Roy Cokayne
Nissan South Africa has entered into a groundbreaking partnership with the Environmental Affairs Department, involving a pilot project that will be a forerunner to the launch into the local market later this year of the Nissan Leaf, the first mass-produced electric vehicle.
In terms of the partnership, four Nissan Leaf test cars will be made available to the department for their use and testing in the initial phase of the project, which will be run over three years.
Nissan SA has also installed the charging infrastructure for these vehicles.
Mike Whitfield, the managing director of Nissan SA, said yesterday that the pilot project would pave the way for the future of sustainable mobility in the country. It would also create awareness and enable the government to participate in understanding the benefits of electric vehicles,” he said.
“This electric vehicle pilot programme demonstrates ambitious and visible actions towards reducing carbon emissions. The intention of this initiative is to begin the process of creating an environment in which environmentally friendly electric vehicles can be operated on South African roads.”
Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said the project would pilot, test and demonstrate the feasibility and viability of electric vehicles under local conditions.
Molewa said the project was not only about electric cars, but also about the kind of supporting infrastructure, such as battery charge stations, that needed to be in place to enable a significant uptake and the use of electric cars in the country.
“The fundamental motivation for embarking on this project is the urgent need for South Africa to transition to a job-creating, sustainable, low-carbon and green economy as clearly outlined in the National Development Plan.
“This imperative is driven by our need to ensure energy security and reduce our reliance on imported oil, with its ever rising prices. It is also driven by our need to address the global climate change crisis with its disastrous economic, environmental, human health and social impacts,” she said.
Molewa stressed that the transition to a low-carbon and sustainable economy could create large numbers of green jobs across many sectors of the economy and could become an engine of development.
Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said the Green Cars programme aligned well with the work currently being finalised on the draft electric vehicle strategy.
Peters believed the outcome of the pilot project would also contribute towards research and development done in the sector by the Science and Technology Department and SA National Energy Development Institute on electric vehicles.
Whitfield said Nissan, together with alliance partner Renault, had entered into more than 100 partnerships around the world where the Leaf had been successfully launched.
He said this pilot programme would help Nissan SA to identify potential hurdles that needed to be overcome during the roll-out and commercialisation phase of electric vehicles.
This was crucial so that by the time the Leaf was extended to local consumers later this year, drivers would have the option of charging their cars at home, as well as having access to public charging sites, he said.
He added that the infrastructure for charging stations was still under discussion, but Nissan SA envisaged quick charging points at selected Nissan dealers and other public locations.
Whitfield also confirmed that a seven-seater electric taxi vehicle had been announced globally, although it had not yet been launched.