Cape Town - Multiple businesses in Cape Town, big and small, appear to be taking action to reduce their environmental impact and achieve carbon neutrality by investing in electric vehicles for various applications in their operations.
One organisation was Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM), which recently introduced electrically-powered buses at its Somerset West and Boskop plants, electric cars, ‘E- Bakkies’, and a new mobility concept based on e-scooters and e-bikes for getting around the plants.
RDM Somerset West CEO Jan Helmsen said this new mobility concept was done to kickstart the process of eliminating over 350 internal combustion vehicles from the RDM fleet.
Another organisation taking the e-vehicle leap was Faithful to Nature, a local online retailer of natural and sustainable products, which launched locally-made, three-wheeler electric cargo vans in partnership with Carbon Neutral Express to ensure carbon-neutral delivery in Cape Town.
A recently published article, titled “Electrification of minibus taxis in the shadow of load shedding and energy scarcity” by Stellenbosch University (SU) electrical and electronic engineering professor Thinus Booysen and researchers Chris Abraham and Arnold Rix, stated that e-vehicles were heralded as a “silver bullet to globally de-carbonise the fuel-guzzling transport sector”.
Booysen has done extensive work and research on the feasibility of electric vehicles in South Africa’s transport sector, particularly electric minibus taxis.
“Woolworths is also converting their vehicles, and SU is also busy working on converting their fleet. Golden Arrow is already running two electric buses while working on running even more, and even possibly producing electric buses locally.”
They said that electric vehicle sales have ballooned and the production of combustion engines will soon stop. However, the transition to electric vehicles continues to be painstakingly slow in sub-Saharan Africa.
“I think it is great that businesses are converting to electric vehicles, but the crux is that they must then match the additional burden they put on our electricity grid with additional generation capacity. This is what Golden Arrow has done, and this is also what Stellenbosch University is doing – generating their own electricity for their electric vehicles,” Booysen said.
