The man behind South Africa’s biggest electric car charging network

South Africa’s biggest public electric vehicle (EV) charging network, GridCars, was founded by software engineer Winstone Jordaan about 15 years ago.

Jordaan studied Physics, Maths, and Computer Science before beginning his professional career in IT, developing technical computer systems and data exchange platforms.

His first big achievement came in 2006 when he established the South Africa Solar Challenge, now known as the Sasol Solar Challenge.

The event sees thousands of students from around the world develop solar-powered electric cars that they race across South Africa.

It was this venture that ignited Jordaan’s passion for projects related to EVs and solar charging.

While Jordaan already conceptualised GridCars in 2005, it was officially registered in 2009 with the initial vision of designing and building EVs.

GridCars even had shell-less but functional prototypes of a single-row two-seater electric car dubbed “EVE” and an electric tricycle, which multiple members of the public could test drive in 2015.

However, after creating various successful demonstration EVs — including bikes, trikes, game viewers, LDVs, and a 9-metre bus — it became evident that establishing an automotive company from the ground up would be challenging without substantial financial backing.

Around 2012, GridCars shifted its focus towards developing the systems and services needed to establish robust local charging infrastructure.

“Through his involvement in the Sasol Solar Challenge, Winstone frequently travelled to Europe between 2010 and 2016, allowing him to extensively study the early EV industry,” GridCars told MyBroadband.

“From 2012 to 2014, we focused on developing the first Charge Point Operational System, based on the early releases of the OCPP 1.0 specification,” GridCars said.

“GridCars also laid the foundation for billing management systems, adhering to international best practices for emobility.”

The company was testing its own chargers in early 2014 on a Nissan Leaf, the world’s first mass-produced EV and the first to be available in South Africa.

GridCars’ earliest charging stations were primarily for private use and were adopted by early pioneers in the EV space, including BMW, for which the company installed the country’s first DC charger at its headquarters in Midrand in May 2014.

Due to low sales volumes, the company switched away from manufacturing to distributing EV chargers.

GridCars’ gradual advancements in charging and associated software eventually drew the attention of Solareff, a solar specialist installing large commercial PV systems previously owned by JSE-listed technology firm Alviva Holdings.

Solareff CEO Jaco Botha first noticed the name GridCars on the back of the mobility payment card he received from BMW when he purchased his BMW i3, South Africa’s second commercially sold EV.

Solareff went on to acquire a 75% stake in GridCars in 2017 — providing the big boost in investment that the charging operator needed to scale its network.

“Leveraging the business development expertise of Solareff’s co-founders Jaco and DeVilliers Botha, GridCars adopted a focused approach to the industry, capitalising on our strengths.

“This included supporting major car manufacturers in their EV strategies and helping to overcome their challenges related to launching EVs in South Africa.”

GridCars was faced with two choices for its future strategy — install chargers in popular locations for higher usage, the financially prudent decision, or develop a network of chargers across South Africa to enable long-distance travel on major highways.

The latter could face low usage and support difficulties, but in the interest of industry advancement, GridCars opted to build a charger every 200km on the N1, N2, N3, and N4.

The first long-distance GridCars charger was completed in Harrismith in May 2018. Over the next three months, more than 25 chargers were deployed on main highways.

Late in 2019, Jaguar partnered with GridCars to expand this network to around 50 chargers on South African highways.

This development was a milestone as it made travelling time in an EV on major routes like the N3 between Johannesburg and Durban and the N1 between Johannesburg and Cape Town similar to using a petrol car.

GridCars was also appointed as BMW Group South Africa’s Charge Point operator in 2020, allowing the company’s i3 and Mini Cooper SE drivers to use their BMW ChargeNow cards to use GridCars’ charging stations.

This agreement saw BMW hand over backend system management of its dealership-based chargers to GridCars.

In 2022, the company rolled out a further 33 stations in partnership with Audi South Africa, including four 150kW DC chargers, five 80KW DC chargers and 24 22kW AC chargers.

Making EV charging fuss-free

GridCars told MyBroadband that one notable challenge in South Africa was the “Battle of the Plugs”.

“In the early days of EVs, around 2013, there was a general consensus that South Africa should support all major plug types — CCS1, CCS2, CHAdeMO, and GB/T,” the company explained.

“At GridCars, we took a stand, believing that the future lay with CCS2, a promising new open standard.”

“By 2019, the industry collectively decided to promote CCS2 as the sole acceptable standard in South Africa.”

“This decision made South Africa one of the few countries in the world with a single standard, allowing for focused investment in infrastructure and avoiding the division of limited resources.”

The GridCars network’s interoperability with various manufacturers’ charging payment systems and partnerships with other operators like Rubicon and Chargify have been key to its success and making the recharging process easier for South Africa’s early EV adopters.

Its software also allows EV owners to track the real-time status of stations, including whether a certain plug may be in use or offline due to load-shedding or maintenance.

The GridCars live map — available on the web or the company’s ChargePocket mobile app — shows over 350 of the estimated 500 public EV charging stations available in South Africa.

GridCars is now majority-owned by Stanlib Asset Management after the firm acquired a controlling interest in Solareff in 2023.

Below are some of the highlights in EV charging development in South Africa and GridCars’ growth over the past decade:

• 3 December 2013 — The first recorded EV Charging Transaction (CSIR testing)
• 11 October 2014 — The first recorded billing for a public charge session
• 15 February 2015 — Signing of the first meaningful collaboration agreement with BMW
• 1 September 2017 — Solareff acquires GridCars
• 30 May 2018 — First highway-based DC charger installed next to N3 in Harrismith
• 13 September 2018 — Public awareness of the opening of the N1, N2 and N3 as EV open routes
• 30 June 2019 — The last day with zero public EV charging sessions in South Africa
• 1 January 2020 — GridCars launches 24-hour support line for customers
• 16 September 2020 — GridCars appointed as BMW Group South Africa’s Charge Point Operator
• 26 November 2021 — GridCars public network exceeds 1MWh of charging on a single day for the first time
• 22 May 2022 — Audi-branded network launches
• 29 June 2022 — GridCars network available on Google Maps
• 3 March 2023 — Charging on public network exceeds 1GWh
• 25 December 2023 (Christmas Day) — The only day in 2023 that GridCars did not exceed 1MWh of charging
• 9 February 2024 — First day where GridCars network exceeded 5MWh in a single day
• 24 April 2024 — GridCars signs an exclusive Southern Africa collaboration agreement with Chinese EV charging station producer Infypower
• 15 June 2024 — Charging on public network exceeds 2GWh