By: Colin Windell
The automotive industry is in the midst of the biggest single industrial transition in our lifetime according to Loren McDonald, Chief Executive Officer of EVAdoption LLC and he warned that South Africa needed to ‘be nimble and be quick’ in outlining its transition policies for green energy.
The US analyst was a keynote speaker at the National Association of Automobile Components and Allied Manufacturers (NAACAM) conference and suggested the way forward in the African context was via hybrid and plug-in hybrid technology.
“You have to think about the transition at a local level and not as a global single solution as there are too many factors involved in each country and area,” he says.
Andrew Kirby, Chief Executive Officer of Toyota South Africa Motors, said: “There is no reason why the industry in South Africa cannot make the transition, but it has to be done sustainably.
“We need to be conscious as a country that different segments of the automotive market will have different needs such as daily car commuters, short-haul delivery vehicles and long-haul truckers, and we will have to be able to adapt quickly to satisfy those.
“It is absolutely crucial to localise the production of Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) components but we need to think further than just battery manufacture and look at items such as wiring harnesses and other elements – and we need to focus on where, and how, we will compete and be more competitive than anyone else.”
General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (NUMSA), Irvin Jim was absolutely forthright and said: “We live in a world that is dynamic and which will leave us behind if we do not adapt. If we do not make ourselves relevant, production will simply shift elsewhere.”
In a number of panel discussions on the many facets of making the changes that will move the country towards a more carbon-neutral future, it was acknowledged it will take a long time for all fossil-fuel vehicles to be cycled out of the system but the knowledge, skills and abilities were in place for a transition.
“We need to be very conscious South Africa has rather blotted its copybook as an investment hub,” said Neale Hill, President of Ford Motor Company Africa. “We are still dealing with a major energy problem and this is having a huge impact on the smaller component suppliers who simply do not have the resources to counter the blackouts on an ongoing basis.
“It is also important we find a way of making the auto industry attractive to younger people and get them wanting to become engineers, toolmakers and the like. The capability and creativity is here, we just need to unlock it.”
Perhaps the most telling statement came from Solly Mapaila, General Secretary of the SACP: “At policy level we have become a talking country that has forgotten how to do.”