Electric Vehicle Glossary

I have compiled an Electric Vehicle Glossary to help explain some of the abbreviations and terminology associated withe electric vehicles. Find it here or under the Pages tab in the right sidebar. Thanks to Google and Wikipedia for helping me word some of the explanations.

How much range in enough range (for an electric car in South Africa)?

Recently I wrote a reply to another electric car blog's Facebook post that basically asked the same question. Not owning an electric vehicle (yet) I tried to think what sort of range I'd need for the kind of journeys I do.

Like the US and unlike much of Western Europe, distances between major centres in South Africa are quite big, so do we all need long range electric vehicles? At the moment there are only two, relatively short range, fully electric cars on sale in South Africa, the 24kwh Nissan Leaf and the BMW i3. The Leaf has a range of 135km and the i3 can go up to 160km.

Most of my driving is commuting to and from work as well as dropping my daughter at school and my wife at work in the morning. This daily round trip is about 35km, well within the range of even the lowest range all electric vehicles.

Occasionally I have to take a trip to another branch, coincidentally they're all about 50 kms away from the branch where I work, so that would add another 100km to my daily mileage. That's right on the limit of the Nissan Leafs range but within that of the i3. If I had a place to charge at work, which at the moment there isn't, it would be within the range of the Leaf as well. Also once a month I go to camera club after work, that is about another 40 kms so would be well within the range of a single charge on the Leaf. Most other evening driving is relatively short trips, probably 5-10km at the most.

Weekend journeys again are also mostly less than 100km a day. A place down the coast we like to go away to for weekends is 98kms away so that would also be easy to achieve on a single charge in the Leaf. A recent weekend trip to a friends wedding was 82kms each way.

The nearest city to where I stay (apart from Durban which is 20km away) is Pietermaritzburg which is a 70km drive each way. Probably a handful of kilometres too far for the 24Kwh Leaf that is currently on sale in South Africa. Of course a short charge at the destination would ensure enough juice for the return trip.

The only trip I've done in recent years that would be well beyond the range of the Leaf and/or i3 is a journey to Johannesburg a few years back. The 600km's wouldn't really be practical even if there were fast chargers on route at convenient locations. A Leaf would need at least four stops and with a fast charger about 30 minutes at each stop to fully charge. If you were planning on doing lots of journeys this distance, then a Chevy Bolt with a range of over 300km would be suitable, you'd just need one stop to charge at about half distance on the way to Johannesburg from Durban. Sadly the Bolt isn't available in South Africa yet.

The last time I did go to Johannesburg I didn't actually use my car while I was there as the person I was a guest of was kind enough to ferry me around, so I could have actually just taken a bus or plane and left my car at home. The fuel savings I'd make with an electric car would more than pay for the use of a hire car for such infrequent trips.

So would one of the short range electric vehicles on sale in South Africa right now, be adequate for my motoring needs? I think yes. Maybe I would be pushing the edge of the range of a Leaf on occasion but the i3 would cope with pretty much handle everything but the very occasional long journey and as I mentioned in the last paragraph, there are always alternative options to your own car.

Report leads the way to cleaner transport

Report leads the way to cleaner transport
Business Day reports on a report from The Department of Trade and Industry which looked at creating policies for cleaner and greener transport. On the subject of electric vehicles it has the following to say.

Regarding EVs, the playing field is anything but level. Just more than 300 EVs have been sold in SA. Antiquated legislation means that EVs from Europe attract a higher duty level than most other vehicles. Often they are placed into the luxury vehicle category. This means they are priced way beyond comparably-sized vehicles.

I wrote about how I thought the government could incentivise electric vehicles a few days ago. It's good to see that consideration is being given to incentives

The report makes clear recommendations for all sectors of society. It suggests that the government procure more EVs and only purchase the top three most fuel-efficient models. It recommends tax incentives for those who switch to alternative-fuel vehicles and emphasises that annual vehicle taxation should be based on a vehicle’s emission standard.

Unfortunately there are forces at hand in the country trying to push for fuel cell vehicles, obviously to benefit themselves.

Implats and Anglo-American, with various agencies, are pushing for SA to become a global leader in fuel-cell technology, mainly because of the country’s strong position in the platinum industry, platinum being an essential component in fuel cells.

It baffles me why anyone would want the complexities of a fuel cell vehicle over a straight plug-in battery powered one. I'm obviously not the only one because in places where fuel cell vehicles are available, sales have been minimal. One of the key advantages of a pure battery powered electric car, is it's simplicity and low maintenance. There is one moving part in an electric motor compared to hundreds in a conventional (ICE) internal combustion engine. There are no spark plugs, engine oil, oil filter, air filter or transmission fluid to replace and replenish. There is no metal rubbing against metal and wearing out in an electric motor. In Chevy's new all-electric Bolt, the first recommended maintenance check is at 150,000km, whereas most likely a petrol or diesel vehicle will need servicing at least every 15,000km.

I imagine fuel cell vehicles will require regular maintenance like an ICE vehicle. Also fuel cell vehicle will have to be filled up at special pumps, just like ICE vehicles, whereas a battery electric vehicle can be charged anywhere where there is electricity and a plug socket. Fuel cell vehicles are the Betamax of clean energy.

The report also mentions biofuel. This is another pointless direction to go in. Growing biofuel uses land that could be used for growing food and then when it's burned in a vehicle engine it's again putting Co2 into the atmosphere just like diesel and petrol. Also a biofuel powered vehicle will be just as noisy and emit the same amount of fumes as a petrol or diesel powered vehicle, making life unpleasant for other road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.

Power rangers: Botswana's all-electric safari

Power rangers: Botswana's all-electric safari
After yesterday featuring an article about how Shamwari Game Reserve in South Africa was using electric vehicles for it's game drives, I did a little bit more searching and came across this 2014 article from CNN. They report on how Chobe national park in Botswana are now using converted electric Land Rovers for their game drives.

Chobe Game Lodge, located inside the national park on Botswana's northern border with Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, launched what it describes as the world's first electric safari fleet in late November. The lodge is rolling out both electric game drive vehicles -- retrofitted Land Rovers -- and electric boats, for game-viewing cruises along the Chobe River.

Antony English, co-owner of Freedom Won, the South African company that converts the Land Rovers, echoes the sentiments I expressed in yesterdays blog post.

The converted Land Rovers are rugged and perform well on Chobe's sandy trails. The first vehicle put into operation -- our ride for the day -- has been dubbed "Freedom 3." "Most of you will have been on a game drive, and you would have had to put up with the diesel motor and the noise, and the vibration and smoke," English says.  

Not only is Chobe converting it's Land Rover fleet to electricity, EV parking bays have been put in place at Kasane International Airport, as the lodge intends using electric Land Rovers to ferry guests the 15 kms to and from the airport.

The lodge are also running electric boats on the Chobe river.

On a late-afternoon river cruise, we experience the sounds of silence again. As our electric boat turns a bend, we spot a herd of elephants tentatively coming down to the river for a drink of water. An African fish eagle sits motionless as we glide by. A crocodile basking on the shore's edge doesn't move either, until a grumpy elephant decides to chase it away. We sit watching and listening to the elephants as dusk settles over the Chobe River. 

Unfortunately the authors final game drive of their visit to Chobe was in a yet to be converted diesel vehicle.

But the next morning is a rude awakening: back to a bumpy old diesel-fueled Land Rover for our final game drive through the park. Our guide catches sight of a Jacobin Cuckoo and we pull up to get a better look, our diesel motor roaring. The bird flees. My seatmate puts down his camera, grumbling: "It would still be there if we were in the electric vehicle."

Shamwari unveils its first electric safari vehicle

Shamwari unveils its first electric safari vehicleThank you to News24 for this article from two years ago.

 Shamwari Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape has revealed a completely off-grid ‘green’ game reserve experience. Shamwari Game Reserve in conjunction with key partners have unveiled their first electric safari vehicle, which is hoped to help make the safari experience greener and more sustainable.

I have been thinking for a while that electric vehicles would be ideal for safari/game reserves. They are quieter than diesel and petrol engines so they are less likely to startle the wildlife and tourists can enjoy the sounds of nature instead of the sounds of an internal combustion engine. Also there are no emissions, so again tourists and animals can enjoy fume free air.

Shamwari also said the deployment of a dedicated car port housing a solar array at Shamwari will provide the ideal renewable source of energy for charging the vehicles.

This is something I've touched on before in articles here and here. Electric vehicles and solar charging make so much sense in remote areas. There's no need to go to the expense of transporting and storing petrol or diesel and with solar charging there's also no need to be on the electricity grid. You can literally operate an electric vehicle anywhere that gets a reasonable amount of sunlight, without the need to bring in any sort of energy source.

Most game viewing vehicles usually do relatively short distances so range shouldn't be an issue. Game drives happen mostly in the cool of the early morning and then in the late afternoon when the wildlife is most active. During the middle of the day when the vehicle is not active and the sun is at it's strongest, it can recharge via the solar carport.

It'd be interesting to find out what other game reserves, if any, have also gone the EV route.

D0VE P1: Africa's First Electric Car By UNILAG Students (Business Inside...

University of Lagos students build Africa’s first electric car

Business Insider story and video about students at the University of Lagos who have built an electric car. Watch the video below and read the article here.

Puma Sports Car electric www.evdrive.co.za

YouTube clip below, I found of a supposed electric powered Puma sports car developed in South Africa. Unfortunately the web page at www.evdrive.co.za doesn't
exist any longer.

I can't really find much info on the Puma electric sports car so I don't know what happened to the project. I did find though a site Puma In South Africa. The Puma was a Brazilian design built in Durban in the 70's

South African Puma production began in Durban in 1973. The car was basically the Brazilian GTE but there were some differences. South African GTE's were right hand drive rather than left hand drive as were the Brazilian made cars. Also, the South African Pumas were built on VW Beetle pans and had front drum brakes.

Unfortunately it wasn't in production for very long.

A total of 357 units were produced and sold in a matter of 21 months. One of these was exported to Australia to test that market. Unfortunately, the lack of cost control in the manufacturing operation led to the downfall of the company. 

The company seems to have been resurrected many years later and the new company's page can be found here. That page though doesn't appear to have been updated since 2011, the same year the above video clip was published. It was they who were building the electric version.

Most recently, the company has developed a battery powered electric version of Puma which is claimed to equal or exceed the performance of the standard car.  

The page where I sourced this information from was also last updated in 2011, so it remains a mystery to what happened to Puma and their electric sports car.