SA has far too many potholes to fill and broken roads to fix before any talk of an EV future is possible
27 October 2023 - 14:16
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I fear that Thabang Mahlangu’s interesting article is a case of putting the (electric) cart before the horse (“SA journeys towards electric vehicle transition”, October 27). The EV industry is a non-starter in SA and will remain so until the ANC government can fix or replace Eskom and deliver a sustainable, reliable and consistent electricity supply.
Any ANC fool can promise the earth, and many have done so. The fact remains that those promised days of load-shedding free electricity are still decades off, if they are achievable at all. Such is the story of ANC, SA and the entire African continent for that matter — we are far more likely to become an import hub (dumping ground?) for much of the world’s rapidly superfluous internal combustion engines than to play a key role in the EV supply chain.
In any event, we’ve got far too many potholes to fill and broken roads to fix before any talk of an EV future is possible and, more importantly, even vaguely credible.
Mark Lowe
Durban
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: EV industry is a non-starter in SA
SA has far too many potholes to fill and broken roads to fix before any talk of an EV future is possible
I fear that Thabang Mahlangu’s interesting article is a case of putting the (electric) cart before the horse (“SA journeys towards electric vehicle transition”, October 27). The EV industry is a non-starter in SA and will remain so until the ANC government can fix or replace Eskom and deliver a sustainable, reliable and consistent electricity supply.
Any ANC fool can promise the earth, and many have done so. The fact remains that those promised days of load-shedding free electricity are still decades off, if they are achievable at all. Such is the story of ANC, SA and the entire African continent for that matter — we are far more likely to become an import hub (dumping ground?) for much of the world’s rapidly superfluous internal combustion engines than to play a key role in the EV supply chain.
In any event, we’ve got far too many potholes to fill and broken roads to fix before any talk of an EV future is possible and, more importantly, even vaguely credible.
Mark Lowe
Durban
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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