I also look with interest as to how EVs are developing. However we do need to know where we stand currently and here is the situation: 

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/11/07/what-does-your-car-run-on

Edited November 9, 20195 yr by Richard Mackay

I find the change in attitude recently quite interesting. Electric vehicles used to be super boring, no power, no range driven by bunny huggers. But now with Tesla and ev racing classes there is a lot more interest in super fast evs and the boring image is fast being shed.

4 hours ago, DeepBass9 said:

I find the change in attitude recently quite interesting. Electric vehicles used to be super boring, no power, no range driven by bunny huggers. But now with Tesla and ev racing classes there is a lot more interest in super fast evs and the boring image is fast being shed.

Just wait till the new Tesla Roadster 2 makes it launch in 2020.

0-100kmh in 1.9S

And the 1/4 mile in 8.8S

Making it the worlds fastest production car in the 1/4 mile and it technically can still seat 4 people

Here's an update on the EV prospects: https://www.economist.com/briefing/2020/04/23/lithium-remains-the-car-battery-material-of-choice

All a bit confusing but that's what we are all dealing with!

An EV with a 60km range would be sufficient for 80% of my transport needs, possibly more. I can get to the airport and back on that, I can get into Cape Town and back (if I can charge it in the city), all the neighbouring towns are reachable. But my requirements are 1) must be able to carry three people, because that's the minimum size of the school run, 2) must cost less than 350k new, otherwise ICE works out cheaper.

Even though 80%+ of my needs are covered, the long distance requirement still dominates the argument. My family live far away (350km for one, 1500km for the other). For that I need a good comfortable ICE vehicle. That means the electric car is strictly a second vehicle, a local runner, a shop-church-and-school runner. I cannot spend VW-GolfMK6 type money on a second vehicle. And therefore there is currently no room for an electric in my household, much as I really really want one.

The guys in Namibia who built the Uri (farm vehicle) is now looking into making an Electric. I want one... depending on specs of course. They can be licensed to be road-going.

There is a new site that has launched 

On 2020/04/27 at 11:11 AM, plonkster said:

An EV with a 60km range would be sufficient for 80% of my transport needs, possibly more. I can get to the airport and back on that, I can get into Cape Town and back (if I can charge it in the city), all the neighbouring towns are reachable. But my requirements are 1) must be able to carry three people, because that's the minimum size of the school run, 2) must cost less than 350k new, otherwise ICE works out cheaper.

Even though 80%+ of my needs are covered, the long distance requirement still dominates the argument. My family live far away (350km for one, 1500km for the other). For that I need a good comfortable ICE vehicle. That means the electric car is strictly a second vehicle, a local runner, a shop-church-and-school runner. I cannot spend VW-GolfMK6 type money on a second vehicle. And therefore there is currently no room for an electric in my household, much as I really really want one.

The guys in Namibia who built the Uri (farm vehicle) is now looking into making an Electric. I want one... depending on specs of course. They can be licensed to be road-going.

 

On 2020/04/27 at 11:11 AM, plonkster said:

An EV with a 60km range would be sufficient for 80% of my transport needs, possibly more. I can get to the airport and back on that, I can get into Cape Town and back (if I can charge it in the city), all the neighbouring towns are reachable. But my requirements are 1) must be able to carry three people, because that's the minimum size of the school run, 2) must cost less than 350k new, otherwise ICE works out cheaper.

Even though 80%+ of my needs are covered, the long distance requirement still dominates the argument. My family live far away (350km for one, 1500km for the other). For that I need a good comfortable ICE vehicle. That means the electric car is strictly a second vehicle, a local runner, a shop-church-and-school runner. I cannot spend VW-GolfMK6 type money on a second vehicle. And therefore there is currently no room for an electric in my household, much as I really really want one.

The guys in Namibia who built the Uri (farm vehicle) is now looking into making an Electric. I want one... depending on specs of course. They can be licensed to be road-going.

For information, a BMW i3 has a range of 260 km and a Jaguar has a range of 470 km.

Based on your requirements:

1) Both cars meet your requirement as you can fit 5 passengers.

2) Unfortunately, the current cars sold in South Africa does not meet that requirement. BMW i3 price is about R 700,000. The Mini was going to launch in April for R 589,000. The launch has been pushed and it will now cost R 642,000. The new Nissan Leaf could be also be around R 500,000. So, there is no car in the near future that I know of that will less than R 350,000.

Please check this website: www.evecosystem.com. It has all the cars currently available in South Africa and upcoming cars; it has information about charging stations between Gauteng, Durban and Cape TOwn via the Garden Route; it has training videos, webinars. It is quite a resourceful website.

With regard to long distance travel with an electric car, you will have to plan to make sure that there are charging stations on the route.

I trust that this helps.

On 2019/11/09 at 9:35 PM, Richard Mackay said:

I also look with interest as to how EVs are developing. However we do need to know where we stand currently and here is the situation: 

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/11/07/what-does-your-car-run-on

Please check www.evecosystem.com about the state of South Africa EV industry. There are 3 cars currently sold in South Africa: BMW i3, Jaguar i-Pace and BMW i8 (hybrid). There are about 6 cars due to be launched this year (could  be pushed). 

There are more than 150 charging stations installed in the country, and more to follow. 

There are definitely more companies offering services in the industry that will hopefully increase the variety of cars and services. But the cars are still a little expensive. The main culprit is the import duty that the car manufacturers have to pay. Again, hopefully the situation will improve soon.

On 2019/11/10 at 7:11 AM, DeepBass9 said:

I find the change in attitude recently quite interesting. Electric vehicles used to be super boring, no power, no range driven by bunny huggers. But now with Tesla and ev racing classes there is a lot more interest in super fast evs and the boring image is fast being shed.

There is quite a lot of development taking place in the EV industry. There are cars, vans, pick up trucks and medium and long-distance trucks being developed. It's a real pity that South Africa (and Africa at large) is always considered last in that development.

For speed, check this article (https://insideevs.com/reviews/426506/bev-acceleration-compared-us-june-2-2020/). They made a comparison of the fastest acceleration (0-60 mph in seconds) electric cars: Tesla - 2.3 sec ; Porsche Taycan - 2.6 sec. These are real fast cars! Check EV ecosystem LinkedIn page (https://www.linkedin.com/company/ev-ecosystem), they often share information about development in the EV industry.

 

1 hour ago, denzuzkyh said:

BMW i3

Oh it does everything I need (minus perhaps a bit of range if you don't take the REX option)... it's just that it's on the other side of 650k and second hand models have not quite made it into the lower brackets.... who knows... in time it might, and battery replacements may become more affordable.

The VW e-Up looks ideal. It's just under GBP20k (R430 000) and has a 260km range. I'm willing to spend less on my weekend vehicle and rather more on the daily driver that I don't have to fill up. Perhaps it would even make sense economically to just rent a Bakkie/SUV for weekends and holidays.

I like the idea of EV, though a weekend drive to Durban would take a long time as you'd have to allow for recharges each way. I could certainly use one for my commute and apparently there are charging stations in Midrand.

Standardisation is an issue. The manufacturers need to agree on a common rapid charge interface so that I don't have to seek out a BMW charger or a Tesla charger or whatever. 

I don't think the hybrid is dead though. Especially with the technology that has been developed in F1 that recovers energy from the turbo and can use that to keep the turbo constantly "spun up" (or whatever the term is) and the impressive regenerative systems they now have. That's still expensive, but once it hits the road then Clarkson's rule kicks in: When ever Merc launch a new top of the range model all the miraculous new stuff you see will be on most new cars a decade later. 

On 2020/06/11 at 12:25 AM, plonkster said:

Oh it does everything I need (minus perhaps a bit of range if you don't take the REX option)... it's just that it's on the other side of 650k and second hand models have not quite made it into the lower brackets.... who knows... in time it might, and battery replacements may become more affordable.

I have had my eye on getting a secondhand i3 once I can get a 120Ah version for a decent price (That even us commoners can afford)

But combined with the recent drop in fuel prices I can't even in my wildest dreams justify the expense.

My Up is already extremely fuel efficient, my monthly fuel bill is now about R800 and on that R800 I get 50% back from my discovery fuel rewards.

I think my cost per KM for fuel is now about 70c and after the 50% cashback its 35c per KM

If I assume the i3 is as efficient as the BMW website says and it uses 13.1kWh / 100 KM I would use about 1200KM / 100KM = 12 x 13.1kWh = 157kWh

If I assume this entire 157kWh would be added to my most expensive bloc of my prepaid bill (It probably won't since I can manage it and have a little solar as well but lets assume for a moment) this would cost me R2.5 p/kWh. So that's : 157 kWh x R2.5 = R392 worth of electricity.

Which is 32c per KM.

Even if I could finance the car at say 10% with a capital cost of R300K the monthly interest alone would be R2465.

 

So I am not even lying to myself, the i3 belongs in my "Wants" column not in the "Needs"

 

On 2020/06/10 at 11:23 PM, denzuzkyh said:

 

2) Unfortunately, the current cars sold in South Africa does not meet that requirement. BMW i3 price is about R 700,000. The Mini was going to launch in April for R 589,000. The launch has been pushed and it will now cost R 642,000. The new Nissan Leaf could be also be around R 500,000. So, there is no car in the near future that I know of that will less than R 350,000.

 

2014/5 used i3 BEV can be had for the R350k price point and will do something like 120km with care.  Certainly you can thrash it and certainly still get 60.

Choose the REX and you can go much further.

OP did say new but I'm not sure why.