Should I buy an electric car in South Africa?

Life was a lot simpler when you had a choice of a diesel or petrol car with an internal combustion engine (ICE).

The recent proliferation of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) — namely battery-electric cars, hybrids and plug-in hybrids — has made the decision more complicated. A barrage of new NEVs has been launched in South Africa in the past few years as the global motor industry, driven by legislation in many countries to reduce air pollution, moves to more planet-friendly vehicles with lower or nonexistent C02 emissions. The EU, China and other regions are preparing to ban sales of ICE cars from the middle of the next decade.

It’s all very well to buy an electric vehicle (EV) in Norway or China which have extensive charging infrastructures and the prices are subsidised by their governments, but you may rightfully ask what is the sense of buying a battery-powered car in South Africa given Eskom’s problems, and the high prices of EVs coupled with the long time it takes to charge them?

EVs are on average about a third more expensive than petrol or diesel cars and the main reason they sell at a trickle. Last year, local EV sales rose 85.4% from 502 to 931 units as more models were introduced and prices became more affordable, but still accounted for just 0.17% of the 532,098 new vehicles sold.

Don’t expect EVs to become meaningfully cheaper any time soon. Announcing Mzansi’s long-awaited NEV policy in December, trade and industry minister Ebrahim Patel put the brakes on that prospect by saying the 25% import duty on EVs would remain, against 18% for ICE cars.

Tax and cashback incentives are offered to EV buyers in many countries to reduce the price gap between EV and ICE cars, but doing so here would lead to more EV sales, which government doesn’t want now because of Eskom’s woes and the relatively small public charging infrastructure.

Patel said consumer incentives may only be introduced in seven or eight years’ time.

In the meantime, to protect the local motor manufacturing industry and the jobs it provides, government will introduce an investment allowance from March 2026 to encourage the production of electric vehicles in South Africa. It will allow producers to claim 150% of investment spending on electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles in the first year.

The move will help ensure the survival of the country’s seven big vehicle manufacturers that employ 33,000 people and contribute more than 5% to GDP. Nearly two-thirds of their production goes overseas and they need to switch to EV manufacture as a number of countries they export to will ban the sale of ICE vehicles soon. Some brands do not sell enough of their locally-built cars in South Africa to be able to justify keeping their factories open.

WHY WOULD I BUY AN EV?

High fuel prices might make more South Africans consider making the switch from ICE to electric power, but at the moment it is difficult to justify EV ownership from a purely value for money aspect. Their expensive prices are largely due to the high cost of their batteries and punitive import duties. A petrol or diesel car costs a lot less and it may take several years to make up the price difference in fuel price savings — that is, unless you charge your EV for free, which is possible depending on your circumstances.

EVs are impractical as long-distance vehicles due to their long charging times, and they don’t satisfy a green conscience as long as the country's intermittent Eskom supply is mostly delivered by dirty coal.

EVs are locally emission-free in that they don’t produce exhaust fumes, though this is offset by the pollution caused by coal-fired power plants. The green conscience motive behind EVs will take time to achieve, especially in South Africa where 80% of electric power is generated by coal. Curbing global warming will require a clean-energy ecosystem with wind farms and solar panels instead of smokestacks.

However, while EVs remain an expensive luxury, improved range and charging times are making them more practical to own. Driving EVs can also be a pleasurable experience due to their silent operation and strong, instant power delivery.

More affordable battery-powered cars have been launched in recent months including the GWM Ora 03 with a starting price of R686,950, BYD Atto 3 (from R768,000) and Volvo EX30 (from R775,900) but that is still well out of reach of the motoring masses. An AutoTrader survey found that two-thirds of South Africans would consider buying an EV if it cost less than R500,000, but there are no cars in that price range expected soon.

WHAT IT COSTS TO RUN AN EV

GWM quotes a R0.40 cost per kilometre for the electric Ora 03 vs about R1.17 for a petrol car and R1.00 for a diesel car at current fuel prices. However, the prices to charge EVs vary considerably depending on the energy source.

The cost of charging the vehicle at home varies from about R3 to R3.50 to kWh depending on the neighbourhood you live in and tariffs increasing as monthly usage exceeds certain thresholds.

As an example, an electric BMW iX3 will cost between R900-R1,000 to charge at home for a distance of 1,600km. At current fuel prices it would cost about R2,300 a month to run a diesel BMW X3 30d over the same distance.

Public EV charging sites cost more, at about R5.88 on an AC charger and R7.35 for a faster DC charger.

At a public DC fast charger the cost of charging an electric X3 is almost the same as filling up a diesel X3.

Bear in mind that some shopping centres and car dealers offer free charging to attract customers to use their premises. Also, if you juice up the vehicle at work, and your company doesn’t charge you for it, it could cost you nothing to run your EV.

CHARGING TIMES AND RANGE ANXIETY

Waiting hours to charge an EV when you can top up a petrol or diesel car in a couple of minutes is a key hurdle to EV ownership, but it can be addressed by a change of mindset if you treat the car the same as charging a mobile phone, fully charging overnight and topping up in the day if necessary.

With ranges of between 350km and 480km the latest EV models typically do not require a charge every day, depending on driving style and commuting distances.

Public chargers are getting faster and the latest ones can fully juice up an EV in a claimed 15 minutes. There are only a handful of such ultra-fast chargers, but with more than 350 publicly accessible charging stations, South Africa’s number of charging points per EV is one of the highest in the world with about six cars per charging station and the network is growing.

To address load-shedding as well as range anxiety for drivers outside urban areas, a company called Zero Carbon Charge aims to roll out a national network of ultra-fast EV chargers at 150km intervals on strategic routes. The solar-powered stations will be off-grid and can charge an EV in a claimed 25 minutes.

THE CASE FOR HYBRIDS

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are a stepping stone to a fully electric future and combine the best of both worlds: a decent electric-only range of up to 100km, backed up by a petrol engine. Like EVs they are charged at home or at public chargers but are quicker to juice up due to their smaller batteries. They are expensive compared with regular ICE cars though, and all PHEVs in South Africa are priced over R1m.

Regular hybrids, which recharge their batteries while driving and don’t need to be plugged in, can achieve better fuel economy than petrol cars, but diesel cars are still generally more frugal.