Engineering News Online Audio Articles

Climate envoys from those developed countries that have entered into a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with South Africa have confirmed that their governments will not fund fossil-fuel projects, even if such projects form part of the broader investment plan currently being compiled by South Africa.

Speaking following the latest round of JETP discussions, UK climate envoy John Murton said the investment plan, or JETP-IP, would be larger than what could feasibly be supported and catalysed using the initial $8.5-billion being offered by France, Germany, the UK, the US, and the European Union (EU) over the coming three to five years. In addition, it could include non-renewables generation technologies.

A report by the Blended Finance Taskforce and the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University has estimated that $250-billion will be required over the coming three decades to support South Africa’s transition from coal.

“The whole investment plan is one I don't want to prejudge, but the UK and the other members of the partnership won't be supporting fossil fuels as part of our mobilisation of funds towards that investment plan.

“[But] depending on the contents of the investment plan, that may happen from other sources, but I don't want to speculate on that,” Murton said.

Presidential Climate Finance Task Team head Daniel Mminele said various other countries, as well as philanthropic organisations, had expressed an interest in participating in the JETP, but said that it was premature to offer details.

Mminele added that the JETP-IP was still being finalised across the electricity, transport and green hydrogen sectors and that the intention was to wrap the projects in a just transition envelope so as to ensure that workers and communities linked to South Africa’s coal value-chain were supported through the transition away from coal.

Working groups had been established to finalise want should be included in the JETP-IP, as well as to consult stakeholders on the plan, which is required to unlock the $8.5-billion in climate finance.

The JETP-IP is expected to be finalised by October for sign-off during the COP27 climate talks in Egypt in November.

Mminele said the financing framework was also still being negotiated and would include a combination of concessional loans, grants and guarantees, with the UK indicating that its contribution was likely to take the form of guarantees given that it did not have a development bank that is able to extend grants and loans.

South Africa had discussed with the envoys the principles that should underpin the funding, including the “necessity of ensuring that the funding is sufficiently concessional, does not place an undue burden on fiscal resources and responds to the specific needs that we outline in the investment plan”.

NO DASH BACK TO COAL

Murton also used the briefing to defend the International Partners Group’s support for South Africa’s transition away from coal amid moves by some countries in Europe to resume coal-fired power generation in response to the energy crisis that had flared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“It's true that as a result of pressures arising from Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine some of us anticipate using a little more coal over the next few months than we previously planned.

“But I want to put this into perspective: over the last 12 months, for example, coal has provided just 1.7% of the UK’s power and we will end the use of coal for electricity generation entirely by October 2024 as planned.

“There is no dash back to coal in the UK, or in Europe or elsewhere,” he insisted.

The REPowerEU plan, meanwhile, proposes to double the share of renewables in the EU’s gross final energy consumption from 2020 to 2030, which will reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Murton also drew a direct link between the JETP and the urgent need in South Africa to add additional electricity generation capacity to reduce the risk of load-shedding.

“This...

Renewable-energy solutions provider Scatec is optimistic that its R16.4-billion solar-battery project in the Northern Cape will finally address long-standing questions about the so-called “intermittency” of renewables.

The project, which achieved financial close this week, will couple 540 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) generators to lithium-ion batteries with a capacity of 225 MW/1 140MWh to provide 150 MW of dispatchable power into South Africa’s grid under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

Renewables companies typically refer to the production profiles of their plants as variable, rather than intermittent, given that intermittency implies the type of unpredictability that is more in keeping with the current performance of Eskom’s breakdown-prone coal fleet than wind and solar PV plants whose production, while weather dependent, is more predictable. Nevertheless, variable renewables plants are often still referred to as intermittent.

In a briefing following the financial-close announcement, Scatec sub-Saharan Africa GM Jan Fourie said he expected the project, which will begin delivering electricity into the grid in 15 months, will lay the intermittency debate to rest.

“I think the other thing that [this project] signifies to the industry, and hopefully to government, is that the whole argument about renewables intermittency has now gone away.”

The massive facility, which will comprise three collocated projects on a 10-km-by-10-km site in the Northern Cape, will be able to dispatch electricity into the South African grid between 5:00 in the morning and 21:30 at night – a profile that is akin to so-called conventional fossil-fuel-type plants.

Nevertheless, the architecture of the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP), under which Scatec’s Kenhardt projects are still the only ones to have progressed to financial close, has been criticised.

The request for these plants to be able to dispatch electricity from morning to night has been described as heavily weighted towards gas solutions, while failing to take account of both system needs and the energy and capacity potential that such large renewables-storage projects could offer.

Fourie confirmed that there would be periods when the electricity produced from the solar plants would be curtailed – this despite the fact that South Africa’s electricity supply industry faces the constant threat of load-shedding.

“We had to over install on the solar PV side . to cater for seasonality,” Fourie explains, adding that the design was finalised after an analysis of 20-years-worth of hourly solar data. The final design is premised on meeting the dispatch requirements during a “bad year”.

“So, there will be times of the day when will have a fair amount of excess electricity, that would be curtailed.”

There have been calls for the architecture of the programme to be adapted to ensure that South Africa is able to benefit from that surplus energy, as well as to lower the tariff, which was bid at 188c/kWh.

That said, Scatec has been widely hailed for finding a way to meet the requirements of the programme, as well as for using projects to show what is possible using a combination of solar PV generators and battery storage.

The projects will be the largest investment in Scatec’s history and are being financed by equity from the owners and R12.4-billion in nonrecourse project debt.

The debt, which is rand-denominated, is being provided by a group of lenders, including the Standard Bank Group as arranger and UK development finance institution British International Investments (BII).

Standard Bank Group head of power Rentia van Tonder said the bank was "honoured to be playing a leading role in delivering power to the grid by facilitating the first dispatchable and baseload renewable energy project in South Africa", while global power and infrastructure head Stephen Barnes noted that the financing formed part of the group's R50-billion commitment to renewables.

B...

Since the launch of government’s Black Industrialists Programme in 2015, coupled with efforts from the Industrial Development Corporation, the National Empowerment Fund and other agencies, more than 900 black industrialists have been supported, to the value of R55-billion.

In turn, this had delivered socioeconomic returns valued at R160-billlion to the economy and created more than 50 000 jobs, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced at the Black Industrialists and Exporters conference, held in Sandton, on July 20.

The conference showcased the products and services of more than 140 black-owned businesses.

Next year marks 20 years since the promulgation of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBEEE) Act.

Ramaphosa said government had undeniably made gains in transforming a skewed, racialised economy. For example, there were about 150 000 black-owned businesses in the formal sector in 1994. This had grown to more than 300 000 today.

There had also been advances in employment equity, the President noted, highlighting that the number of black managers in the private sector had more than doubled over the past 20 years from 125 000 in 2002 to 350 000 today.

In the public sector, that number had grown from 45 000 to 150 000.

However, Ramaphosa said South Africa had not yet overcome the structural defects of the economy, which run deep and are reflected in the high levels of unemployment.

“With the country’s majority having been deliberately and systemically excluded from the economic mainstream for centuries, it is no wonder that self-employment and entrepreneurship in South Africa are at lower levels than most peer economies.”

The President explained that small and medium-sized employers and self-employed people made up one in three of all employed people in rural areas in peer countries, and one in seven in the urban areas.

In South Africa, just 1 in 20 people are small and medium-sized employers and self-employed, both in rural and urban areas.

According to modelled estimates from the International Labour Organisation, business owners in South Africa plus family members who work for them make up just 17% of total employment. This compares with 46% in China and an average of 31% in other upper-middle-income economies.

Self-employment and entrepreneurship are the engines of growth and job creation in any economy. They support innovation, boost competitiveness and bring new products and services into an economy. To a large extent, this entrepreneurial deficit is the legacy of the policies of the past, Ramaphosa pointed out.

He admitted that there were still barriers to black entrepreneurs participating meaningfully and equitably in the economy, particularly for women, young people and people with disabilities.

These include the concentrated nature of the economy and ownership patterns, access to finance, access to markets and technology, as well as a lack of infrastructure.

Ramaphosa said the energy crisis and port inefficiencies were also posing great barriers to economic growth of this nature.

To this end, government intended to use the conference to garner insight about what needed to be done, and shift the transformation agenda into higher gear. “We need to talk about private sector procurement, value chains, access to financing for emerging black businesses and about how existing systems mitigate against emerging black businesses,” Ramaphosa averred.

He added that government was open to discussing far-reaching reforms in telecommunications, energy and water to improve the competitiveness of the economy and reduce the cost of doing business.

The President hoped that development finance institutions and the private sector would provide more support to black industrial projects and bridge the financing gaps that both aspirant and established black businesses relied on for their sustainability.

“Unless tangible, sustainable measures are implemented, we run the risk that empowerment opportunities are confined to black businesse...

There is a huge opportunity for South African suppliers to cater to the growing renewable energy market in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly if they establish themselves within special economic zones (SEZs), consultancy XA International Trade Advisors noted on July 19.

XA International Trade Advisors director Donald MacKay spoke during the UK-government-funded initiative Trade Forward Southern Africa (TFSA) and research institution Africa House-hosted Renewable Energy Product & Expertise Showcase, in Cape Town.

Africa House director Duncan Bonnett said wind and solar are already becoming well established sectors across Southern Africa, while green hydrogen is an emerging opportunity in a smaller number of countries, but nonetheless a potentially huge opportunity for South African suppliers.

He mentioned that the renewable energy landscape has evolved significantly over the last decade, from a small number of wind and solar projects, typically linked programmes such as the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), to a much broader utility-scale and dynamic sector.

Bonnett estimated the total value of renewable energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa to be $35-billion, including 104 wind projects, more than 1 000 solar projects and a pipeline of conceptual projects.

South Africa accounts for 51% of installed and upcoming wind power in the sub-Saharan Africa region, with Eastern African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Ethiopia all growing wind developments as well.

He highlighted that suppliers based in South Africa enjoy tariff-free access to another 18% of projects in the region through Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Southern African Customs Union trade agreements.

Therefore, South African suppliers have preferential access to about 70% of wind projects in the region, some of which are accessible by road, rail and sea.

South Africa also leads the way in terms of solar project developments, having about 57% of the 9.5 GW of solar projects in operation, construction or declared in sub-Saharan Africa based in the country.

With Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius and Mozambique all being key trading partners of South Africa, members of SADC and accounting for 31% of total solar capacity on the continent, it gives South African suppliers another edge in accessing markets.

The majority of projects, however, do not have a completion date as yet, making demand forecasts for materials difficult.

That said, Bonnett pointed out that volumes of materials are rising sharply every year, with total volumes of input material into solar projects – such as long and galvanised steel, glass, zinc, plastic, aluminium, cement, copper and silicon – averaging around 87 000 t/y in “REIPPPP delivery years”.

He admitted that Covid-19 had disrupted many solar power project implementations, but stronger volume growth is expected in 2023 and 2024.

Bonnett added that undeclared volume requirements from smaller projects already in operation will also boost the numbers considerably, in addition to new projects being designed.

The solar photovoltaic sector requires nearly 1-million panels a year, excluding rooftop developments, in REIPPPP delivery years. This number will rise to around 2.4-million by 2024, Bonnett forecasted, adding that the proposed development of green hydrogen complexes in Namibia and South Africa could drive this demand higher as well.

While the green hydrogen industry is in its infancy on the continent, Africa’s abundant solar and wind resources makes it an ideal region for development.

Bonnett said only a handful of countries have officially announced green hydrogen projects so far, with an estimated value of $98-billion should they all proceed to commissioning.

There is also a growing number of downstream green hydrogen projects, particularly those related to mining fleet conversion and other industrial a...

Trade compliance body the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) should be empowered to conduct verification of products and services that have been designated under localisation regulations to ensure that South Africa gains the expected benefits of localisation, international trade consulting practice XA International Trade Advisors head of research Dr Clive Vinti said during a webinar on July 19.

Since the development of the initial local procurement accords and regulations in 2011 and more recently in the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, South Africa has identified local procurement as a primary policy to achieve industrial development in the country through the use of designation as one of the levers, he pointed out.

In the initial Local Procurement Accords in 2011 and 2012, government committed to consult with businesses and industries on identifying products and services that could potentially be designated.

Further, government also committed, as early as 2012, to measure the impact of designation on the relative competitiveness of designated products and its impact on job creation yearly.

However, the Industrial Policy Action Plan is clear, and notes that there are no stringent legal or administrative measures to deal with noncompliance with localisation regulations and designations, and government is too uncoordinated, fragmented and institutionally weak to adequately monitor local content, Vinti said.

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), in presentations to Parliament, has allocated R22-million for verification processes and the DTIC verified 74% of tenders in terms of localisation value, but only verified 10% of the total number of tenders in terms of localisation regulations.

"It is clear there is a huge gap in terms of verification of local content compliance. There have been instances where companies have falsified local content declarations," Vinti said.

Additionally, there are administrative justice challenges with current designation processes, as businesses are not aware when a product is being considered for designation, and only a National Treasury secular notice is sent out when a product or service is designated. It is also not clear what information and criteria were used to assess the viability of a product or service, and there are no review reports of the decisions, he noted.

These challenges can be overcome by leveraging Itac and its expertise in verification in terms of trade policies and international treaty compliance.

"We believe, as designation is significant, there must be a specific set of regulations for local content designation as a trade policy, and it must be administered similarly to other trade policies and regulations, such as anti-dumping measures," Vinti recommended.

He said Itac was the most qualified body to administer local content designation and can ensure administrative justice in terms of fairness and lawfulness, as well as rationality by producing investigation reports.

It is important to have complete transparency of the process of designating products, as there are cost impacts arising from designation, Vinti noted.

A report by capital markets research and consulting firm Intellidex, commissioned by business organisations Business Unity South Africa and Business Leadership South Africa, showed that, if local content regulations were pushed through over the short term without due consideration for their impact, this would push prices of these products up by up to 20%.

Comparably, a European Union study on the impact of renewable energy equipment localisation policies in South Africa found that prices in the renewable energy sector could increase by up to 10%, Vinti highlighted.

The recent 2017 Preferential Procurement Policy Framework regulations have been challenged in court, but the declaration of invalidity of the regulations has been temporarily suspended. There are draft regulations expected this year, but i...

Electricity utility Eskom will challenge the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) most recent revenue determination in court but will restrict the challenge to the regulator’s approach to determining its regulatory asset base (RAB).

The challenge is the latest in a growing number of legal disputes between Eskom and Nersa, with the majority of the rulings to date having been made in favour of the utility.

In February, the Energy Regulator announced that Eskom’s tariff could rise by 9.61% on April 1; an increase that was less than half the 20.5% hike for which Eskom had applied.

The tariff decision included allowable revenue of R250-billion, against the R293-billion for the year outlined in Eskom’s submission.

In late June, Nersa published the reasons for its decision, including the decision to approve a RAB of R551-billion for 2022/23, which was less than half the R1.25-trillion RAB outlined by Eskom in its application.

The new figure was also lower than the R885-billion RAB approved by the regulator for the 2021/22 financial year.

Following an analysis of the document, Eskom has decided to approach the North Gauteng High Court to challenge the regulator’s treatment of the RAB, on the basis of an incorrect implementation of the methodology, as well as what it describes as Nersa’s inaccurate assumptions when determining the RAB.

Eskom notes that Nersa’s decision to assign a lower value to the depreciated replacement value than the historical value of the RAB, as included in Eskom’s financial reports, could result in it impairing assets in line with International Accounting Standard 16, which prescribes the accounting treatment for property, plant and equipment.

The utility, thus, argues that the “incorrect” application could have serious ramifications, including a triggering of loan covenants, a call-up of government guarantees and a further loss of investor confidence.

Eskom is also questioning Nersa’s approach to determining the depreciated replacement cost of its assets, noting that the regulator’s approach has left Koeberg, Gariep and Ingula with negative value, which it describes as financially impossible.

Nersa has, for instance, calculated an accumulated depreciation for Koeberg of R222-billion, which is R42-billion higher than the R188-billion replacement cost outlined by Eskom for the nuclear station, which Nersa has not disputed.

The outcome of the case will not have a major impact on Eskom’s 2022/23 allowable revenue, but the utility wants to ensure that the treatment of the RAB is clarified ahead of the next revenue determination.

While Nersa is currently canvassing a new methodology for determining electricity tariffs, a recent North Gauteng High Court order stipulates that Eskom’s application for the 2023/24 determination be adjudicated using the current methodology.

It has also stipulated that Nersa publish the revenue application on or before August 1 and make a final decision on or before December 24, following public hearings.

In June last year, Eskom submitted a three-year fifth multiyear price determination, or MYPD5 application for 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25.

Nersa adjudicated, also following a court intervention, only the first year of the MYPD5 and will thus adjudicate the second year in the coming months.

MoneyWeb has reported that the utility could apply for a 32.66% increase, which would include a R15-billion amount arising from a legal settlement associated with Nersa’s illegal decision to remove a R69-billion equity injection from Eskom’s allowable revenue.

However, Eskom may make several adjustments to the application once the hearings begin.

These adjustments, including lower independent power producer-related costs, could moderate the request.

South Africa’s environment Minister Barbara Creecy has criticised the lack of progress, since COP26, in the area of climate finance support for developing countries, arguing that there has been a failure to promote “adequate ambition”.

Speaking at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin, Germany, Creecy said it was time to tackle climate finance with the sense of urgency and scale it deserved.

Quoting the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change standing committee on finance, Creecy highlighted that developing countries needed between $5- and $11-trillion to meet their climate objectives. However, an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development report shows that only about $80-billion has been mobilised.

“The only way we can re-establish credibility in financial provision is to set a realistic goal for developed countries to mobilise at least $1-trillion per annum to assist developing countries meet their climate change objectives,” Creecy said at the dialogue, which is being held as part of preparations for the COP27 talks, scheduled for Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in November.

Creecy also lamented the lack of progress in relation to discussions on loss and damage, adaptation, and the just transition, which she said remained trapped in process-related discussions.

“We can only avoid loss and minimise damage with the appropriate scale of public finance that does not exacerbate the indebtedness of Africa.”

The Minister reported that South Africa was accelerating its own climate actions, with a Climate Bill currently before Parliament, which would lay the regulatory framework for the implementation of the country’s climate commitments.

A Just Transition Framework had also been finalised with the support of the Presidential Climate Commission, which would “form the basis for our long-term climate action”.

“To this end, we have set up a Task Team to develop an investment plan for the Just Energy Transition Partnership, or ‘JETP’, announced in Glasgow, with our partner countries – Germany, France, the UK, the US and the European Union (EU).”

A JETP Investment Plan is currently being finalised ahead of COP27 and it is anticipated that some projects may even receive funding support ahead of the event.

COAL BACKSLIDING

Creecy also used the dialogue to slam those developed countries that were “reverting back to coal in response to their negative national circumstances”, particularly after some developing countries were “vilified” at COP26 for stressing their national circumstances in relation to the continued use of fossil fuels.

“Developed countries must continue taking the lead with ambitious action.

“The ultimate measure of climate leadership is not what countries do in times of comfort and convenience, but what they do in times of challenge and controversy.”

A number of European countries are pushing ahead with plans to temporarily increase the use of coal, oil and even nuclear to mitigate Russian moves to limit gas supply in response to sanctions imposed following its military invasion of Ukraine.

In fact, the International Energy Agency (IEA) argued in a statement that such increases could help to minimise gas use in the power sector, which is one of five steps that the agency said should be taken by European countries to “avoid a major gas crunch this winter”.

The other four interventions proposed, included: introducing auction platforms to incentivise EU gas users to reduce demand; enhancing coordination among gas and electricity operators across Europe, including on peak-shaving industrial mechanisms; bringing down household electricity demand by setting cooling standards and controls; and harmonising emergency planning across the EU at the national and European level.

“If these types of measures are not implemented now, Europe will be in an extremely vulnerable position and could well face much more drastic cuts and curtailments later on,” the IEA warned.

Volvo Car South Africa (Volvo SA) will soon add a second battery electric vehicle (EV) to its local EV portfolio – the XC40 P6 Recharge.

The local arm of the Swedish manufacturer currently offers the XC40 P8 Recharge to the South African market.

While the XC40 P8 Recharge employs twin electric motors (one on each axle), the P6 features a single unit – permanently sealed and maintenance free – at the front.

Supply of Volvo EVs and plug-in-hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) to South Africa has remained extremely tight.

The company sold out its preorder EV allocation for South Africa last year, which was 30 XC40 P8s, says Volvo SA MD Greg Maruszewski.

“Although our order book is much larger than this, we are expecting to sell just under 100 EV units this year.

“With the introduction of the XC60 T8, we are aiming to receive as close to 100 PHEVs as possible, which could triple our PHEV sales this year,” adds Maruszewski.

“The global demand for our PHEVs and EVs has resulted in supply constraints in all of our markets, including South Africa, which has made it challenging to accommodate local demand for our Recharge line,” he notes.

“However, we are anticipating an ease in supply next year on all of our powertrains – PHEV and EV included – and will be targeting at least 50% growth on total sales compared with this year.”

Maruszewski says steeply rising fuel prices are playing a role in the move to EVs in South Africa – but only to a degree.

“Owning an EV is still a fairly new concept to the South African consumer. However, the current push to electrification with all the benefits it offers is increasing interest in our PHEVs.”

The Intelligent Transport Society of South Africa (ITSSA) has disbanded as it has fulfilled its mandate, says CEO Dr Paul Vorster.

An ITSSA annual general meeting in July confirmed a decision taken by the society’s board in June to close out the project.

ITSSA was established in 2001 as a project with the strategic objective to create awareness and encourage the use of intelligent transport system (ITS) solutions.

Since then, South Africa has seen the widespread adoption of ITS solutions, to the point where they are now standard elements in all transport planning and operations, explains Vorster.

This includes the rollout of Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) ticketing in public transport systems; the Gautrain, bus rapid transit (BRT) systems; several public transport apps; a number of traffic management centres and traffic management systems; weigh-in-motion technology; freeway management systems; drones; big data; ride-hailing; artificial intelligence; on-demand transport services; and electric, connected and autonomous vehicles.

In short – ITSSA has achieved its strategic objective of making ITS solutions mainstream, says Vorster.

“After 21 years, it is time for ITSSA to hand the baton over to industry.

“Down the road, a radically new, even more advanced environment will need new approaches and mechanisms to assist and guide industry and government.”

Whilst Vorster is satisfied that ITSSA has achieved its goals, he does lament a number of factors holding back the operations and advancement of transport systems in South Africa.

These include the virtual collapse of Eskom, with significant social and economic impact; disintegrating service delivery impacting negatively on traffic management; poor road safety; a worsening road maintenance backlog; the collapse of rail and the failure to implement migration strategies; the stalling of BRT deployment (with MyCiTi a positive exception); widespread corruption; scarcity of tenders; virtually bankrupt government coffers; and a constrained South African logistics system.

“If the country can overcome its institutional challenges, smart mobility solutions offer a launching pad to provide better, safer and more efficient transport services to more people,” says Vorster.

BMW Group South Africa (BMW SA) has expanded its electric vehicle (EV) range with the addition of the i4 and iX3.

The BMW i4 is a four-door gran coupé and the German car maker’s first purely electric model focused squarely on driving dynamics from the outset.

Initially only one model variant will be available from launch – the BMW i4 M50.

This performance model uses one electric motor at the front axle and another at the rear to deliver system output of 400 kW.

True to the spirit of the M range, the vehicle can sprint from zero to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds.

Range is up to 510 km.

In a short mid-journey stop at a high-power charging station, the car’s range can be increased by as much as 140 km within 10 minutes from a 10% charge level.

The BMW i4 model in South Africa is supplied with the BMW charging card, a flexible fast charger for charging at up to 11 kW and a mode 2 charging cable.

The vehicle is priced at R1.6-million.

The BMW iX3 sports activity vehicle is the electric version of the X3 made in Pretoria at the Rosslyn plant.

The range of the vehicle before the battery is depleted is up to 460 km, with ten-minute fast charging adding around 100 km of range.

Acceleration from zero to 100 km/h happens in 6.8 seconds.

The vehicle is priced from R1.29-million.

With the internal combustion engine BMW X3 made in South Africa, is there an opportunity for its electric sibling to be produced locally?

BMW SA spokesperson Hailey Philander says it is not possible for the local company to comment on future production plans.

However, she adds that the Rosslyn plant remains “an important part” of the global BMW group production network.

“Currently, up to 96% of BMW X3 production is destined for export markets and many of the markets that BMW group plant Rosslyn traditionally supplies are shifting towards EVs.

“The BMW group is considering the introduction of electrified drivetrain vehicles for future production at BMW group plant Rosslyn,” notes Philander.

“Key to this, though, would be a review of the local industrial policy to, in particular, support the expansion of general infrastructure projects, and foster an environment that supports the local manufacture of EVs and EV components.

“BMW SA has been – and continues to – work closely with government and other stakeholders in the country to advance the electromobility agenda in South Africa. We welcome any developments that can encourage the wider adoption of electromobility in South Africa.”

Government is yet to complete its sector support and development policy for the local manufacture and introduction of EVs.

The term ‘electrified vehicle’ includes hybrids and plug-in-hybrids.