South Africa’s Tesla – and what caused its demise

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wingnut771 said:
This is the future of renewables IMHO. All residential kitted with solar with EV's plugged into the grid acting like one giant battery smoothing out the grid stability. EV owner gets paid by power company.
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Haha! Do you think that would ever happen in RSA?
 
There is the Joule at the James Hall transport museum, it does look like a typical mid 2000s car. Pity it didn't really take off, think it was still using traditional batteries as well
 
neoprema said:
It will pick-up. Emissions laws are not going to get easier, they're going to get stricter and they will ultimately push the ICE into extinction. Later, rather than sooner. But they will.
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Except electric can't take over long haul shipping
 
Bad luck Gerhard & Co. I do feel sympathy for them trying at least. The "Crossing the chasm" cannot be underestimated.
 
Paul_S said:
Haha! Do you think that would ever happen in RSA?
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Zero national planning for EV charging stations in 2005-2012, ANC government was far too busy stealing. They had far more important things to do, like stealing the Medupi and Kusile projects blind, and building white elephant stadiums for the world cup soccer. Also too busy taxing fuel to pay pump jockeys their subsidies. Overall it was quite doable, but needed massive private sector investment because of the useless ANC government, who had just announced loadshedding in 2008. All of this played a big part in scaring potential private investors away. Also the lack of melanin, if you are white, then you have you need to build EVERYTHING, the government will not come to the party unless BEE and AA. The paltry 15 million rands from the dept was actually a slap in the face and quite laughable. For the ANC to be interested there needs to be opportunities for ANC cadres to exploit it and skim off the top, whilst adding zero value.
 
RonSwanson said:
Zero national planning for EV charging stations in 2005-2012, ANC government was far too busy stealing. They had far more important things to do, like stealing the Medupi and Kusile projects blind, and building white elephant stadiums for the world cup soccer. Also too busy taxing fuel to pay pump jockeys their subsidies. Overall it was quite doable, but needed massive private sector investment because of the useless ANC government, who had just announced loadshedding in 2008. All of this played a big part in scaring potential private investors away. Also the lack of melanin, if you are white, then you have you need to build EVERYTHING, the government will not come to the party unless BEE and AA. The paltry 15 million rands from the dept was actually a slap in the face and quite laughable. For the ANC to be interested there needs to be opportunities for ANC cadres to exploit it and skim off the top, whilst adding zero value.
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Hey @RonSwanson get in here. I think you need a hug.
 
neoprema said:
If they had left the country with their idea and gone to somewhere one can actually DO business properly...
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I don't think so. Building a car company is HARD. Anywhere. It requires deep pockets and quite high risk threshold. Even Tesla went almost bankrupt. This is not just for EVs - history is littered with failed upstarts. Even the big boys are having trouble because their balance sheets can't handle the transition.
rvZA said:
Electric cars are the problem. They did not work here. They will not work here. Hell, they don't even work in the US. Just look at Tesla's collapse and low sales numbers of any other electric vehicle abroad. This is having a massive effect on these companies, which ultimately leads to retrenchments and loss of income. Any manufacturer focusing on electric vehicles will have a bleak future, if they will even have one at all.
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We really should have sticked to horses Technology transitions are never smooth, but when you blink your eyes they have happened...
LCBXX said:
I think they started in the EV development too early and with too little funding. How many billions of Dollars had to be spent by Tesla in the 17 years it took before the company reported a profit?
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Yes. Car companies (ICE or EV) is tough. Go look at VW and Toyota's balance sheets and you will be shocked. The miracle of Tesla at the moment is their insane margin in their vehicles.
 
Napalm2880 said:
They'll end up on the scrapheap, same as ICE engines which 'could' be recycled as well.
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I think the economics are quite different. An ICE engine that doesn't work in a vehicle anymore is just plain broken. A battery with 70% capacity can be plugged in and used as is. Plus the materials in a battery are worth *much* more than the iron used in an engine. EV battery recycling will be more akin the catalytic converters in ICE vehicles which are recycled like crazy.
 
That's one thing that South Africans just don't understand: clear and truthful communication. Starting with the present govt. Who, as time passes, looks more and more like the previous one.
 
Lupus said:
There is the Joule at the James Hall transport museum, it does look like a typical mid 2000s car. Pity it didn't really take off, think it was still using traditional batteries as well
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In the article they say "flowing lines", lol flowing lines my foot, that's a kak ugly car so no wonder it didn't spur much investor confidence it didn't even get people excited about it's design at all, unless they were trying to avoid the car enthusiast market and instead target a middle aged car mom market but they failed there also as all the middle aged mom's wanted SUV's for the last decade now.

Who was this really targeted at?
 
falcon786 said:
In the article they say "flowing lines", lol flowing lines my foot, that's a kak ugly car so no wonder it didn't spur much investor confidence it didn't even get people excited about it's design at all, unless they were trying to avoid the car enthusiast market and instead target a middle aged car mom market but they failed there also as all the middle aged mom's wanted SUV's for the last decade now.

Who was this really targeted at?
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Who knows, the car was just boring
 
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