According to Creamer Media's Engineering News BMW would like to see legislation favouring electric vehicles as well as government investment in charging infrastructure.
At present BMW SA has 54 EV charging stations and are reviewing new sites for more chargers in Gautang and Kwazulu Natal.
Though not mind blowing figures, they are significant amounts. It equates to just under 10 of each model per month the past two and a bit years. Considering the i3 comes in around about R600,000, depending on the variant and the i8 is a wallet lightening R1,750,000, I'd say sales are pretty impressive.
Possibly aiding sales is the commitment BMW have put into charging infrastructure in the country. They have so far 54 charging stations and have signed a memorandum of understanding with Nissan, the only other local manufacturer offering a fully electric vehicle, to jointly expand the local charging network.
This shows that both companies are showing a long term commitment to plug-in electric vehicles in South Africa. There won't be, nor should there be, mass sales of electric vehicles until the charging infrastructure is in place first. When the consumer buys an electric vehicle, he or she needs to know there are ample places to charge their vehicle. Nobody is going to buy an electric car if they don't know where they're going to be able to charge it. The last thing the electric car cause needs is frustrated consumers not being able to locate chargers or having to queue to use a charger because there are insufficient numbers of chargers.
Despite the absence of any momentum from the government regarding electric vehicles in this country, it's good to see BMW and Nissan making an effort to provide charging infrastructure for their customers. The more charging points there are the more potential EV purchasers will be tempted into buying an electric car.
I wrote about the lack of any government incentives for electric vehicles in South Africa, yesterday. Once again Nissan and BMW are commendably leading the way and putting the case for electric cars. With the fact that electric vehicles are at the present time still more expensive than a petrol or diesel equivalent, it doesn't help that they're taxed more than internal combustion engine vehicles. This maybe explains why other manufacturers are hesitant to bring their electrically powered offerings into the country. Seeing as EV sales at the moment are quite slow in SA, there wouldn't be much lost in tax revenue if the tax levy on EV's was dropped totally, at least for a while. Indeed, it appears Tim Abbott shares the same sentiments.
I'm not sure what he means by the first year. I don't think that's a long enough period to get things really going. Maybe the tax could be dropped totally for three years and then slowly increased at 3% a year for the next six years until it's back up to the same level as gas powered vehicles. Another incentive could be to have a moratorium on toll fees for electric vehicles for five years. I'll think up some more possible incentives for a future article.
Great positive South African review of the BMW i3, thanks to Cars.co.za. The presenter mentions it will cost about R30 to fully charge an i3 at home and for that R30 it will travel as far as a ICE vehicle would on R150 of fuel. That really is a huge saving. If I had one I'd really be less hesitant to go places because I'm worried about the cost of the petrol to get there. Going to the beach for instance is about a 40km round trip for me, not too far but probably uses about R50 in petrol, if the weather is a bit iffy like it was this past Sunday then I'd hesitate before going as it's quite a bit to spend just to drive somewhere to find out it's raining. If I had an i3 it would use roughly R10 of electricity, it's really a negligible amount. I'd definitely make a lot more short trips if I had an electric car, even with 100km range there would be a lot of places accessible to take the family out for the day on a weekend.
The only problem right now is the price of the BMW i3. It's over R500,000 a bit more than a Nissan Leaf, I think when prices of EV's get down to R300,000, the saving in fuel and maintenance costs will make it a worthwhile purchase for someone who was maybe looking for a ICE vehicle in the R200,000 - R250,000 range. The extra in installment payments will easily be recovered in the fuel cost savings.
As I said this is a really great review, please take the time to watch and I'm sure afterwards like me, you'll probably also be wanting a BMW i3.
In the long run I can see this sort of thing being more popular outside the metropolitan areas. The big cities have a fairly reliable source of electricity. I can see solar-ports in more rural areas, maybe offering very cheap or free charging in disadvantaged communities. Charging the school bus for instance so kids don't have to walk miles to the nearest school.
SA's best-selling sports cars in January Wheels 24 reports that six BMW i8s were sold in South Africa in January. This is quite impressive for a car that costs R1,750,000. It just proves that if the local manufacturers give us the option of their electric vehicles they sell overseas, they will sell.
BMW SA seeks greater govt commitment for EV expansion in SA