Watch as Iain Banner, Chairman of the e-Movement shares his unique insights into Africa’s green mobility future from the studio at Africa’s Green Economy Summit.
Banner also sheds some light on the importance of the recently launched Go Green Africa initiative.
Find out more about the e-Movement.
Written by: Theresa Smith
When speaking about urban sustainability and the green economy, one cannot hide from the fact that Africa’s urban population more than doubled between 2000 and 2020 and is expected to double again between 2020 and 2050.
Speaking at Africa’s Green Economic Summit (AGES), Hastings Chikoko, regional director for Africa of the C40 Climate Leadership Group, SA said: “It can be either an opportunity, or a crash, depending on what we do in our cities.
“If we don’t do the right things, this urbanisation could just mean a multiplication of poverty and inequality and an increase in the informality of cities. But, I we do the right things, urbanisation plus the youth bulge plus technology will offer opportunities for Africa to achieve a green economy,” said Chikoko.
He believes it is time to recognise that the narrative around Africa is changing. The continent has some of the world’s fastest growing economies, vast natural resources, a demographic typified by a youth bulge, expanding urbanisation and many more opportunities than challenges.
“[However] We cannot talk about Africa right now, without talking about energy access and the energy transition on this continent. We have the statistics around potential, but at the same time we have challenges in this sector, in the region. So, the question is, how is energy distribution laying the groundwork for sustainable cities, for energy access and the transition and the green economy in Africa?” he asked.
At AGES Chikoko asked a panel of city officials from across Africa to explain what each of their regions is doing to rethink urbanisation and the green economy.
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Ole Stubdrup, project manager with the AfDB’s Urban and Municipal Development Fund Secretariat said the African Development Bank created the fund to address the issue of urban sustainability.
“It’s clear to us that cities are the drivers for growth, livelihoods, and jobs. We can support through the Fund, the visions of the cities, turning strategy into investment,” said Stubdrup.
The Fund provides technical assistance and support and helps to prepare solid pipelines. It also helps to establish what the cities must do to fulfil their visions. “People are migrating to cities and we are challenged by the lack of services,” said Stubdrup.
The Fund helps cities/municipalities to prepare urban development projects and get them ready for public and private financing from local and international sources.
Green #mobility isn’t just about connecting people goods and institutions but also connecting ideas. This was the assertion of Yasir Ahmed during Africa's Green Economy Summit. https://t.co/mq9LJNH7TM @GreenEcoSummit pic.twitter.com/kPVWAwzNj3
— ESI Africa (@ESIAfrica) March 2, 2023
Thami Manyathi, head of eThekwini Transport Authority, eThekwini Municipality said, going forward, transformation in cities will be about more than just infrastructure development as “more work needs to be done in transforming how operations actually work in cities.”
“In cities and metros, there’s good experience in terms of financing infrastructure projects, but there’s less experience on how to finance the rolling stock. Now, with e-mobility, there’ll be a new question around how to finance the charging infrastructure,” said Manyathi.
He questioned how the just energy transition will influence e-mobility, and especially change the ways financial institutions look at the minibus taxi industry in South Africa.
“At the end of the day, for the city to transform, we cannot leave the minibus taxis behind. Even if, traditionally, this country, it’s a difficult sector to finance,” said Manyathi.
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He reminded that owners of minibus taxis in South Africa often face up to three times the bank charges and interest regular citizens have to pay. “Cities need to create a new way for how they play their role in reducing the risks to the sector so that financial institutions would be comfortable with extending lending at an affordable rate to the minibus taxi industry. Else, the just energy transition will be but a dream and not translate beyond wishful thinking,” warned Manyathi.
Costs associated with the deployment of new technologies requires a change or rules and regulations, according to Manyathi, who thinks financial institutions will have to be the leaders in this regard going forward. “Charging infrastructure and rolling stock is where the work needs to be done,” he explained.
Mary Haw of the City of Cape Town’s Renewable Energy & Efficiency: Sustainable Energy Markets department, said from the city’s perspective, energy is the crucial link that will make sustainable cities a reality. “E-mobility and the energy interface is interesting. It’s not just about individual vehicles, but grid access and empowering people to make better decisions around energy and transport.
“As cities, we’re often on the backfoot when it comes to trust. A lot of customers and citizens distrust all levels of government. Those of us in municipalities have to work to gain that trust. A priority programme for us is energy security of economic development. It’s about keeping jobs, making jobs. Having energy for industry to have a vibrant economy is the most important way to include everyone and create a space where they can be economically active,” explained Haw.
The City of Cape Town is placing a premium on creating programmes that will alleviate loadshedding and also address energy access.
Mass urbanisation does create energy poverty because people simply cannot afford electricity, and “there is a gender inequality to energy poverty. So, hopefully through strategy and work around alleviating energy poverty, we can address systemic inequality,” said Haw.
The city is also actively driving the concept of net-zero carbon buildings. “The built environment is where most of energy is being used, so how do we build low-carbon developments and drive efficient energy use?” she asked.
Haw believes collaboration is very important: “We can show leadership, but it cannot be done without customer engagement.”
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Jacob Byamukama, acting Director of Engineering & Technical Services, Kampala Capital City Authority, Uganda reiterated Haw’s emphasis on collaboration, but said policy development is just as important.
“You have to have a policy in place that allows you to use the energy you have. The other thing is to make sure you have the capability to attract finance,” said Byamukama.
He said partnerships are necessary too. While their forays into electrifying their public transport system are being led by the private sector to a certain extent, the Ministry responsible for transport still has to step in to regulate things like transport routes.
Byamukama said they cannot wait however for regulation to show the way. “The technology is moving fast. We have to work together, start implementing and correct mistakes as we go along. We have to ensure an infrastructure that is fair for everyone to use,” he said.
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Tshepo Kgobe, COO, Gautrain Management Agency said they followed that same principle when they created the Gautrain almost 15 years ago. At the time South Africa did not have any urban sustainability policies or strategies, so the Agency created its own one. “When you talk sustainable urban mobility, everyone thinks about the vehicles. But, everyone leaves out the stations – the buildings. Can you build off-grid? Can you use the real estate to produce your own solar power?
“The biggest challenge is everyone is waiting for government to create the strategy. We don’t work like that. We drive the policy. When you’re at the cutting edge of technology, you have to always reinvest in yourself. What do you become next?
“One has to drive policy, instead of wait for policy to be developed. It’s an important mindshift,” explained Kgobe. ESI
All things electric today at the @efestelectric #EFestElectric @capetowneprix #FormulaE pic.twitter.com/2jO5CI8fvt
— Majosi (@Mashele333) February 25, 2023
Written by: Theresa Smith
Eskom is throwing its weight behind the development of e-mobility in South Africa by getting involved on the charging infrastructure side.
Speaking at last week’s Africa’s Green Economy Summit, Eskom Group Executive for Distribution Monde Bala said the utility is working on both a short and long term strategy for energy decarbonisation, decentralisation, digitalisation and democratisation.
Casting its eye on the future, Eskom has aligned itself with the Just Energy Transition “not only because we need to move away from polluting sources of energy, but we really need to ensure its sustainable and we carry our communities with us,” said Bala.
He reiterated the utility’s support of the Integrated Resources Plan “with its aspiration towards a greener future of the energy mix of the country. We are also committed to facilitating connections for renewables onto the grid.”
He said the distributor’s job is to “accelerate that connection and ensure there is a non-discriminatory access onto the grid, to connect renewables.”
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The Group Executive: Distribution said Eskom signed up as founding partner to the Go Green Africa initiative to accelerate Africa’s just energy transition because they have the aspiration and strategy to move South Africa towards a net-zero emissions position by 2050.
“We want to accelerate the transition to green energy and empower the transition. We need to ensure we take our communities with us,” emphasised Bala.
Admitting that grid constraints lie at the heart of Eskom’s challenges he says they are looking into how to sort that out as well as dealing with challenges to Bid Window 6 applicants to ensure all available renewable energy capacity is brought onto the national grid.
“We are facilitating a liberalised energy market and the decentralisation of that market. What we see is that energy sources are going to be more and more decentralised, closer to loads, close to consumers…
“That presents its own challenges in terms of managing the stability of the grid, ensuring we make sure everyone has access. We are also looking at modern smart grids to ensure the consumer has more control.
“In partnering with the country and the continent to enable a cleaner and open energy market, when we talk about Eskom we do think loadshedding, but beyond that – are there opportunities and solutions we can put together?” asked Bala..
When speaking about urban #sustainability and the #greeneconomy, one cannot hide from the fact that Africa’s urban population is expected to double again between 2020 and 2050. https://t.co/VVkelSdIuw @GreenEcoSummit pic.twitter.com/2AUBoAb5No
— ESI Africa (@ESIAfrica) March 2, 2023
Generating units back online, but others go dark. #Renewables show 1,958MW support & message from Eskom is that #loadshedding is a last resort to protect the grid from total collapse. Read more here: https://t.co/8E4oBFFvLg via @ESIAfrica
— Nicolette Pombo 🌍 (@nicolettepombo) March 1, 2023
He said their focus now has to be to work towards become an enabler of a positive future, and that includes embracing e-mobility, using more energy storage systems such as batteries and developing technologies to help far-flung rural communities.
“How do we empower the consumer to be able to harness the energy that currently exists, to accelerate the roll-out of the rooftop solar? Our customer will become a producer in their own right in that they are able to sell back the electricity coming off their roof, onto the grid. So, they become part of the value chain,” said Bala.
Eskom has already submitted the residential time-of-use (ToU) charging tariff to the National Energy Regulator of Africa (Nersa) for approval. This will also enable EV owners to achieve significant savings when using the off-peak and standard periods to charge their cars, encouraging EV uptake and boosting electricity sales.
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Bala said Eskom was proud that they helped to pilot the Nissan Leaf a decade ago but their move into e-mobility at scale in the near-future would be around infrastructure.
“In terms of charging infrastructure we want to be at the centre of that. We want to ensure, in terms of the benefits of e-mobility, we want to create a bi-directional flow of energy. We want to use vehicles as batteries, in a way that we can offset some of the peak load when we have a shortage,” he explained.
Eskom has started a pilot project to electrify their own fleet of around 13,000 vehicles. They will eventually seek out partners to roll out public charging stations at Eskom sites, and these would eventually become accessible to the public.
Of reference
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Eskom showed off its microgrid technology and mobility solutions at E-Fest over the weekend. They have started rolling out containerised microgrid technology.
In terms of microgrid application, they are concentrating on rural areas that are far from the main grid. “More important, we are looking at mainly informal and formal areas, where the cushion against loadshedding has become an issue, both grid-tied and off-grid.”
Eskom is currently managing four sites powered by microgrid technology in Ficksburg (Free State), Lynedoch (Western Cape) and Swartkop (Northern Cape). The containers supply renewable electricity to more than two hundred households, a police station and businesses in the area. Eskom is conducting feasibility studies on more than 80 project sites around the country.
Most of the identified sites will use solar PV as primary source of energy and lithium-ion batteries for storage capability. Other sites will use micro wind turbines and small-scale hydro turbines, based on the most optimum energy source available. The rollout of these projects will be phased over the next 5 years.
The deployment of the microgrids at Swartkop and Ficksburg serve as a proof of concept in use of microgrids in remote areas which are difficult to reach or expensive to electrify through the conventional means of electrification.
On the other hand, the microgrid at Lynedoch residential area demonstrates how this technology can be used to complement the grid, serving as backup electricity supply to households, hospitals and other facilities. As an added advantage, microgrids contribute to reducing carbon emissions because they use renewable sources.
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Eskom is currently running two projects to deploy distributed battery energy storage in KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. “It is our understanding that the technology is improving, and the price is coming down, so it remains part of the technology solutions of the future,” said Bala.
Eskom sees battery energy storage as a key enable of e-mobility. They are making progress with the construction of their first energy storage facility at Elandskop BESS in KZN. ESI
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Written by: Theresa Smith
The next evrt Africa road trip will take place from 15 to 24 February 2024, according to Smarter Mobility Africa (SMA) founder, Ben Pullen.
Making the announcement a day before the Formula E race in Cape Town, Pullen pointed out that the evrt Africa road trip also showcases electric vehicle products and technologies and amplifies the message of the benefits of going electric.
“The event plays a role in educating and awareness around clean energy and vehicles. It’s a real educator, very visual,” said Pullen.
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evrt Africa first launched on this continent in 2019 with a 9-day road trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town. One of the first partners to sign up for the 2024 road trip, the Eastern Cape-based Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC), hinted they would like the EV road trip to spend more time in their region in 2024.
Thabo Shenxane, AIDC CEO, said the choice to get involved with evrt Africa was a no-brainer as the Eastern Cape knows it has to work with the other provinces to save the country’s automotive industry, which is based around Gqeberha. “If we can’t work together, the industry will collapse.
“We could use these types of events to extend our services. It is possible that by 2025 we could do a road trip linked to a tourism product with EVs. It’s possible.
“The commitment is for us to ensure that our province integrates with the rest of the country and the transition to EV. We’re mandated to do that as the AIDC,” said Shenxane.
Ricardo McKenzie, the new MEC for mobility in the Western Cape, said it is an exciting time to work in the mobility space.
He drew everyone’s attention to the fact that two EVs outside the launch venue were branded with Western Cape logos because they belonged to the province fleet.
“We are the first province to launch an EV strategy. We take this very seriously. Our depot in Maitland already has chargers. And on 1 April, we will launch more charging stations in the province,” said McKenzie.
He added: “We will work to drive e-mobility and the green economy because that is where the jobs are. We will work with our partners in the city on how we can continue to drive this.”
Iain Banner, Formula E Cape Town promoter and founder of Go Green Africa, emphasised that EVs and clean technology are good for business.
“You’re helping other people at the same time as you’re helping yourself. We want Formula E to be an annual celebration of sustainability. It’s the only sport in the world that is net zero. It shows you can perform at the highest level while bringing in the whole new world of clean energy,” said Banner.
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Banner’s goal is to create a movement towards clean energy, “so we started with the E-Fest, which incorporates Africa’s Green Economic Summit. Then, there’s also Go Green Africa which will be the workshop. evrt Africa is the celebration of what you can do with EVs.
“Range anxiety is still a big issue. We have to sort out legislation so that we can import EVs at a better deal than internal combustion vehicles,” said Banner.
He explained that the torch travelling with the EVs at evrt Africa 2024 would represent green energy. “It is going to travel with the vehicles, and we’ll be stopping at Megawatt Park. We want Eskom to sign a declaration [as a Go Green Africa partner].”
“We will celebrate Go Green Africa at different points,” he explained.
Autotrader CEO George Mienie said they have been working with the SMA founder for the past four years, providing research on vehicle demand and supply to understand trends in consumer behaviour around EVs.
They recently published the Hybrid Car Buyers Survey 2022, which shows “a humongous increase in consumer demand for hybrid vehicles.”
The survey identifies that the consumer appetite for hybrids in South Africa is increasing. The use of hybrid as a search filter increased by 47% in 2022, compared to 2021. Hybrid consumer advert views were also up 44% year-on-year, while hybrid enquiries rose by 64%. New vehicle sales are also positive – hybrid vehicle sales in SA were up by 1,885% compared to the first eight months of 2021.
Still, there is a big need for education and awareness – the survey also showed that most South Africans are unaware of the various hybrid cars available. There is also a lack of understanding of the various hybrid car drive train configurations that exist.
“The key fundamental, what we are doing today, is education. Even with a hybrid, 81% of consumers got the range wrong. They believe the range of hybrids is lower than what it actually is. The best way is to get bums on seats,” said Mienie.
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Monde Bala, Eskom Distribution Group Executive, said the utility started its e-mobility journey many years ago when they collaborated on pilot project research around the Nissan Leaf.
In the future, the distribution side of Eskom will be leaving the power stations to the generation department. “Our focus is to embrace the future, which is green. We do have an aspiration of being net-zero by 2050,” said Bala.
Part of that net-zero goal is to get involved in the e-mobility space by getting into EV charging grid infrastructure through the utility’s vast infrastructure framework already in place.
Eskom also has a large automobile fleet of around 10,000 vehicles which it wants to electrify. “We’ve started the process; we are running a pilot to go green with EVs,” said Bala.
Read more about the Cape Town E-Prix and the Cape Town E-Fest. ESI
Written by: Theresa Smith
Developing new technologies for electric vehicles in the pits of Formula E is having a real-world impact trickling down to the EVs driven on streets worldwide.
Moderating a panel discussion on Formulate E change, accelerated – net zero vision for cities and urban racing at Africa’s Green Economic Summit, Dominic Wilhelm, Executive Director, United Leaders, United Cities, explained this technology transfer will, over the years, influence energy storage practices, smart grids, energy efficiency and e-mobility as a whole.
Saturday, 25 February, sees the first Formula E race in sub-Sahara Africa, with Cape Town probably providing the fastest race track for the e-mobility circuit this year.
Wilhelm was very keen to discuss Maserati’s return to racing for the first time in ten years with Giovanni Sgro, head of Maserati for Formula E. Maserati got back on the track in Mexico in January 2023 with the GT Folgore, the Trident’s first-ever electric vehicle.
“Not only are we back to racing, but it’s also our first race in Cape Town. Formula E was a natural choice; getting back to racing was something we were looking forward to for many years,” said Sgro. He reminded that Maserati’s first race win was in 1926. It seemed a natural fit to get into the first e-sport for electric vehicles as the luxury Italian brand aims to only produce electric vehicles by 2030.
“We’ve had racing in our blood for over 100 years, and to be back to racing in a great championship that is doing tremendous work, it’s fantastic. Also, to be going around the world to new cities,” said Sgro.
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Alberto Longo, Formula E co-founder, said it had been quite a journey. Working in the early noughties on creating Formula 1 sponsorship deals, Longo noticed companies expressing an interest in sponsoring motorsport if only it had a green angle.
By 2008 he and Formula E cofounder Alejandro Agag realised they needed to create a platform for the companies who wanted to get into motorsport, just not in the format it presented at the time.
“The world has changed completely since then,” marvelled Longo.
When they obtained FIA licensing in 2012, technology for racing EVs was not yet developed. Not only were there no formal teams, a single-seater, fully-electric racing car did not exist.
The first generation of cars was a far cry from the Gen3 cars, which will debut at the Cape Town E-Prix. Spark Gen3, or Gen3, is the successor to the SRT05e.
Back then, every driver had two cars at their disposal because they couldn’t finish a race with one – the range of the batteries simply wasn’t enough.
“In only four years, we have doubled the battery capacity, and now they manage to finish the race with one car,” said Longo.
Now it’s fast charging, technology for faster cars and “more sexy cars because that’s important for the championship to be attractive to fans.
“The reality is, 12 years ago, there were two key barriers to electric vehicles. First was the price and second was the range of the batteries.
“We’re not talking about range of batteries anymore; you can see 500 to 700km. Nine years ago, it was 60km. Price is still expensive, but governments are doing initiatives and incentives to transform e-mobility in countries. We are getting there way quicker than expected,” said Longo.
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James Barclay, Formula E Team Principal for Jaguar, said the huge benefit that sport can play is driving human and technological progress through electric racing.
He pointed out that the power of world-class sports is that teams compete against the very best and push themselves beyond their limits. Thus technological advancements made on the E-Prix circuit will push EV development.
Barclay point to technology such as safety belts and traction control are technologies that trickled down from Formula 1 racing into regular sedans driven daily on roads around the world.
“Jaguar has a long history in the sport. We won Le Man as the first company to use disc brakes,” remembered Barclay.
Back in 1949, the racers used drum brakes, mostly hydraulically activated. Cars would lose braking efficiency when they got too hot. In 1953, Jaguar won Le Mans with their much simpler disc brakes system, which gradually became the norm for racing and eventually all cars.
The Formula E Jaguar team is also exploring Wolfspeed’s silicon carbide semiconductors, which they started using in 2017. “Now, having proven the technology by winning races, last year Jaguar announced that all future cars would use this technology.
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“We pioneered second-life battery storage. We powered the garage in pre-testing at Valencia with a second-life battery at Valencia.
“That has applications for all over the world, and it’s a technology pioneered by Pramac, so the world of generators is moving into battery energy storage,” said Barclay.
Jaguar Land Rover has partnered with Pramac to develop a portable zero-emission energy storage unit powered by second-life Jaguar I-PACE batteries. This Off Grid Battery Energy Storage System features lithium-ion batteries from the Jaguar I-PACE batteries from the prototypes and engineering test vehicles. The storage system can supply zero-emissions power where access to to the grid is limited or unavailable.
“Formula E is the first net zero sport in the world and one of the fastest growing,” reminded Wilhelm.
“The performance of the vehicles is extraordinary. Look at what Formula 1 has achieved in decades versus what Formula E has achieved in just a few years. There’s not much difference in performance,” Wilhelm said.
The Cape Town E-Prix will take place at the same time as the Cape Town E-Fest. ESI
In Cape Town for Africa’s Green Economic Summit, William Dachs, Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) CEO, reminded that the public transport agency’s current concession with Bombela ends in March 2026.
“Then the assets are fully paid off and ready for use in a new concession-type arrangement,” said Dachs, pointing out this would then be the perfect opportunity to reinvest in the system and grow it even further. The Agency has completed National Treasury Feasibility Studies and is ready to launch the procurement post-2026 project in April. They will host a formal market engagement in Johannesburg in the last week of March.
Enumerating the Agency’s many successes since opening its doors 13 years ago, Dachs indicated that the GMA are the only A-grade public infrastructure in South Africa, with an asset value of R45 billion connecting Gauteng’s three metros and the largest PPP in the country.
It is the only rail system in SA to adopt world standards in electronic ticket systems, which accept any form of payment for travel on trains and buses. The GMA is the only public transport system with formal contracts with minibus taxi associations and makes a quantifiable impact of R2.60 for every rand invested. Over R6 billion was spent on local goods and services in the last years – R5bn through black-owned businesses and SMMEs.
The real challenge lies outside these doors, on the N1 a few hundred metres away, and the N2 a few kilometres away, and on countless urban roads in South Africa and in Africa.
Explaining his other reasons for attending Africa’s Green Economic Summit (AGES), Dachs started off by talking about South Africa’s energy situation.
“There is a growing realisation that solutions to the current electricity supply crisis lie as much in small, scalable solutions at municipal and provincial levels as they do at Megawatt park [Eskom’s head office],” said Dachs.
Referencing Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s recent announcement to allocate R1,2 billion to boost energy supply in the province of Gauteng, Dachs pointed out that part of this would be used to put solar panels on the rooftops of government buildings, including Gautrain stations, for solar generation.
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Part of that money would also be used to create larger-scale renewable energy generators in the province. “I see the same restlessness and the same approach towards self-reliance here in Cape Town with moves towards smaller scale IPPs and even domestic feed-in rates.
“If solving the energy crisis means combining increased self-reliance in generation with renewable sources and financing that off the public balance sheets, then achieving national green energy commitments suddenly becomes more believable,” said Dachs.
He said his second reason for attending AGES is transport-related. He was pleased by discussion topics such as mobility for social inclusion and economic opportunity, urban sustainability, and smart cities. However, Dachs was worried that people would be too caught up in discussions on making cars and trucks more carbon-efficient and using technology better and smarter in our cities.
“The real challenge lies outside these doors, on the N1 a few hundred metres away, and the N2 a few kilometres away, and on countless urban roads in South Africa and in Africa.”
Dachs thinks the true challenge is the “massive and regressive” move away from rail-based passenger transport to road-based modes of transport such as private cars and minibus taxis. “Add in another long-term shift of freight from road to rail, and we have the perfect storm of growing urbanisation, increasing road usage, congestion and carbon emissions.”
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To give some sense of perspective on the problem, while Gauteng road traffic volumes consistently grow at around 7% per annum, the national rail network has shed around 500 million annual rail passenger trips per annum in South Africa over the last 10 years… they shifted mode into a highly unregulated and inefficient road-based transport.”
Dachs said he was not arguing against a shift towards electric vehicles or hydrogen-based fuels which he sees as a necessity, but a “failure to grow and develop our urban guided transit systems.”
“We have a great National Rail Policy, what we need is action, and part of that action is accelerated planning of and investment in urban rail systems. If the provinces and cities of this country are now having to face up to and help tackle the national problem of electricity supply, why on earth will we not have to do exactly the same in the rail sector?
“Issues like better urban planning, sensible ways of getting private sector participation into transport have got to be on the agenda,” said Dachs.
Africa’s Green Economy Summit continues today (Thursday, 23 February) at the Century City Conference Centre. It is co-located with E-Fest, which hosts Africa’s first E-Prix on Saturday, 25 February.
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