OPINION: The real reason why electric cars won’t work in Mzansi

Mention an electric vehicle (EV) and you immediately get told that they will never work in South Africa because of load shedding.

I totally agree that EVs will never work, but not for this reason. Rather for reasons that stem from the universe’s often warped sense of humour.

Chain of events

You know these air crash investigation programs where an airplane drops down from the sky? Investigators then start backtracking from the cockpit voice recorder to the maintenance records. They even go as far as the pilots’ personal files looking for answers.

A flight takes off and out of the blue a low oil pressure warning pops up. The pilots start their emergency procedure checklist because they have an engine that is failing. They throttle off the engine to prevent further damage and put in a call to head back to the airport.

The plane gets to within 500 metres of the airport, but is losing speed and altitude fast. They throttle up the remaining engine to balance the airplane. But instead of it stabilising, it banks violently to one side and plunges into the ground next to the runaway in a fiery mess.

ALSO READ: Rental giant Hertz pulls plug on EV fleet as demand drops

As the show unravels, instead of finding something dramatic as the cause, you see some random events unfold. The guy that was meant to change the oil pressure warning switch, that was working intermittently, on one of the engines, was not at work that morning. His cat Fluffles had kittens. The new guy checks and the switch is working fine, so the airplane is cleared for take off.

The universe strikes

Meanwhile the switch comes on for no good reason in flight. The pilots think they have a problem that does not exist and make decisions based on false information. Eventually the airplane goes down because of a litter of kittens.

I know this is a rather dramatic example. But a chain of silly events where the universe conspired to ensure that I was stuck with an EV that was out of juice and going nowhere happened to me recently.

The simple rule for living happily with an EV is that you either charge it at home every night like you would a cell phone, or at work where you might have high-speed charging. The one thing you don’t do is run an EV to almost flat and then expect to top up quickly. But my daughter was driving the car, and like most kids, they never tell you when anything is finished.

ALSO READ: Electric switch will see next Nissan Qashqai become a full EV

EV charge drama

I get a call to say that we must go charge the EV now as it is almost flat, as she must be somewhere. I am on my way out in another car, but I go back in, jump out of my car and into the EV with her to go charge it at a fast charger at the local mall. Charging at home, without a manufacturer supplied wall box, is not an option at this stage as it is way too slow to provide enough juice for her to be on her merry way.

I get to the mall and as I open my door the area goes down from load shedding. I can just see all the prophets of doom rolling on the floor in laughter.

But I know the mall generator will kick in and all will be good soon and that high-speed charging will happen. But then generator keeps kicking out. Eventually it stays on, but the clock is ticking.

ALSO READ: EV transition will ‘take time’ as DTIC releases White Paper Report

I connect the charger and scan the manufacturer supplied charge card. The machine clicks on and then clicks straight off with a message that says there is insufficient funds in the card to transact.

Out of time

I try contact the PR of the manufacturer, but these are busy people. Only around an hour later I get a message to saying that another media outlet had depleted the funds. But the card was topped up and ready for use.

But now we are out of time and my ”how to charge an EV” lesson to my daughter has gone pear-shaped. We leave without charging anything other than my heartrate.

We go to pay the parking, but because of these load shedding issues, the parking machines are not accepting credit cards. I then check for change to pay for the parking only to realise my wallet is still in the car at home that I hurriedly jumped out of, and I have no cash on me.

My daughter, who never has cash unless it is mine, offers to go draw cash with her card. But she finds her bank is also down. There are long queues at the other banks that she can’t wait to stand in.

ALSO READ: Priced GWM Ora 03 becomes South Africa’s most affordable EV

The do’s and don’ts of an EV

We go back and beg the lady parking attendant to let us out, which she kindly does. We limp the almost flat EV home so that my daughter can now go do whatever it is that she had to do using my other car. Not part of the original plan due to insurance issues and different drivers’ kind of fears.

Now there are 87 hours of charging time left plugged into the three-pin plug at my house. I decide to trundle back at walking pace to the mall on my own. This time with a wallet, and cash, and an EV that shows zero km on the range.

I scan the card, and get a message it is going to take two hours to fully charge my EV at the fast-charger. At this very point, I concede that this is my crash in a fiery mess moment.

The bottom line is; understand the technology and use it correctly. Don’t have children – or kittens – and you should never have a problem with keeping your EV charged.