Awesome SA electric car

Awesome news BC...

Given my lifestyle at this point in time, something like this is definately on the cards if its affordable.
 
kaspaas said:
Pricing?

How are they going to ensure that people are charging these cars only during the Eskom off peak periods?

I'm seeing many more power failures ahead
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Nothing about pricing yet, but as for Eskom:

He adds that independent analysis of Eskom has confirmed the South African grid has enough capacity to supply electrical energy to millions of cars without affecting its customer base, or requiring any additional infrastructure.

According to Meiring, Eskom has vast amounts of excess energy between 11pm and 6am; this will be the recommended recharging time.
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And good to see that Goverment put up most of the development funds.

http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/computing/2008/0810011034.asp?O=FPTOP&S=Innovations&A=INV
 
When petrol's like R12 a litre in 2010, the R50k or so premium this car will cost over a similar petrol car will be recovered in fuel costs over the life of the car.
 
When are the new Eskom power stations suppose to be up and running?
 
Wait till you have to replace the batteries, I think they cost a small fortune.

Edit: maintenance costs will be lower though since there are very few parts in an electric motor compared to a combustion engine, so that may offset the cost of batteries.
 
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ToxicBunny said:
R200k? ok. nope.. not worth it the anymore...
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Amazing how our willingness to be 'green' is a function of our back pockets. ;)

As dam pointed out, the replacement of batteries is the big issue here, if not budgeted for.

After 5 years of usage, I recently replaced the batteries on my UPS (30 x 12V, 90AH) and it cost a whopping R30K. So that's a budget of R500 per month for new batteries.
 
Was always thinking of building a electric car. They're awesome. Some guy in America did a electric conversion on his Ariel Atom. 0-60kmp 3.9 Sec. (On wikipedia)

Will defianlty be cheeper to run. Just take, how much petrol are you saving each month.
 
Apparently it takes about 7 hours to charge that damn thing for a 400KM ride.
So basically if you go to Durbs/Cape Town, chances are you will get the in 2 days, and obviously you can't return immediately.
 
Heita_Hola said:
Apparently it takes about 7 hours to charge that damn thing for a 400KM ride.
So basically if you go to Durbs/Cape Town, chances are you will get the in 2 days, and obviously you can't return immediately.
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The purpose of this vehicle is urban, day-to-day commuting, not cross-country trips.
 
Just had a thought, what happens when you run out of power?
You cant just grab some petrol and throw it into the tank. I suppose you could carry an extension cable and hope someone nearby will let you plug in for a while, not likely though. You will most likely need to be towed home.
 
dam said:
Just had a thought, what happens when you run out of power?
You cant just grab some petrol and throw it into the tank. I suppose you could carry an extension cable and hope someone nearby will let you plug in for a while, not likely though. You will most likely need to be towed home.
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Maybe they'll let u "plug & pay" :D

U know what would be cool, if you could just go to the closest petrol station and plug out ur depleted battery grab a new one at the station and plug it in, while leaving ur depleted one + say R50.
Much like gas cylinders where u can just leave urs and grab a full one. Maybe the batteries then never belong to you but instead belong to Optic energy much like the coca cola bottles that you can return.
 
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