South African vehicle manufacturers will receive incentives for producing more electric cars, it was announced on Thursday. “South Africa must not be left behind in greening initiatives and technology,” trade & industry minister Rob Davies told reporters in Johannesburg.
He was speaking at the announcement of what had been dubbed the Electronic Vehicle Industry Road Map.
In terms of the road map, producers of electric cars would have to make 5000 such vehicles before they qualified for an incentive. The government would reimburse the manufacturer with 35% of his production cost over three years.
Davies said the road map was meant to encourage development of infrastructure for the local production of electric cars.
“What will make these vehicles sellable in South Africa will be entirely dependent on whether these cars are made in South Africa.”
Davies said the government was looking at consumer incentives, but that production was taking preference at the moment.
“These are the very early stages for the cars in manufacturing. There are zero of these cars being produced in the country, that is why we need to get the programmes going.”
In February, water & environmental affairs minister Edna Molewa announced a public-private pilot test project for an emission-free electric car. Molewa was present at Thursday’s event.
She said there were three charging stations available in the country which were run entirely on solar power.
“We aim to have 50 charging stations in the country for the cars by 2015.” — Sapa