The conference will be held over 1-2 October where discussions will be had on how to accelerate the transition to electric and smart mobility. Resulting in a cleaner environment and better quality of life, smart mobility has been adopted by many cities globally and now is the time for emerging markets to invest in transportation infrastructure and investigate new ways of planning and providing transport systems. Poor public transport infrastructure causes a reduction in gross domestic product, the measurement the World Back uses to report on a country’s growth.
Nissan the first OEM to introduce a fully electric vehicle to South African roads, the Nissan Leaf, will join other OEMs at the conference as the latest model of the electric car supports Vehicle-to-Grid technology (V2G). Also, Nissan will be discussing Nissan Energy, an innovative solution where second life Nissan Leaf batteries are combined with solar panels to generate sustainable power. “Nissan is committed to its sustainable development goals. We have worked with Filadelfia School in the community of Soshanguve to improve its access to reliable electricity and increase its use of renewable energy,” Kabelo Rabotho, Marketing Director Nissan South Africa.
This is but one way in which technology created for electric vehicles can be used to find solutions to challenges faced in communities and contribute to the Electric Vehicle Ecosystem. According to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA), 1.5 million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles were purchased worldwide and accounted for 0.1% of all cars in 2015. This number is predicted to grow to 35% by 2040. “To accelerate the adoption of smarter mobility across the continent, we are launching the inaugural Smarter Mobility Africa summit at the Sun Arena at Time Square on 1 and 2 October 2019,” Ben Pullen, Co-founder and CEO of Generation.e.
The conference will also see Generation.e launch the first Electric Vehicle Road Trip Africa (EVRT Africa) which will include 12 vehicles participate in a trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town over eight days to demonstrate its capabilities.
