Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa July 2013 | Page 73

MOTOR TALK

BY RUSSELL BENNETT

The Future
Not The Present

T

here’s one thing which is certain about
the Electric Vehicle (EV) today, even
to die-hard petrolheads. They are the
future. End. Of. Discussion.
As a vocal opponent of the EV movement, this
is difficult certainty to swallow. But it doesn’t
make it any less true. As soon as EVs can be
produced for a similar amount of money to more
conventionally-powered counterparts, and as
soon as battery development hits a 500km range
between recharges and a recharge time of under
10 minutes, the days of fossil-fuelled cars will
be over.
Which is probably why Nissan SA has just
supplied ten new LEAFs (it stands for Leading,
Environmentally friendly, Affordable Family
car) to our own power parastatal - ostensibly
for testing. To assist with paving the way for
the EV in SA, to ensure that our infrastructure
can handle the wave apparently poised to break
upon it in the near future. To leverage the
lessons learnt by Nissan from global rollouts of
this innovative product and ease these teething
problems for local consumers eager to jump on
the electric wagon.
Except that none of this actually eases the real
underlying problems plaguing the EV across
the globe. Although in perfect conditions a
brand-new LEAF may manage over 200kms
range, in more typical driving conditions this
tumbles dramatically. And heaven forbid that
you may want to heat your cabin in winter, or
cool it in the summer. Activate the climate
www.reimag.co.za

control and you’ll shed kms of range like a
Russian stripper sheds fur overcoats.
At this point, I have to say, it would be a lot
easier for me to join the hordes of motoring
writers who wholeheartedly support the EV
drive. After all, it’s the direction the entire
industry is moving in, and swimming against
this tide is about as futile as the veritable
breaking wind is against powerful natural
forces. The auto manufacturers would be
happier with me, the average reader would stop
lambasting me about being “out of touch with
the real world”, and we could all continue to
careen headlong and blind into this Brave New
World of automotive propulsion.
However, that would mean burying my head
in the sand and ignoring the real issues at stake
here. Letting the hype wash away rationality
and carry us all along powerless on its crest,
to crash against whatever hidden obstacles
might present themselves blissfully unaware. In
fact, opposition is all that will save the electric
car in the end. If, as is currently happening,
manufacturers are allowed to flood the market
with an unf inished, unresolved product as
they are currently trying to do, when the real
problems become common knowledge the
technology may find itself shelved yet again
never to recover.
The EV needs more development before it’s
a viable alternative. Gifting R4-million worth
of New Breed cars to a parastatal which hasn’t
thought about the future in two decades is not

going to solve any issues. It’s pure PR, a highprofile gift which will also serve as a rolling
advertisement and nothing more. A gesture
designed to ease the fears of the average
consumer without actually resolving the real
reasons behind these concerns. A veritable
celebration of the outright victory of marketing
over engineering a la the eternal Dilbert
cubicle-based battleground.
Briefly, then, here are the conundrums which
really need solving. A 100% charge real-world
range of around 160kms, provided you leave
the climate control off. Batteries which actually
need to be charged to only 80%, or else longterm degradation worsens dramatically. In
other words, if you want more than 130kms
range from your EV, you’ll be shelling out for
new batteries much sooner than the alreadyambitious projections. Performance which
degrades as the charge is consumed, so while
your car might be able to keep up with traffic on
the way in to the office in the morning, it’ll be
sluggish and tired in traffic on the way home.
On the supply side, for the equation to start
making real sense, we need to increase the
mix of clean energy sources over dirty coal
or even potentially catastrophic nuclear. That
is literally all Eskom could need to research
with the introduction of cars like the LEAF,
and that’s a consideration which it should be
taking into account already even without the
EV in the picture, but is moving slowly and
very ponderously on without any real will or
future vision.
July 2013 SA Real Estate Investor

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