Naamsa | The Automotive Business Council has received nine local and overseas bids from companies interested in rolling out public charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) in South Africa.
The tender was issued in June.
The successful bidder will provide direct charging infrastructure along the N1, N2 and N3 highways.
The winner will be supported financially by the Automotive Industry Transformation Fund (AITF), “ensuring a positive business case in response to the growth of EVs within the South African market”.
To align to the AITF’s requirements, the winning bidder must be at least 51% black-owned, and its primary business operations must be within the South African automotive value chain.
The tender includes the possibility of establishing microgrids at the charging sites, which will feed the charging points with green energy, thereby negating the use of Eskom’s coal-generated electricity and the energy supplier’s propensity for load-shedding.
Payment should allow for credit cards, with the planned 20 to 30 sites to be at 100 km to 300 km intervals.
Each EV vehicle manufacturer or charging service provider previously rolled out its own network of charging stations, often built to its own specifications, while also employing a different payment system to those employed by the other companies.
“We are now going to provide charging infrastructure together as an industry,” says Naamsa | The Automotive Business Council CEO Mikel Mabasa.
Naamsa is engaging with the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications to approve specs for charging infrastructure, to ensure all charging stations in South Africa function to a similar level.
More than 70% of EV owners charge their vehicles at home, but a countrywide charging grid is needed for when this is not possible, such as during long- distance travel.