265,970 automobiles had been offered in South Africa from January to June this 12 months. Of those, 501 had been full battery-electric automobiles (BEVs). Meaning simply 0.2% of all of the automobiles registered within the first 6 months of the 12 months in South Africa had been absolutely electrical. This will likely seem like a small quantity, and it’s, however it’s fairly spectacular given the truth that solely about 7 OEMs at present promote their BEVs in South Africa and nearly all of them are the extra premium fashions that promote for effectively over R1 million ($56,750). South Africa additionally locations an exorbitant import responsibility on BEVs, together with a “luxurious tax,” which implies BEVs pay a lot increased import duties than inside combustion engine automobiles.
In the entire of 2022, 502 BEVs had been registered in South Africa. Now that quantity has been matched in simply 6 months of this 12 months, that means we’re effectively on the right track to see the variety of BEVs registered in South Africa this 12 months to at the very least double. Right here is the breakdown of the registrations by model:
Supply: naamsa/Lightstone Auto
Chart by RJK, Information from naamsa/Lightstone Auto
BMW continues to dominate the gross sales charts in South Africa with fashions just like the iX3 and the iX. MINI, additionally from the BMW Group, can be persevering with its regular progress, in addition to Volvo with its XC40 and C40 BEVs. Mercedes and Audi spherical up the highest 5. The KIA and GWM fashions listed below are in all probability demo fashions as they’re but to start out deliveries in South Africa. GWM’s Ora Good Cat has been confirmed to go on sale in South Africa later this 12 months, however no phrase but from KIA.
The soar in EV gross sales within the first six months of the 12 months, in a 12 months by which electrical energy rationing has been the worst ever in South Africa’s historical past, reveals that load-shedding might be not the primary concern for EV consumers in South Africa. It’s nice to see EV gross sales rising huge time in South Africa, albeit from a really small base.
In actual fact, AutoTrader South Africa’s Purchaser Survey confirmed that there have been different issues on potential EV consumers’ minds. 65.4% of the respondents say that the excessive preliminary price of buy is the primary concern. Length of charging, in addition to the perceived lack of public charging infrastructure, had been the opposite main issues. It was fascinating to notice that though vary anxiousness was additional down the checklist with 20.9% saying it was one of many major issues, 37% stated they might need an EV with a variety of 500 to 700 km per cost. A 700 km vary is Mercedes-Benz EQS territory and there will not be many inexpensive EVs with that form of vary.
It’s actually good to see EV gross sales in South Africa are on the up. Might 2023 be the 12 months BEV gross sales breach the 1,000 mark? It appears to be like prefer it. South Africa actually wants extra BEV fashions to be made accessible, particularly the extra inexpensive ones. The excellent news is extra inexpensive BEVs are on the best way, such because the lately launched BYD Atto 3, which is able to begin from under R800,000.
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