We as people will need to change how we commute and how we plan our days. The black gold is running out and the electric car is being improved at an electrifying rate, making it more accessible to the likes of you and me. Well, when I say you and me, I mean those of us who have a little over R1.6-million. That’s how much the new Jaguar I-Pace will cost, but that’s not the biggest shock.
The future is plugged-in
I recently attended a discussion with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) South Africa where a select few media had the opportunity to sample the I-Pace – from the passenger seat - as well as discuss the future of motoring.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg, electric cars sales will rise from around one million units in 2017 to over 11 million by 2025, an uptake of nearly 50%. If you had to work on those facts, one could say that by that time, over 100 000 cars on South African roads will be electric, but are we ready? JLR seems to think so and are busy putting infrastructure into place that will support electric mobility.
Last year, they, along with a company called GridCars, partnered up to lay the foundation that included setting up 82 charging stations in major citifies and along holiday routes. This project has been dubbed Powerway and was recently put to the test.
They set-off from Centurion in the I-Pace, which produces 298kW from its 90kWh battery-pack that allows for a range of some 450km. Some three hours later, they arrived in the now popular Bergview rest stop complex in Harrismith which has been fitted with a publically available 60kW fast charging station. According to Jaguar, using the charger will result in the battery being fully charged in around 90min.
The biggest advantage of this is of course cost which is significantly less than filling up at the pumps. The purpose of the trip though was to prove that you can get from Johannesburg to Durban in an all-electric car, albeit with a stops along the way to recharge the batteries.
Conclusion
We are on the very edge of a worldwide shift and find ourselves in the same situation as many who used the horses to get from point A-B until the arrival of the automobile. Those cars had massive flaws, looked funny and were not easy to drive, yet they became the new type of transport back then.
We have to change how we see electric cars. Yes, it will take time but think about it. Go to any large shopping centre and you will find about six electric charging stations compared to over 1 000 non-electric car parking spaces.
Unfortunately, South Africa is not known as the leader of infrastructure development and in order for electric cars to really work, we will need government to come to the table and start developing the infrastructure, which appears highly unlikely at present.
Thankfully companies like JLR and GridCars have taken the initiative to start implementing solutions that are working. As I said, it won’t happen overnight but a sizable portion of the cars on our roads will be electric in the next five to 10 years and with impressive products like the I-Pace, I am convinced that the future will be electrifying.
