Incentives for electric cars in SA: Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies

Yes, because we have such an excess of electrical supply capacity here :whistling:
 
I am confused. Why did they then stop supporting the Joule? As far as I know Optimal Engergy was far along in the development. They even had a running model I think. What gives? :confused:
 
Electrical cars are a fairly dubious prospect. I'm not even sure I'd want to support incentivisation until they can demonstrate clear ecological benefits over low-usage petrol cars. My gas guzzling old Camry is arguably better for the environment than a Pious - I mean Prius.
 
I am confused. Why did they then stop supporting the Joule? As far as I know Optimal Engergy was far along in the development. They even had a running model I think. What gives? :confused:

Instead of propping up companies and products that the market rejects (Rooivalk and Joule. The owner of Optimal Energy was involved in both), we are now supporting an industry.
It is a far better approach.

(Although I personally don't think Government should ever be involved in creating market abnormalities)
 
I don't see how it will affect our electric grid, in fact they can make the grid more efficient. you can easily set the car to charge from say 11PM to 5AM the next morning when there is very low demand, thus make better use of the wasted power at those times. Some incentive schemes for businesses to provide solar powered charging facilities at the office could also be quick good, probably not that effective, but creates a huge amount of awareness.

Look in to Solar City - Elon Musk is part of it, basically using solar power on houses to create a very large, distributed power company.
 
I don't see how it will affect our electric grid, in fact they can make the grid more efficient. you can easily set the car to charge from say 11PM to 5AM the next morning when there is very low demand, thus make better use of the wasted power at those times. Some incentive schemes for businesses to provide solar powered charging facilities at the office could also be quick good, probably not that effective, but creates a huge amount of awareness.

Look in to Solar City - Elon Musk is part of it, basically using solar power on houses to create a very large, distributed power company.

So you want to charge 85kwh in 6 hours?

That's a load of 14 kilowatts, or 64 amps, or more than the main breaker on your house is probably rated for.

There's not a lot of wasted power. Eskom has base load and peak load facilities. Peak load comes onstream when its needed and goes offline when it's not - or is replenished during off peak periods (pumped storage)
 
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthr...ing-but-national-energy-effort-needed-Cabinet


Imagine when everyone gets home from work at 5 o'clock and plugs their car in to charge... eskom will melt.

50 charging stations by 2015? Sure. That's a REALLY viable model. You're not going to get away from plugin charging for a hell of a long time.

Yes, because every one is going to get an electric car overnight. If they started a pilot project they would need about 5 of these stations in a city

How about if the sell a portable solar panel with each car so that your car can charge while its sitting in the parking lot ?
Fuel for free...


Getting the electric car to be a success will take little more than attitude adjustment from the general population.
 
Yes, because every one is going to get an electric car overnight. If they started a pilot project they would need about 5 of these stations in a city

How about if the sell a portable solar panel with each car so that your car can charge while its sitting in the parking lot ?
Fuel for free...


Getting the electric car to be a success will take little more than attitude adjustment from the general population.

I think you underestimate the power requirements of an electric car and the power generation capacity of a solar panel.

Solar panels peak at around 300 watts. That's hardly anything when you're talking kilowatt hours of capacity. So the panel is like peeing into the ocean.
5 stations in a city... but what if you want to do a road trip?
 
I think you underestimate the power requirements of an electric car and the power generation capacity of a solar panel.

Solar panels peak at around 300 watts. That's hardly anything when you're talking kilowatt hours of capacity. So the panel is like peeing into the ocean.
5 stations in a city... but what if you want to do a road trip?

PILOT

*Delivery cars within a major city like JHB
*Taxi cabs
etc
 
So you want to charge 85kwh in 6 hours?

That's a load of 14 kilowatts, or 64 amps, or more than the main breaker on your house is probably rated for.

There's not a lot of wasted power. Eskom has base load and peak load facilities. Peak load comes onstream when its needed and goes offline when it's not - or is replenished during off peak periods (pumped storage)

What car are you looking at that has 85kWh??? The Nissan Leaf has 24kWh batteries which is the one they are looking to pilot in JB later this year. You also would probably not run it to zero, so that would reduce the load further. So it is unlikey you will need more than 25A for the vehicle while you are sleeping and nothing else is running (besides fridge and alarm system). Most houses have at least 30A as far as I am aware.

What they should really try do is to create incentives to also install a 10-20kW solar installation as well. During the day you can charge the car or put energy back in to the grid, in fact allowing your battery to be drained a bit during peak power hrs with a healthy rebate and then charged later at a lower cost would be an even better idea.

I would really like to see SA get in front of this kind of technology as it is the way forward. Combustion engines will end up being generators with electric motors powering wheels, you can already see this in hybrid car evolution.

So on electric vehicles, it is where we are heading, might as well get with the program and try be an innovator, not running behind the rest of the world.

In terms of electricity supply, it can actually help us better use our grid power and maybe provide the needed reasons to get Eskom to allow private citizens to put power back in to the grid for a good price (Hello Karoo solar farms). This would help decentralise the grid.
 
Now electric motorcycles, theres' something that would make sense.

Not even electric, just look at bikes like the NC700 getting 3.5 l/100km no matter how you ride it.

Start by adding dedicated bike lanes on highways and therefore remove the "danger" factor from motorcycles so people are encouraged to leave their wasteful cars at home and travel by bike instead.

Less traffic, less time wasted, parking isn't a problem and fuel will be saved by the bucket loads.
 
Now electric motorcycles, theres' something that would make sense.

Not even electric, just look at bikes like the NC700 getting 3.5 l/100km no matter how you ride it.

Start by adding dedicated bike lanes on highways and therefore remove the "danger" factor from motorcycles so people are encouraged to leave their wasteful cars at home and travel by bike instead.

Less traffic, less time wasted, parking isn't a problem and fuel will be saved by the bucket loads.
There are unfortunately a few problems here in CT, taxi drivers, the South Easter and winter storms:( On the electric bike side there are some really awesome things like the KTM Freeride and then more modest electric scooters which are so cheap and simple to maintain - in that there is nothing to maintain.

Bern: tesla roadster.
Yes, imagine you could get the model S here http://www.teslamotors.com/ - $500 per month for a sick car that uses R30/100km or such (might be a lot less)? Sold. Oh, did I mention almost non-existent servicing costs? How much does a BMW or such cost in fuel and servicing again?

But look at the Solar City project, it is really cool - wish they could do that here. In fact I did email them and ask if he could be patriotic and try. Then the Guptas rained on that parade...
 
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