The Pantry in Rosebank, Johannesburg was the Thursday, 3.30am assembly level for an epic, four-day, 2 200km street journey in electrical automobiles from Johannesburg to Cape City. And it bought off to a easy begin on day one, earlier than operating into hassle late within the afternoon.
The street journey – involving Naamsa – The Automotive Enterprise Council, Accenture, Woolworths, KPMG, the Industrial Growth Company, the UK’s International Commonwealth Growth Workplace, the Electrical Mission and Wesbank/FNB, is aimed toward bringing a spotlight to the challenges which may face EV house owners doing long-distance street journeys in South Africa. And, boy, did we run into issue on day one!
The day began nicely sufficient, till we reached Colesberg, a small city about 620km from Johannesburg and a well-liked stopover for motorists on the N1 as it’s roughly midway between Gauteng and the Western Cape. There are three direct present (DC) quick chargers within the city, however once we arrived at round 3pm on Thursday, all three have been giving hassle. Extra on this “Colesberg disaster” in a second.
Driving 5 EVs, the workforce of 13 folks collaborating within the street journey set off at 4.30am, en path to a public charging station in Ventersburg, a small city within the northern Free State.
The automobiles getting used on the street journey are the:
- Volvo XC40 (obtainable in South Africa)
- BMW iX (obtainable in South Africa)
- Mercedes-Benz EQE 350 (obtainable in South Africa)
- VW ID.4 (not launched in South Africa)
- BYD Seal (within the launch part in South Africa)
Not one of the automobiles gave any hassle on day one. Certainly, your correspondent spent a cushty first day within the Volvo XC40.
We reached Ventersburg, at 7.20am, the place we topped up the Volvo to 56% on a GridCars-operated 60kW DC fast-charger, giving us an estimated vary of simply over 200km. One other fast top-up in Bloemfontein, additionally at a DC charger, took would take us on to Gariep Dam for lunch, after which onto Colesberg.
We have been pleasantly stunned to find a (comparatively sluggish) alternating present (AC) charger at Gariep Dam (on the De Stijl Gariep Lodge), the place — whereas having (an excellent) lunch — we topped up the battery from 23% to 32% at a cost price of 11kW.
Sadly, once we have been prepared to depart, the AC charger refused to launch the charging cable from the Volvo, and a workforce from the lodge needed to be referred to as to open up the charging station with a screwdriver to be able to launch it. That value us about quarter-hour — nothing too severe.
After a brief drive over the magnificent Gariep dam wall, we proceeded to Colesberg (about 50km away), the place the plan was to cost all of the automobiles to at the very least 80% of their capability for the ultimate drive to Nieu-Bethesda, the place we’d in a single day.
On the japanese facet of city (on the method from Gariep Dam), an Astron filling station promised two DC quick chargers, however each have been on the fritz once we arrived. The RFID authentication on the show of the charging unit was giving an “invalid card” error.
Leaving two of the automobiles at Astron (the BMW and the Mercedes) to attempt to remedy the issue, the opposite automobiles – the Volvo, VW and BYD – proceeded to the Engen 1-Cease on the opposite facet of city, the place the slower AC charger labored however the one DC charger, which we wanted for the onward journey, refused to provoke the cost with any of the automobiles, regardless that it authenticated our charging playing cards.
After a prolonged name with GridCars buyer assist, we have been unable to resolve the difficulty and returned – with our batteries now operating near empty – to Astron on the opposite facet of city, the place GridCars had discovered a workaround with the 2 DC chargers. The answer was to supply a one-time Pin to bypass the cardboard authentication error.
However with a queue of EVs and solely two charging stations obtainable, it become a prolonged wait – and the prospect of an after-dark drive to Nieu-Bethesda down the N6. It did, nonetheless, provide your correspondent the chance to jot down this text and publish it.
A protracted night nonetheless lies forward. Extra will observe in Friday’s replace after we’ve (hopefully) had a superb night time’s relaxation in Nieu-Bethesda. Our subsequent leg will take us via Graaff-Reinet and on to Gqeberha. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media
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