There was a time when seeing an EV traversing South Africa’s roads meant something. It meant they had a little more money to throw around, a little more faith in Eskom, and a little more time to devote to the maybe one charger in the area. Nowadays, they’re on nearly every corner in the bigger cities, courtesy of GridCars, which foresaw the EV hype years ago. After more than a decade of service, it’s time to put some chargers to bed.
The company confirmed as much in a recent blog post, with EngineeringNews reporting a R40 million dump into the infrastructure to bring its network up to scratch. “The vehicles entering the market now are very different from those we tested a decade ago. Batteries are larger, charging speeds are increasing, voltage architectures are changing and customer expectations are higher,” said Winstone Jordaan, CEO of GridCars.
Going on the grid
The overhaul, which Jordaan reckons will be 90% complete by the end of next week, will see outdated chargers swapped out with newer 120kW-capable ones. It’s a dual-connector DC fast charger, and supports architectures ranging from 150 V to 1 000 V — hugely outpacing the previous generation of old-school chargers.
This means a larger pool of EVs can now attend one of the chargers. Better yet, each of the new units features two CCS2 connectors, allowing the charger to intelligently allocate juice to vehicles. In theory, faster chargers should also mean more room for more drivers, assuming they don’t hog the thing too long. Should something need repairing, GridCars can now replace specific components, rather than taking the whole charger out of circulation.
Read More: The JAC T9 PHEV will unseat BYD’s Shark 6 as SA’s most powerful bakkie
As part of the refurbishment programme, GridCars reckons it’ll also improve the sites themselves. This means larger bays, longer cables, and wider turning angles. The idea being to support whatever new-fangled Chinese EV that’s hitting the roads daily. The company also said it would deploy entirely new chargers, expanding its reach across the country. This will be rolled out in phases, so as not to disrupt your charging habits.
“Refreshing the network is therefore not simply about replacing one charger with another. It is about preparing proven locations for the next decade of electric mobility,” said Jordaan. ” The South African EV market is showing real growth. More manufacturers are introducing vehicles and commercial fleets are planning their transition.”
