Is It A Good Fit? Elon Musk’s New Tesla Electric Car Headed To South Africa

Is It A Good Fit? Elon Musk’s New Tesla Electric Car Headed To South Africa.
Article written by Dana Sanchez in April last year for AFK Insider reported on the announcement that the Tesla Model 3 was to be made available in South Africa sometime after it's release which is scheduled for later this year. They make a comment about the Model 3's cost.

With a starting price of $35,000, the Model 3 is Tesla’s most affordable electric car to date by U.S. standards. That doesn’t make it affordable or even sensible for South Africa, where it’s considered a luxury car, ITWeb reported.

I disagree. $35,000 should equate to roughly R500,000, maybe a bit more when you take into account import taxes etc. That would put it squarely in BMW 3 series price territory, the sort of ICE (internal combustion engine) car it's designed to contend with. Compared to other electric cars available in South Africa right now, the Nissan Leaf is also about R500,000 with a 135km range compared to the Tesla Model 3's 346km predicted range. The BMW i3 is closer to R600,000, which might be closer to the price of the Model 3 when it gets here. The i3 only has a range of 160kms, less than half of the Model 3.

To me the Tesla Model 3 looks like pretty good value in these comparisons. Also take into account that for someone driving 30,000km a year you'd likely be saving up to R1,500 a month in fuel costs. Now for a businessman on the road, who is not regularly doing over 300km a day, that would make it a great deal more affordable to run than similarly priced cars like the BMW 3 series and Mercedes C class. Add to that,there's virtually no maintenance to be done compared to an ICE vehicle, and the saving just gets bigger.

Generally, electric cars are not a good fit for South Africa, where electricity costs are going up and infrastructure is lacking for charging electric cars, according to ITWeb.

Maybe it's time to pay less attention to what ITWeb says about electric cars. Both the BMW i3 road test from Cars.co.za, I linked to and the story I covered yeaterday about Blue Rock Village as well as other sources, give the comparison electricity cost for powering an EV (electric vehicle) as about 20% of the cost to fuel an equivalent ICE vehicle to cover the same distance.

As far as charging infrastructure goes, I've already said that we need public charging points now. The amount of charging stations has to stay ahead of the demand to use the. Just because it doesn't exist at the moment doesn't mean that it won't and indeed there are already moves underway to increase the number of charging stations in the country. 

As Tesla have done in other markets, I'm pretty confident they will roll out a network of their Supercharger charging stations, once the Model 3 goes on sale here. Of course, if you are able to charge at home, a Model 3 probably won't have to visit a charging station, except on long intercity journeys.

The rest of the article continues in a fairly negative tone. As with all new game changing technologies, there's going to be resistance to the inevitable disruption. Norway has already shown us the electric revolution is already underway and like it or not the future of road travel is electric.

Swisatec to plan for Electric Vehicles at Blue Rock Village, Africa’s first green village

Swisatec to plan for Electric Vehicles at Blue Rock Village, Africa’s first green village
Thanks to Cape Business News for this article about Blue Rock Village in Cape Town, Africa's first green village.

Swisatec plans to include EV charging stations on the design of Blue Rock Village, especially in key areas such as underground parking of the 5-star envisioned Blue Rock Hotel and Conferencing Centre, the Dollar House (a high-end corporate office space), the Wellness and Spa and the 40 000 sqm Santa Luzia Lifestyle Centre. Phase one of the village: Giovanni Luxury Terrace Apartments is already selling, starting from R3,3 million. 

I wrote in a post yesterday that it is important to get the infrastructure for electric vehicle charging in place in South Africa, before electric cars start selling in meaningful numbers. In fact all construction companies should follow Swisatecs example and include vehicle charging points in all new constructions.

Like new homes come with a plug sockets for all your home electronics and appliances, they should also come with one specifically for your car. Car parks should have electric only bays with charging points, it could earn the business a little more in charging fees or they could entice customers to spend a bit more and offer free charging in return.

A good analogy is perhaps Wifi that is offered in certain public places such as restaurants. Customers will go to a restaurant that offers free Wifi because they know they can conduct their business/surf the web/chat etc. while they enjoy their meal. The same thing will happen with electric cars, establishments that offer electric vehicle charging will get the patronage of the electric car driver.

The article also helps reaffirm the fact that having an electric car is going to save you a considerable amount in fuel cost. To cover 30,000kms in a year an economical petrol car would use roughly R22,320 worth of fuel. To cover the same distance in a Nissan Leaf it would cost about R4,620 in electricity. That's a saving of R18,000. I've mentioned before, once motorists realise they can make that sort of saving by driving an electric car, the demand for electric cars will sharply rise. As the article firmly states 'The future vehicle is here'.

SA must embrace electric vehicles now or fall behind

SA must embrace electric vehicles now or fall behind
Quite a long article written by Carel Snyman for Business Day, offering a viewpoint on the electric vehicle situation in South Africa. I pretty much share the same sentiments so I'll just suggest you follow the link above and read the whole article.

How much would these electric cars cost in South Africa? (if they were awailable here)

I thought it would be an interesting exercise to try and work out how much some of the most popular EV's (electric vehicles) in the UK would cost if they were available in South Africa. Firstly I compared the price of the BMW i3, which is available in both the United Kingdom and South Africa. That comparison gave me a conversion ratio of just over R17 to the pound, just over the actual current exchange rate. Anyway here are seven electric cars we don't have in South Africa, seven electric vehicles we'd like to see in South Africa and a guesstimate on how much we'd have to pay for them.

1. Renault Zoe (R318,356 - R446,594) The latest version of the Renault Zoe has a 41kwh battery and an impressive claimed range of up to 400km. Out of the cars surveyed here it is the cheapest, but you also have to pay a rental/lease on the battery so the eventual cost will work out a bit more. Still, it's in the VW Golf price range and depending on how much extra you'd have to fork out for the battery, it appears quite a good buy.
2. Volkswagen e-up (R432,135) A small EV from VW with an 18.7kwh battery giving a range of 160km. Though in electric car terms it's relatively cheap, it's still a lot to pay for such a small vehicle.
3. Hyundai Ioniq (R499,094 - R530,077) The Ioniq comes in both hybrid and battery only options. Of course we're interested in the battery only. The range should be about 200km from it's 28kwh battery. This is probably the most interesting car on the list and overall the best value for money. It should cost about the same as what a Nissan Leaf does in South Africa, yet it has 65km more range than the 24kwh Leaf on offer here. 
4. Ford Focus Electric (R540,495) The Focus Electric has a 23kwh battery and a relatively low (by 2017 standards) range of 122km. Probably best this doesn't come to South Africa as I can't think of a reason why anyone would want to buy it.
5. Volkswagen e-Golf (R545,311) Like all VW's the e-Golf comes at a premium price. It seems to be capable of a similar range as the Ioniq with it's 35.8kwh battery.
6. Tesla Model S (R1,033,389 - R1,775,274) The luxury sedan from Tesla would most likely start at over a million Rand. I see no reason though why it wouldn't sell in meaningful numbers. There are plenty of cars in this price range on South African roads, including the half electric hybrid BMW i8.
7. Tesla Model X (R1,258,881 - R1,864,782) Considering the popularity of SUV's in South Africa, it would be no surprise if the Model X was to be more popular than the Model S.

So there you have a rough price guide to cars you can't yet buy in the country. In the UK at the moment consumers would pay less than these prices due to government incentives. At the moment there are no such incentives in SA, if incentives were implemented (or the 25% import tax was dropped) then local auto distributors might be more confident that if they import more electric cars, they'll have a better chance of selling them.

The need for electric vehicle infrastructure, now.

At the moment there's only a few hundred EV's (Electric Vehicles) on the road in South Africa. Public charging points are scarce but considering an EV right now is a fairly considerable investment, I'm sure purchasers of these vehicles considered their charging needs and options before parting with their cash.

As EV's drop in price and more people realise the savings they can make on their fuel and maintenance bill by buying an electric vehicle, sales of electric cars will rapidly pick up. When EV sales do start to gather pace, it will be important that the public charging infrastructure is sufficient to handle the charging needs of the EV owners.

If electric vehicle sales start to rocket before there are sufficient public charging points then we might see charging point congestion and queues in the near future, together with the inevitable frustration of those wanting to charge their vehicle. The electric vehicle infrastructure needs to stay one step ahead of electric vehicle sales so when somebody purchases an electric car they know they won't have any trouble finding a charging point and when they do they won't have to queue to use it.

Electric vehicle charging won't be like filling your ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) car with petrol or diesel, you won't go to a dedicated filling/charging station, unless perhaps on a freeway journey. Charging points will be everywhere, by the side of the road, in shopping centre car parks, outside restaurants, literally anywhere where people will park there cars.

You'll charge your car while shopping, or eating a meal, or sleeping in a hotel. It won't be something you'll have to go out of your way to do (like filling up with petrol), you'll do it while going about your regular daily tasks. The only time you'll need to seek out a dedicated charging destination will be on long intercity journeys. I imagine the large service stations dotted along our freeways will expand the services they offer, to occupy motorists and their passengers while they wait for their vehicle to charge.

Businesses who offer their customers charging will undoubtedly become the preferred destinations of EV drivers. It'll be a way of making a little extra revenue for the business via charging fees and maybe encouraging their customers to stay a little longer and spend a little more while their vehicle is charging. Maybe shopping centres could offer free charging to customers who spend over a certain amount, a bit like many offer free parking at the moment. Restaurants could offer free charging for those customers who also buy dessert, thus encouraging their patrons to spend a little bit more money in their establishment.

Though the rise in electric vehicle sales will come from the ground up, from the consumer, when the price is right. It is the responsibility of the government and the motor industry to work with third parties to get the charging infrastructure in place first.

South Africa: 'No Time for Trial and Error' As Cape Town's Mayor Leads Green Push

South Africa: 'No Time for Trial and Error' As Cape Town's Mayor Leads Green Push
In January I wrote about Cape Town acquiring ten electric buses that are due to go into service in the city later this year. This will be the first electric bus service in South Africa.

Not only is the city going to be using emission free public transport, they are also implementing many other clean energy projects.

Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille emphasizes some of the advantages of the forthcoming electric bus service in the city.

"They're going to save us a lot of money. Our maintenance budget will be cut by 60 percent, as they're very easy to maintain. And to recharge the batteries we're also going to use solar energy."

As with all electric vehicles, not only are they cheaper to power than an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicle, they require much less maintenance as there are far less moving parts and they require no change of oil or filters like an ICE vehicle. Even if they were to use electricity off the grid they'd be spending a lot less than they presently do on diesel, but if they are directly using solar energy to charge the batteries than that's even better. Everyone who uses public transport would like it to be cheaper and this is a step in the right direction of making that a reality.

Dirty fuel conundrum may open door to electric vehicles in Africa

Dirty fuel conundrum may open door to electric vehicles in Africa
Another electric car related story from Irma Venter at Creamer Media's Engineering News.  

South Africa is fifteen years behind the rest of the world in terms of legislation regulating the quality of fuel available at the pump, says National Association of Automobile Manufacturers director Nico Vermeulen. He says new clean fuel legislation should have been in place in 2017, but will now only, most likely, become available “in 2021, 2022”.

It appears the fuel we fill our cars with in South Africa isn't of the quality and cleanliness of fuel sold elsewhere in the world.

Volkswagen South Africa MD Thomas Schäfer suggests electric mobility is the answer.

One solution to the problem would be to support the introduction of electric vehicles in South Africa and the rest of Africa, he suggests, “leapfrogging the fuel quality problem”. He says many people believe that electric mobility is too advanced for Africa, and not suitable for the continent, while it should rather be considered that electric mobility may be able to nullify the problem of different emission standards in the developing and developed worlds. 

This makes perfect sense, instead of trying to make dirty old transport technologies cleaner, why not just go straight to an already clean transport technology, electric mobility.

There won't have to be huge government investment to kick start mass EV adoption in the country, we just need incentives. Incentives for manufacturers to produce and sell electric vehicles, incentives for motorists to buy electric vehicles and incentives for businesses to offer charging services while their customers are shopping/eating/gyming/watching a movie etc.

Electric mobility is not too advanced for Africa, quite the opposite. An electric vehicle needs minimal maintenance compared to an ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle. It doesn't need oil,plug or filter changes and it's fuel supply is wherever there is electricity, be it via a plug socket or a solar charger. Solar chargers could be put in the most remote areas, places that it would be too impractical and costly to build petrol stations. Also there would not be the challenge of transporting the fuel in the first place to these locations.

New technologies in South Africa tend to rapidly replace the old ones. CD's quickly saw the demise of LP's in record shops and MP3's more or less have seen the near total disappearance of the record shops. Digital cameras saw the extinction of film cameras in the shops in just a few years and cell phone cameras have pretty much done the same to digital cameras. Once electric cars become a bit more affordable they will spell the end for dirty fossil fuel powered vehicles in the country.