INLSA
The Joule, South Africa’s first electric powered car on display in front of Parliament. It was developed by Optimal Energy. Picture Jeffrey Abrahams
It could cost a lot of green to put South Africa’s first home-grown “green” vehicle, the Joule electric car, into commercial production.
“The projected investment required to commercialise the Joule is approximately R9 billion,” Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor said in a written reply to a parliamentary question yesterday.
This amount would cover “all production-related matters, such as production development, manufacturing and retail operations”, she said.
The battery-driven Joule – developed by a company called Optimal Energy – is aimed at urban users. It has a maximum range of 300km and a top speed of 135km/h. The government has a shareholding in Optimal Energy.
Phil Mjwara, director-general of the Science and Technology Department, said that more than 20 hand-built Joules had been made as demonstration models.
He said that the government had invested R125 million in the development of the Joule since 2006. He denied that planned production of the vehicle had stalled.
Discussions were under way between his department, Trade and Industry and other stakeholders on the best way forward.
“At the moment, we’re looking at various options… to determine what route we want to go. These will be tabled early next year,” said Mjwara.
According to Optimal Energy’s website, the Joule will be “in mass manufacture” from 2013, and available for sale in 2014.
The retail price of the car “cannot be fixed now”.
Yesterday, Pandor said finding a “one-stop” investor for the Joule was challenging.
“The signal from potential investors is that they may consider partnering on certain parts of the value chain,” she said.
She added that the government was developing a position paper on the Joule to provide “a sense of government commitment to the development of the industry” and to be “useful in improving investor confidence”.
A second-generation prototype of the Joule will be on display in Durban next week during the UN climate talks. – Sapa
