well as many other benefits detailed in the article.

“The operational cost of electric buses is reported to be significantly lower – not only in terms of fuel, but also in relation to maintenance, as there are fewer engine parts to service.....

City of CT to launch electric-powered bus pilot project

City of CT to launch electric-powered bus pilot project
Article from EWN about Cape Town's pilot project to try out electric buses in the city. This is really great news and hopefully other municipalities will follow Cape Towns lead.

I've actually been thinking that electric minibus taxis could also be a possibility.  If they had a range of 300km I'm sure it would be sufficient to cope with the morning rush hour and then during the quiet times during the day they could charge their batteries while waiting at the taxi ranks, in preparation for the evening rush hour. I'm sure taxi owners would be happy for the saving in fuel costs as that has to be the biggest expense in running a taxi. It wouldn't be difficult to install charging points at taxi ranks.

Very soon, a Cape Town bus ride will be powered by electricity as the city looks.......

Chevrolet SA reply to my tweet asking about the Volt and Bolt

Below is the tweet I sent to Chevrolet SA asking when we can expect the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid and the Chevy Bolt EV, in South Africa.



I tweeted:

@chevroletsa hello. please can you tell me when we can expect the Chevy Volt and Bolt in South Africa

Chevrolet SA replied:

@flickris him, kindly be advised that there are currently no plans for the Chevrolet Volt and Bolt in that can be communicated currently.

And my reply:

@chevroletsa Thank you. I hope we will see them sometime, hopefully soon

And what I think was an optimistic response to that tweet:

@flickris hi, we will be in touch

I think this sounds hopeful that we may see either or both of these cars in South Africa sometime in the future.  I'm happy they did finally respond on Twitter after ignoring several queries I made on Facebook.

If you're also wanting to see these vehicles in South Africa, please let them know via their web site, their Facebook page or like I did send them a Tweet.

Here are ALL the cars the government bought in 2016

Here are ALL the cars the government bought in 2016
Well done to whoever procured the Leaf's and i3's

Ten electric cars found their way into government fleets during the year – five Nissan Leaf models and five BMW i3 units.

The Future of the Electric Car in South Africa

The Future of the Electric Car in South Africa
Optimistic article about the future of electric vehicles in SA.

With global warming escalating at a higher rate than we can curb it, car manufacturers are looking towards lithium-ion driven engines to lessen our carbon footprint. But where does South Africa fit into the global spectrum?

Affordable China Electric Cars ThreatenTesla’s Lead in Electric Vehicle Industry [Video]

Affordable China Electric Cars ThreatenTesla’s Lead in Electric Vehicle Industry [Video]
Hopefully some of these Chinese EV's will make their way to South Africa and give us a bit more of an affordable choice of electric vehicles.

  Aside from the possibility of monopolizing the electric car industry in China, electric buses from the country are now being sold in South America, Africa, and Europe. This means that China-made vehicles will be Tesla's competitors in these countries.

An all-electric car completed the Dakar rally for the first time

An all-electric car completed the Dakar rally for the first time

Well, third time’s the charm. After attempting to complete the Dakar Rally, which is considered one of the most difficult endurance rallies in the world, for the third time in a row, Acciona’s managed to complete the race with its custom-made all-electric vehicle .......read the full article.

Electric cars failing to create major spark in SA

Electric cars failing to create major spark in SA
According to the linked article, by July 2016, only 24 out of 115,000 new car sales for the year were electric vehicles. Though this is a minuscule amount, it is at least something. There may only be about 300 or so EV's in South Africa, the manufacturers though are obliged, and are doing, to create the charging infrastructure for these vehicles they are selling. The more charging points that are installed, the less potential EV owners have to worry about range anxiety. Fortunately it seems the two local manufacturers selling EV's, Nissan and BMW, are cooperating when it comes to building a charging network for their vehicles. This indicates that they are committed to an electrified SA and that we will be seeing more electric vehicles from them both soon. Though it's only small steps for now, the more infrastructure that is put up, the more people will buy EV's and in turn create a demand for even more charging points.

A lack of infrastructure and hefty price tags could be some of the reasons why electric cars are not selling like hot cakes in South Africa......read more.

Nissan Leaf review - while you were busy charging your smartphone we were charging an electric car

Nissan Leaf review - while you were busy charging your smartphone we were charging an electric car

My aim for this blog and the accompanying Facebook page is to gather as many articles on the web as possible about Electric vehicles in Africa and primarily South Africa. This is a local review of the Nissan Leaf.   

“The Nissan Leaf is a lovely electric hatchback car that will help you to say goodbye to petrol or diesel, oil changes and emitting carbon dioxide. It’s a car that redefines the way you drive a vehicle.”

The Nissan Leaf, which stands for Leading Environmentally-friendly Affordable Family car, was introduced three years ago in South Africa  read more......

Cape Town to get new public charging stations for electric cars powered by Nissan BMW SA

Cape Town to get new public charging stations for electric cars powered by Nissan BMW SA
Good to see the two manufacturers selling EV's in South Africa co-operating to install charging stations in Cape Town and Pretoria. The article mentions that BMW SA have sold 141 i3s and 159 i8s. Though these aren't big numbers compared to total vehicles sold, I'm sure the 159 i8s is a fair percentage of vehicles in the R1.7 million bracket.

Electric Cars: Will SA switch on?

Electric Cars: Will SA switch on?

This article really debates the pros and cons of electric vehicles, particularly in the South African environment. I believe it will take longer for EV's to get a proper toehold in the South African market but once they do, the switch to a majority of electric cars on the road will be relatively swift compared to many more developed countries. The reason I think this, is because of other technologies that arrived later in SA but rapidly crushed the technology they were replacing. Compact discs took a number of years to become popular but soon drove vinyl and cassette tapes into virtual extinction in local record stores, whereas these analogue formats have continued to be sold, albeit in smaller volumes, in many other markets. Digital cameras followed a similar take-up curve and just about virtually replaced film in a few short years

Part of the reason for this type of trend is that the market isn't big enough to support multiple formats. In America and Europe there is in each a potential market of several hundred million, in Asia, billions. In Southern Africa, it's tens of millions, most with a lot less disposable income than their counterparts in the above mentioned areas.

I'm fully confident that once all the pieces are in place, EV's will explode onto South African roads.

South African electric vehicle market is set to grow

South African electric vehicle market is set to grow

The Electric Vehicle Industry Association was launched late last year in South Africa to help pave the way for EV's in South Africa. In the above article it mentions there is a 43% tax on electric vehicles. I'm not sure how this compares to the tax on new ICE vehicles, it sounds a bit excessive.

I think it would be a good idea for the government to give some sort of incentive for South Africans to buy electric vehicles. For one thing it would reduce the amount of oil we need to import. To my knowledge, most electricity in produced in this country from locally mined coal. Though coal is obviously far from the perfect source of clean energy, at least it is locally produced and relying on it more will keep more currency in the country. Presumably, in the future the coal power stations will be replaced by more environmentally friendly sources of energy.

Getting back to the original article, it's good news there is official interest in EV's, we will have to to see where it leads to.

[LISTEN] How environmentally friendly are electric cars?

[LISTEN] How environmentally friendly are electric cars? South African National Energy Development Institute's Carel Snyman says there's no greener form of mobility on four wheels.

Once again putting to bed the myth that electric vehicles aren't environmentally friendly.