Electric Roadtrip

They drove five electric cars across South Africa – a photo essay

Last weekend, TechCentral participated in a four-day road trip across South Africa to test the feasibility of driving electric cars across our vast country, including to remote villages in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape and across countless mountain passes.

Days 1 and 2 of the road trip was covered in some detail here. Days 3 and 4 were just as epic, though the charging infrastructure – which had given them grief on days 1 and 2 – was a lot more reliable on the next two legs that took in Gqeberha, Jeffreys Bay, Knysna, George, Oudtshoorn, Prince Albert, Laingsburg, Barrydale and Swellendam.

All five vehicles – a Volvo XC40 (in which TechCentral travelled), a BMW iX50, Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+, BYD Seal and Volkswagen ID.4 – made it to Cape Town, despite a few nerve-wracking hours in Colesberg and Jansenville (a hamlet in the Eastern Cape where the biggest drama of the road trip unfolded – more details about that was in the day 2 report).

The photo essay that follows provides a glimpse into the adventure, some of the learnings – and why there’s still plenty of work to be done behind the scenes in developing South Africa’s electric carcharging network.

https://techcentral.co.za/we-drove-five-electric-cars-across-south-africa-a-photo-essay/253442/

The journey, which was filmed for a documentary that TechCentral will republish in a few weeks’ time, was aimed at bringing a fresh focus to the challenges that could face EV owners doing long-distance road trips in South Africa, especially in more remote parts of the country.