The rise of the electric vehicle
October is known as Transport Month in South Africa, the month inspires private stakeholders in South Africa to formulate ways to improve transport methodology, whether by road or by rail.
The South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) works alongside the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) on a Low Carbon Transport Project which focuses on finding alternative modes and alternative energy for the transportation sector within South Africa. “SANEDI strives to implement ‘cleaner mobility solutions’, focussed mainly on cities and other niche markets. SANEDI and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) are collaborating on a Low Carbon Transport Project in South Africa. Together with the DTI, we work on the alignment of policies that inform the introduction of alternative modes and alternative energy for transportation,” Barry Bredenkamp, General Manager for Energy Efficiency at The South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI).
Although just over 1000 electric vehicles have been sold in South Africa from January 2018 to date, South Africa is trailing behind the rest of the world by a large number. In the United States of America, Europe and China around 1.6 million electric vehicles were sold in 2018 collectively. “With the City of Johannesburg and eThekwini Municipality, we support the development of non-motorised transport (NMT) plans and installation of charging infrastructure for EVs. We also support other cities to plan their green transport initiatives and developments and work with the Department of Transport on the NMT and Green Transport strategy documents,” said Bredenkamp.
According to the International Energy Agency, China is leading the way when it comes to converting to electric vehicles with sales of battery electric vehicles increasing by 83 per cent and plug-in hybrids by 91 per cent in April 2019. “Together with national government and industry stakeholders, SANEDI and uYilo Electro-Mobility Technology Innovation Programme have been instrumental in establishing the Electric Vehicle Industry Association (EVIA). uYilo has also invested millions of Rands in support of local public charging infrastructure technologies, through its uYilo Kick-Start Fund,” added Bredenkamp.
The Department of Transport’s Green Transport Strategy 2018-2050 has put in place a 10 point strategy for creating a greener South Africa when it comes to the transporting sector. While some of the methods outlined in the strategy, placed under Integrated Transport Planning, has already been tested and implemented, most are still to come. One of the points focuses on using alternative fuel sources such as compressed natural gas and has been introduced and is used on busses and has been tried on minibus taxis. “Public transport is a necessary and unavoidable expense for 40% of South Africa’s commuters, as they are unable to afford private transport. This compares to 38% who use a private vehicle, 21% who walk and 1% who use other forms of transport. Overall, 67% of those who utilise public transport choose to use minibus taxis, 20% use buses and 13% use the trains; 70% of learners and 68% of workers use minibus taxis to commute,” added Bredenkamp.
“When one considers that the South African trains transport around 800 000 commuter trips daily, buses transport about 1 million commuters a day, BRT 120 000 a day and minibus taxis do over 15 million commuter trips daily, the need for green mobility solutions is critical,” concludes Bredenkamp.
