SATNAC 2025 – Unpacking the future of electric vehicles in South Africa
MyBroadband recently attended SATNAC 2025, the annual telecommunications conference that gathers South African ICT industry leaders and experts.
The event was held at the Arabella Hotel and was sponsored by many of South Africa’s leading technology companies, including Telkom, Openserve, and Huawei.
Among two days of exciting presentations, there was an engaging panel session moderated by Openserve’s Head of Technology and Lifecycle Management, Kagiso Modise, who was joined by four notable guests:
- Paul Plummer – Chief Commercial Officer, EVERLECTRIC
- Greg Cross – Principal Director for Automotive and eMobility ACCENTURE
- Tshetlhe Litheko – Chief Policy Officer, NAAMSA
- Grant Locke – Managing Director, VOLVO
The panel analysed the current state of electric vehicle (EV) adoption in South Africa and the expectations they have for the future.
EV adoption
The panel noted that EVs are still regarded as a poor investment by many South Africans despite the global trend shifting towards their use.
“We’re going through an inflexion point around the world, and South Africa will not be an exception to this,” said Locke.
“There are certain lessons we can take from the rest of the world to help South Africa’s adoption of EVs.”
This includes building the infrastructure needed to support EVs across the country while also standardising the systems involved.
Automakers and motoring brands play a key role in this, with Plummer noting that EVERLECTRIC has seen an accelerated drive towards EV adoption.
“We’re seeing an absolute acceleration,” he said.
“We see Africa adopting EVs more quickly since we love efficiency.”
For fleets, the increased efficiency of EVs will drive massive long-term adoption as corporations utilise the most cost-effective solutions available.
SATNAC 2025 provided valuable insights to attendees.
Government and digitisation
Litheko discussed the impact of government policy on EV adoption.
“To drive adoption, government is playing around with how they balance that tax bracket,” he said.
“To do an incentive that works, the government will need to do a rebate.”
He notes that this currently involves a bit of a juggling act, as the government will need to look at local production, import costs, and a huge range of factors to determine the rebate.
Cross then outlined how telco companies can work effectively with automotive companies to achieve greater adoption through the digitisation of features.
“I think the marriage between automotive and telco is a natural fit, and we’re seeing that now,” he said.
“Telco networks have three key features that automotive manufacturers want. That is high connectivity, access to data, and edge computing capacity.”
Based on this, EV technology will continue to advance in South Africa, with cars offering increasingly innovative features to meet the evolving needs of customers.
Click here to learn more about SATNAC 2025.
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