Over the past two years, there has been an urge to bring electric vehicles (EV) to the South African market. In 2022 there are now over twelve battery powered cars that people can choose from.
The Electronic vehicle market share in South Africa showed an improvement in 2021, with an increase in sales from 92 to 218 in 2020, according to Citing EV-volumes.com.
While the word ‘cheap’ isn’t necessarily the best in terms of quality when compared to their petrol and diesel counterparts, these cares are the cheapest and most affordable in their category.
GreenCape revealed in its 2022 Electric Vehicles Market Intelligence report that 74% of those who responded to its EV price survey were only willing to pay between R200 000 and R500 000 for an electric car.
This is a problem and presents a huge challenge because almost all the EV cars cost more than R500 000 besides one.
Here is a short list of EV’s you can buy right now in South Africa across the available brands:
- Eleksa CityBug- R230,000 with 4KW power and range of 100km which can be extended to 200km.
- Mini Cooper SE- R694, 600, which has 135kW/27Nm power and range of 217km.
- Volvo XC40 P6 Recharger- R1, 075,000 with 170kW/330Nm and range of 423km.
- Mercedes-Benz EQA 250 Progressive- R1, 169, 500 with 140kW/375Nm and range of 429KM.
- Audi e-tron 55 Quattro- R1, 745, 000 has 300kW/664Nm power and range of 440k.
- Porche Taycan- R2, 303, 000 with 300kW/345Nm power and 573km range.
Surprisingly, the cheapest EV car on this list is not as expensive as people might expect. The Eleksa CityBug costs R230 000, and costs around R15 to fully charge, said the company.
However, the CityBug is only powered by a 9kWh battery, and 4kWelectric motor mounted to the car rear axl, producing a blistering speed of up to 55km/h.
Not so long ago, prospective EV buyers only had Mini, Jaguar and a Porsche to choose from. This has all changed with more affordable cars now being introduced.
Source: Business Tech, My Broadband, image from Twitter: @BanzaiMatai