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It is impossible to know what the real demand is for Volvo Car South Africa’s (SA’s) fully electric vehicles (EVs), as persistent supply challenges have managed to skew the sales numbers, says Volvo Car SA MD Greg Maruszewski.

“We don’t really know what the true demand is for our EVs in South Africa,” he notes. “We sell our allotted vehicles as soon as we receive them.”

However, the good news is that supply from China and Sweden has started to ease from May onwards, says Maruszewski, both in terms of EVs and plug-in hybrids.

Also, the numbers are trending upwards, with Volvo Car SA selling 50 EVs in the whole of 2022, but 50 in the first quarter of this year alone.

Volvo Car SA currently has two EV models on the market – the XC40 (two derivatives) and the new C40, launched at the end of May.

The next model to be added to the EV line-up is “truly something to get excited about”.

The small EX30 – the same size as a B-segment car – is set to make its debut towards the beginning of next year.

The EX30 will take the Swedish car maker into an EV segment in which it has not yet played, both in terms of price and size.

Maruszewski believes the competitive starting price of R775 900 will stand the newcomer in good stead as one of the most affordable EVs on the market.

“It will be very competitively priced, and it is set to change people’s perception about the Volvo brand,” he notes.

He adds, however, that the rand’s recent nosedive makes it increasingly difficult to import EVs into South Africa at competitive prices.

As Volvo Car SA expands its horizons, it also aims to retain its loyal clientele, with the new EX90 flagship EV set to launch in South Africa in the middle of next year.

Maruszewski expects Volvo Car SA to sell around 300 EVs this year, out of a total of roughly 2 000 vehicles – a 15% share.

PHEVs will have an expected sales share of between 10% and 12%.

These numbers are despite intensified loadshedding this year, which is often cited as the chief reason not to buy an EV.

Maruszewski says the people who complain most about EVs in South Africa are typically not EV owners.

“People who own these vehicles know that you can charge your car through the night without any challenges.

“South Africans also know not to charge anything when empty, but to rather charge when you can.”

The range on EVs has also improved to such an extent that it has become unnecessary to seek out public charging infrastructure when using the vehicle on a day-to-day basis.

“Besides, charging infrastructure and charging times continue to improve tremendously,” says Maruszewski.

“EVs continue to be an excellent choice as city cars or a household’s second car. The cost per kilometer is lower and the performance better than that of an internal combustion engine.”

Maruszewski says the reasons for premium car buyers “not to go electric” will become fewer and fewer “in a few years’ time”.

“Europe, China and the US will all make a strong move to electric in this decade. Charging infrastructure will expand, range will improve and EVs will become cheaper.”

Maruszewski believes that 70% of Volvo Car SA’s sales will be EVs by 2027, with third-generation batteries offering range of up to 800 km.

Engineering News editor Terence Creamer talks about the National Logistics Crisis Committee and why it was established; the involvement of business in the committee; how the committee will approach its work; and how the influence of business will be managed where conflicts of interest may arise.

Cape Town’s energy strategy, which has been released for public comment, envisages the addition of 650 MW of new independent generation within five years in line with the city’s stated goal of protecting itself against four stages of loadshedding by 2026.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis indicates that the new supply will be secured from various sources, including from city-owned generators, independent power producers (IPPs), from residents and businesses feeding into the grid, as well as through wheeling and trading.

Over the medium term, the intention is to introduce 1 GW of new supply and end loadshedding entirely, he says.

The city is already implementing parts of the strategy, with initiatives under way to enable small-scale generators to feed into the grid and to procure IPP power.

The draft strategy indicates that priority will now also be given to finalising the contractual and technical arrangements for customers and aggregators to wheel and trade electricity across its distribution network, as well as to expand utility-scale storage systems.

“Ending loadshedding is the most important action we can take for job-creating economic growth [and] Cape Town’s draft energy strategy maps the way toward four stages of loadshedding protection by 2026,” Hill Lewis states.

Short-term loadshedding mitigation will be achieved largely through a mix of demand management programmes, utilising the Steenbras hydro plant to provide relief of up to two stages, and by securing 500 MW of dispatchable energy, which will protect the city from up to four stages from 06:00 to 22:00 daily, he adds.

The strategy also commits the city to optimising energy use and efficiency, as well as to alleviating energy poverty, through subsidy reform, the ongoing electrification and lighting of informal settlements and improving access to informal backyard dwellings.

The three-phase strategy also includes a medium-term goal to 2031 of implementing the reforms required to ensure that the city has a financially sustainable electricity utility and a long-term ambition of transitioning Cape Town to carbon neutrality by 2050.

The draft strategy places particular emphasis on ensuring a “future-fit energy utility business” that is able to adapt its business model such that it can provide financially sustainable energy services in a context of a competitive and distributed system.

It states that over the coming five years the city will seek to restructure the electricity tariff in a way that enables improved cost recovery for fixed distribution system costs.

This tariff reform, the strategy states, should result in a utility department that “encourages private sector participation in energy supply, safeguards the provision of subsidised energy access to indigent households, and ensures that the cost of providing and maintaining electricity infrastructure is fairly distributed across customers”.

The city's long-term intention is also to distribute electricity directly to all customers in Cape Town, including those currently in Eskom supply areas.

The draft strategy, which also makes the case for integrating electric vehicles and green hydrogen into the city’s broader energy system, is open for public comment until July 31.

The National Logistics Crisis Committee (NLCC) will adopt a two-pronged approach to addressing the rail, port and road crises currently undermining growth and job creation in South Africa, whereby several urgent interventions will be pursued in parallel to a reform agenda with longer-term implications, including the opening of rail and port networks to private operators.

The Presidency’s project management office head Rudi Dicks tells Engineering News that government and business have already agreed to jointly support the workstreams that will be formed under the NLCC, the final terms of reference for which are likely to be signed off later this week.

Business has also agreed in principle that a portion of the R100-million Resource Mobilisation Fund, created to finance the injection of private-sector expertise into the National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom), can also be used to support the NLCC.

In addition, former Exxaro Resources CEO Mxolisi Mgojo and Toyota South Africa CEO Andrew Kirby will serve as CEO-level representatives on the NLCC, supported at a technical level by Business Unity South Africa deputy chairperson Khulekani Mathe and Integrated Supply Chains executive consultant Ian Bird.

Government is still in the process of finalising its representatives, but Dicks reports that key Ministers, including Enoch Godongwana, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, Sindisiwe Chikunga and Pravin Gordhan, will participate and will be supported at a technical level by either directors-general or deputy directors-general.

Likewise, Transnet will be expected to direct senior executives to participate in the workstreams, as has been the case with Eskom executives within Necom.

Operation Vulindlela will play the role of secretariat and several of the transport-related reforms that it is pursuing will be folded into the work of the NLCC. The secretariat will continue to draw in technical support from specialists such as Jan Havenga, Sarah Truen and Jaap van der Merwe.

The NLCC will be chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who will meet with the structure every six weeks.

Dicks reports that a workstream will be created specifically to address several urgent problems across the logistics sector, with a particular focus on key corridors handling commodities such as coal and iron-ore, as well as containers.

Volume recovery targets have not yet been finalised, but these are likely to be central, given Havenga’s estimate, as reported by News24, that South Africa’s logistics crisis may have lopped as much as 6.68% off of the country’s gross domestic product last year.

There will also be an intervention to combat ongoing cable theft, as well as serious maintenance and spares backlogs across Transnet’s port and rail systems, including the problem of long-standing locomotives that has arisen as a result of a contractual impasse between Transnet and CRRC, of China.

In addition, the congestion that has developed along key road corridors, such as the N2, N3 and the N4, as well as at certain land borders will receive dedicated attention, with the NLCC aiming to draw in all the public sector departments and agencies responsible for border management.

Particular priority will be given to the extreme delays that have developed at the Lebombo border crossing at Komatipoort, as a result of a combination of increased road haulier volumes to offset the degeneration in the rail service, as well as technical problems at the border itself.

The steep decline in Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa volumes will also receive urgent attention, but Dicks says any devolution of responsibility for passenger rail to metropolitan councils is likely to form part of a more medium-term reform process.

Workstreams will also be established to address ongoing procurement problems at Transnet, as well as the reforms required to support greater private sector participation across the rail and harbour networks.

Dicks insists that government will take the lead in the workstream on priv...

The zero-emission, green-energy-powered Energy Observer (EO) has docked in Cape Town for a visit of just more than a week.

The vessel, which acts as an on-the-water laboratory able to test various forms of environmentally friendly energy, is covered in 202 m2 of solar panels.

It also has two small sails, built to minimise shade on the solar-panel-covered deck.

The EO’s other main energy source is hydrogen, with the vessel able to produce hydrogen onboard from seawater.

In order to propel the ship with the hydrogen – especially at night – the EO utilises fuel cells that have been adapted from the Toyota Mirai fuel-cell sedan.

Toyota is also a technology partner in the EO project, along with industrial gas specialist Air Liquide.

The chemical process to create electricity from seawater also produces hot water and heat for the crew’s use, explains EO technical director Didier Bouix.

“The vessel is completely autonomous in terms of energy.”

The France-based EO, acting as an advocate for the expanded implementation of green power worldwide, has already sailed more than 50 000 nautical miles since 2017, with Cape Town its eightieth port-of-call.

The EO’s journey is scheduled to come to an end next year.

It is envisioned that the EO’s successor, the EO II, will use liquid hydrogen, as opposed to hydrogen gas.

This is because the EO II, at 150 m long and 24 m wide, will be a cargo vessel able to carry 1 100 containers. (In contrast to this, the much smaller EO has a 31-m repurposed catamaran as its base, with its functioning more recreational in nature.)

“When we require a lot of energy, like a big ship, we want to use liquid hydrogen, as this is more efficient when powering large vessels,” notes Bouix.

It is hoped that construction of the EO II will start next year, says EO captain and founder Victorien Erussard.

“The EO II will be the world’s lowest-carbon cargo ship.”

As a former merchant navy officer, Erussard says he has witnessed firsthand the damage caused by the global fleet of tankers, bulk carriers, ferries and cruise ships to the marine ecosystem.

He says there are roughly 100 000 merchant vessels in the world, carrying 10.7-billion tons of freight year.

Most of these vessels operate using heavy fuel oil, which has an extremely negative ecological footprint.

This is especially problematic as it is envisioned that maritime traffic could quadruple by 2050.

The Presidency has moved to outline the criteria that will be used before any decision is made to delay the decommissioning of certain coal-fired power stations, to take account of the prevailing supply deficit, and has also dismissed suggestions that there is any plan to extend the life of the stations.

Addressing the Presidential Planning Commission (PCC) on June 9, project management office head Rudi Dicks acknowledged that the decision to potentially revise the schedule had raised questions both domestically and with the International Partners Group that had agreed to provide $8.5-billion-worth of concessional funding to support South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP).

“In the context of our energy crisis, there is a conversation we are having about whether we can delay decommissioning, but that’s very different from extending the life of power plants,” Dicks said.

Cabinet, he added, had reaffirmed the country’s commitment to the decarbonisation targets outlined in its Nationally Determined Contribution, as well as to the goal of transitioning towards net-zero.

“However, care will be taken to ensure that the manner in which these commitments are achieved does not compromise energy security or the immediate priority of reducing loadshedding.”

He told PCC commissioners that any revision to the decommissioning would be informed by a comparison of the costs of refurbishing older coal-fired power stations with the cost of investing in replacement capacity, including renewables, batteries and gas.

In addition, Dicks said the following three assessments would be undertaken ahead of any revision, including:

A technical assessment by a consortium of international experts appointed by the National Treasury into the feasibility and cost of refurbishing and/or repowering each power station;

A modelling exercise to be undertaken by the National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom) of estimated future capacity from various other sources compared with existing capacity and projected demand growth; and

A modelling exercise to be undertaken by the JET-IP Project Management Unit and/ or the PCC of the impact of any delay on the country’s decarbonisation trajectory.

He reported that these assessments should be completed by July and the outcome would be presented to Cabinet for approval. In addition, no decommissioning would take place until the technical assessments were completed.

Dicks said any possible revision could affect Camden, Grootvlei and Kriel, which were reportedly performing better than some of the younger stations in the Eskom fleet.

Particular reference was made to Camden, which is meant to be fully decommissioned over the coming two years, but which is operating at a 60% energy availability factor (EAF) – a level that the full fleet reached for the first time since September 2022 only on June 2 this year, despite a target having been set for such an EAF to be achieved by the end of March.

He promised that any revision would not be based on a “thumb suck” but by the evidence emerging form the assessment under way.

Dicks also reported that the JET-IP implementation plan framework would be published in July, following which focus groups would be assembled in July and August on electricity infrastructure, the just transition in the electricity sector and in Mpumalanga in particular, as well as on new energy vehicles, green hydrogen, skills and on municipalities.

“The JET-IP Implementation Plan will be finalised thereafter and recommended for approval by the JET-IP Inter-Ministerial Committee in October 2023,” Dicks reported.

Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane said that, given the prospect of economic losses for coal-dependent communities, strategies were needed to ensure growth in other sectors such as agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and renewables.

“The constant refrain as I travel across the province, especially in the coal belt, is that the transition cannot be ‘just’ if they are left behind.

...

Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the findings of the ‘2023 South African Renewable Energy Grid Survey’, which was compiled by Eskom in collaboration with the South African Wind Energy Association and the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association and whether or not Eskom is up to the task of addressing the grid constraints identified by the survey.

Port and rail parastatal Transnet and government cannot “go it alone” to repair South Africa’s strained logistics network, says South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) CEO Dr Juanita Maree.

“Our current ports and rail model is, at best, archaic compared to international standards, while it also fails the country’s socio-economic growth and development goals.”

Maree says South Africa “desperately needs” a public-private partnership (PPP) model that will create jobs and attract “much-needed” investment in the logistics sector and the economy.

“This is necessary for South Africa Inc.”

Maree points out that the rail sector’s underperformance in 2022 constrained economic growth by 5.3%, while port inefficiencies cost the economy R46-billion in direct and indirect costs.

She notes that the concepts of time and cost are intricately linked in the logistics system, with each additional hour adding costs, while also placing unnecessary strain on the logistics chain.

“An improved logistics performance increases the efficiency in trading by reducing the time and cost to trade, which could then result in an increase in the volume of trade, which, ultimately, spills over into economic growth and socio-economic development.”

SAAFF believes that the South Africa logistics system needs at least R200-billion in investment.

However, the good news is that a rejuvenated system could potentially create 55 000 additional jobs in the rail and ports sectors, while also generating R55-billion in additional tax revenue a year.

“It is no longer government or the private sector. It needs to be a collective culture to fight for SA Inc,” says Maree.

“Fortunately for SA Inc, a road map is currently being developed by the Operation Vulindlela team in the President's office,” she adds.

“Furthermore, considerable progress has been made in advancing joint action between business and government in the transport and logistics space.

“We must stabilise and improve operational performance on key trade corridors, mobilising private sector resources and accelerating the implementation of the National Rail Policy to close the capacity gap.

“Fortunately, work is underway to immediately align and integrate business efforts into government's Freight Logistics Roadmap and urgently enable the development of work plans, deliverables and timelines, while also integrating the private sector into the recently formed National Logistics Crisis Committee," says Maree.

Volvo Car South Africa (SA) has announced the pricing on its newest model – the all-electric EX30 small sports-utility vehicle (SUV) – ahead of its introduction early next year.

Pre-orders for the vehicle opened today, June 8.

With a starting price of R775 900, the EX30 will be one of South Africa’s most affordable electric vehicles (EVs), as very few of these full-size, high-tech cars are available at under R1-million in the local market.

The EX30 will also debut as the fastest accelerating Volvo ever, completing the zero to 100 km/h sprint in 3.6 seconds in 315 kW twin-motor performance guise.

The extended-range version of the single motor (rear-wheel-drive) powertrain, meanwhile, is capable of covering up to 480 km before it requires recharging.

“We worked exceptionally hard to set EX30 pricing at what is unquestionably an extremely competitive level, granting South African consumers the opportunity to own a fully electric SUV for the price of a similarly sized internal combustion engine vehicle,” says Volvo Car SA MD Greg Maruszewski.

The EX30 is 4 233 mm long, 1 836 mm wide and 1 555 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2 650 mm.

That means it is only 192 mm shorter from nose to tail than the popular XC40.

In South Africa the battery choices will include the high-voltage 51 kWh and 69 kWh units.

Three trim levels (Core, Plus and Ultra) will be on offer.

Volvo aims for half its global sales volume to comprise of fully electric cars by 2025, with the remainder to take the form of hybrids.

By 2030, the Swedish car maker aims for every new vehicle it sells to be completely electric.

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has announced that 15 commercial electricity suppliers will start wheeling electricity through Cape Town’s grid in July.

The city’s Mayoral Committee has greenlit the project that will allow third parties to sell electricity using Cape Town’s grid infrastructure, as part of a long-term project to reduce the impact of Eskom loadshedding.

The pilot project should culminate in the full-scale implementation of wheeling in the Western Cape capital by the end of the year.

“Wheeling allows people to buy electricity from each other using existing grid infrastructure,” says Hill-Lewis.

“The future is now, as Cape Town gears up for the first electron to be wheeled between our pilot project participants this July.

“This is the business end of our pilot, following the development of the billing engine and the completion of wheeling agreements,” he notes.

Cape Town last year invited applications to participate in the wheeling pilot, with 15 participants – representing 25 generators and 40 customers – now confirmed and about to start wheeling.

“The city is getting on top of the complexity of wheeling, which requires new skills, regulatory and policy changes, billing development and bilateral agreements,” says Energy MMC Beverley van Reenen.

“Our programme will allow electricity to be wheeled over both the municipal and Eskom distribution networks in Cape Town.

“Sales will be governed by bilateral power purchase agreements within a market environment, as opposed to a regulated environment, as the price of the energy is set between the parties and not by the city, Eskom or the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.”

Cape Town also already has the enabling legislative framework in place for wheeling, with the city’s Electricity Supply By-Law allowing for the retail wheeling of electricity through the network.

Wheeling will take place on 11 kV and higher voltages.

The 15 wheeling pilot participants who submitted valid applications to generate and sell power are Amazon Data Service South Africa; Brinmar Private Energy Trading South Africa; Distributed Power Africa; Energy Exchange of Southern Africa; Energy Partners Utilities; EnerJ Carbon Management; Enpower Trading; Floating Solar; Make a Difference Ventures; NEURA Trading; Phofu Solar Plant; POWERX Proprietary; Redefine Properties; Solar Africa Energy; and Swish Property Seven.