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In line with these needs, BMW South Africa and Nissan South Africa have already
formed a partnership to expand EV charging infrastructure, and in September 2015
BMW installed its first public charging station in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg. The aim is
to create a national charging network, which can be used by all brands of EVs in South
Africa. In Cape Town there are plans for installing public charging stations at the V&A
Waterfront and Constantia Village Mall. The charging times vary from under 30 minutes
for the DC chargers, and up to three hours for the AC chargers. It is estimated that at
current electricity prices, this will cost around R30 per charge.
South Africa has been home to some forward thinking innovations for EV charging
systems. BMW SA, in partnership with a local renewable energy company Sunworx,
has designed a new solar carport charger. The aim of the carport is to produce a
zero-carbon footprint when driving an EV in the interim while the national grid is still
carbon intensive. Grid Cars, a South African company based in Pretoria, has also been
innovating local solutions for charging stations. They have been creating charge point
operating systems, as well as designing and building the actual charging points for
BMW. Having an established local company already working on this lowers the cost
of implementing the technology, and is beneficial in that it is being designed for South
African electricity loads and constraints instead of trying to adapt international designs.

The range of the vehicles describes the distance they can travel on one charge. This will
improve as EVs receive further attention and investment and the battery technology
improves. The Tesla Model 3 already has almost double the range of the other vehicles.
This should alleviate some of the concerns consumers have around the convenience
and reliability of EVs. It is also important to note that the infrastructure required for
refuelling EVs is not as extensive as the current petrol station networks. Ideally most
people will be able to recharge at home and at work, using supercharging stations PROVINCIAL OUTLOOK NATIONAL OUTLOOK GLOBAL OUTLOOK GAP HOUSING INVESTOR NARRATIVE SPOT THE OPPORTUNITY PORTFOLIO INSIGHTS KHULISA NEWSLETTER ELECTRIC VEHICLES ENERGY SECURITY LOOKING AT GDP
only on long car trips. This calls for a focus on installing charging stations along major
national highways as a priority to make electric vehicles viable as both a city and long
distance vehicle.

THE NATIONAL ELECTRICITY GRID
There are concerns surrounding the source of our electricity being coal intensive and
using more electricity to power vehicles as not being sustainable or environmentally
friendly. This is a valid concern because coal-powered electricity has the ability to
vastly increase the emission intensity linked to powering vehicles electrically. However,
detailed studies show that even with our dirty energy supply, EV use is still cleaner than
an internal combustion car. Furthermore, South Africa has been named one of the
fastest growing renewable energy destinations over the last few years, largely due to
4
targeted government interventions (the REIPPPP ). Figure 12 below shows the rapid
increase in solar and wind power in 2014 and 2015. It is also likely that investment in EV
infrastructure will actually improve both the quantity and cleanliness of the electricity
supply as the battery systems improve the reliability of renewable energy sources.

4 Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme

QUARTERLY ECONOMIC BULLETIN 2016 33