needs a rechge
The EV market continues to challenge product planners and industrial policy experts, with South African market numbers telling a dramatic story.
Despite a diversity of EV models, several from legacy German luxury brands, the market for South African EVs went backwards in 2025. Local buyers purchased only 1088 EVs last year, which equals a segment contraction of 13.4 %. Does this mean that South Africans aren’ t interested in advanced battery powertrains for their vehicles? Not exactly.
The truth is that EV sales have been negligible in South Africa since the BMW i3 and Nissan Leaf established the market in the mid-2010s. Most EVs are priced beyond R1m, making them luxury cars. China’ s most advanced car company and a global leader in EVs, BYD, markets its entry-level Dolphin Surf for under R400 000, but doesn’ t report its monthly sales.
Despite the national power grid stabilising and an impressive pipeline of new energy projects maturing across South Africa, most local buyers still prefer turbodiesels or hybrids. Proof? The Hilux is still South Africa’ s best-selling vehicle range, and of the 34 Hilux derivatives available, 30 are diesel...
The argument that recharging infrastructure is a limiting factor for EV adoption is an interesting one. Most high-income South Africans now have off-grid solar power, making them ideal
candidates for EVs, as they can reliably and very cheaply charge them at home. But that market of high-income South Africans who were EV-curious appears saturated, which explains the year-on-year drop in EV registrations.
The PHEV segment proves that South African buyers are a viable market for correctly configured and priced battery vehicles. Total PHEV sales surged 280 % last year, with 2810 of these plug-in vehicles being sold. Tellingly, nearly all of those 2810 PHEVs were Chinese models.
Several of the Chinese PHEVs marketed to South African buyers combine advanced battery packs with 1.5 or 2-litre turbocharged engines. Delivering tremendous overtaking performance, but also incredible combined range. Many of these PHEV models have a real-world driving range of nearly 1000km, combining reasonably sized but not enormous battery packs with 60- to 70-litre fuel tank capacities.
Marketing confidence and product reality are meeting an immovable truth in the South African EV market. Like supercars, luxury EVs are proving to be a very niche product segment in South Africa, and it seems that everyone interested in owning a R1m + EV has bought one.
And PHEVs? South Africans appear to want a lot more of them, and the Chinese brands are planning a flood of additional PHEV models for 2026.
JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2026 27 WORDS IN ACTION