Sales of used electric vehicles in South Africa have grown by 78% year on year, according to online vehicle marketplace AutoTrader, which released its mid-year Car Industry Report on Tuesday.
Despite the positive uptick, AutoTrader CEO George Mienie believes government should do more to support EV sales by incentivising consumers.
“The second-hand EV market is not as buoyant as the new market. It is still moving, but the cars are still too expensive,” Mienie said in an interview with TechCentral.
“In the last budget speech, government incentivised industry – the manufacturing side – but they didn’t incentivise the consumer side.”
National treasury introduced a 150% rebate scheme for car makers from 2027. This is meant to encourage the local manufacturer of EVs and their components. But such schemes are mostly meant to stimulate the export market, especially to Europe, which is a major market for South African-made petrol- and diesel-powered cars. No such incentives exist to drive local consumer demand for EVs.
According to AutoTrader’s report, however, consumer interest in EVs is growing.
Average selling price
Views of EV ads have grown on AutoTrader, as has the supply of EVs available to the second-hand market. It attributed this to new EV models and variants going on sale. (To get a sense of the growth in the variety of models in just the last six months, have a look at TechCentral’s list of all electric cars available for purchase in South Africa.)
The average selling price of EVs has also declined, boosting adoption, according to the AutoTrader report. Despite this, pricing remains the biggest stumbling block to greater consumer sales. “Interest in EVs is way up compared to internal combustion engines, but the cars are just too expensive,” said Mienie.
The 10 most-sold EVs on AutoTrader in the first half of 2024 were:
| Vehicle | Avg Price | Avg mileage (km) | Avg year model | Total sold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BMW iX | R1 362 892 | 18 498 | 2022 | 37 |
| Volvo XC40 | R1 080 178 | 6 920 | 2023 | 34 |
| BMW i3 | R524 914 | 59 872 | 2018 | 31 |
| Mini Cooper SE | R540 057 | 17 266 | 2022 | 22 |
| BMW iX3 | R1 070 747 | 13 358 | 2023 | 17 |
| Volvo EX30 | R958 043 | 4 344 | 2024 | 15 |
| Audi e-tron | R1 412 120 | 14 346 | 2022 | 12 |
| Volvo C40 | R1 240 223 | 3 197 | 2024 | 12 |
| Jaguar I-Pace | R1 066 527 | 18 781 | 2021 | 12 |
| BMW i4 | R1 283 214 | 12 086 | 2022 | 11 |
Minnie said one of the few “easy wins” that could help drive the price of EVs lower is a review of import duties.
“The import duty on EVs in 25% whereas the base import duties on internal combustion vehicles is 18%. That 7% gap is not something the government is making massive amounts of tax on because there aren’t a lot of EV’s being imported. So why not drop the 25% to 18% and make the difference up in volume?” asked Minnie. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media
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