Gerotek, Pretoria West
(Gauteng Province)
26February 2013
Programme Director;
Minister of Energy, Minister Dipuo Peters;
Councilor Petunia Mashaba, MMC from the
Tshwane Municipality;
Nissan South Africa Managing Director, Mr.
Mike Whitfield;
Representatives and leaders from the Departments
of Science and Technology, Trade and Industrý;
Representatives of the SA Bureau of Standard,
Eskom and the CSIR;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen
Thank you for the warm
welcome and greetings to you all, particularly
all the stakeholders and partners who have
worked so hard to make this green car project
a reality.
Today we launch a ground-breaking
multi stakeholder partnership project to
pilot, test and demonstrate the feasibility
and viability of electric vehicles under
South African conditions. This project is
not only about electric cars themselves
but also about what kind of supporting infrastructure,
such as battery charge stations, need to
be in place to enable a significant uptake
and use of electric cars in the country.
Therefore, although
the primary partners in this project are
the Department of Environmental Affairs
and Nissan South Africa – many other partners
also play an important part in making this
initiative a success, including the private
sector and other national and local government
role-players such as the Departments of
Trade and Industry, Transport, Energy, Science
and Technology, municipalities, South African
Revenue Services, ESKOM, other car manufacturers
and suppliers.
Programme Director,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The fundamental motivation
for embarking on this project is the urgent
need for South Africa to transition to a
job creating, sustainable, low carbon and
green economy as clearly outlined in the
National Development Plan.
This imperative is driven
by our need to ensure energy security and
reduce our reliance on imported oil, with
its ever rising prices. It is also driven
by our need to address the global climate
change crisis with its disastrous economic,
environmental, human health and social impacts.
It is driven by our need to become an efficient
and globally competitive economy. It is
driven by our need to develop and adopt
innovative technologies to grow new green
sectors in the economy as a foundation for
the creation of new and decent jobs in the
economy.
The automotive sector
is one of the major sources of greenhouse
gas emissions which result primarily from
the burning of fossil fuels, including petrol
and diesel. The transportation sector accounts
for 30 percent of carbon emissions in industrialized
economies and about 20 percent worldwide.
Globally, the sector is the third largest
contributor to air pollution.
The global fleet has
been growing at a rate of about 16 million
vehicles per year since 1970 and by 2025
is expected to reach 1 billion vehicles
on the road. Projections indicate that emissions
from vehicles will grow significantly in
line with the increasing global vehicle
demand.
The automotive industry
has responded to these challenges and cost
drivers with the development of new energy
efficient technologies and alternatives
to the internal combustion engine. Globally
electric vehicles have been on the rise
with China, USA, Japan, Korea and Europe
leading the race by launching strategies
to increase the share of Electric Vehicles
in their overall fleets. Leading automotive
industry experts forecast 10 percent of
total vehicles on the road will be Electric
Vehicles by 2020.
This green transition
in the automotive sector presents an enormous
opportunity. Currently, South Africa is
the 18th largest manufacturer of vehicles
in the world and represents 80 percent of
Africa's vehicle output, but only 0,6 percent
of the world market. Its’ significance to
the domestic economy is shown by the contribution
in 2010 of 6.2 percent to Gross Domestic
Product and employs more than 230 thousand
people in manufacturing, distribution as
well as the retail market.
The question is “what
proportion of this growing global green
automotive market will South Africa capture?”
Surely the first step is to develop and
grow this green car market domestically.
Programme Director,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As I have stated, the
transition to a low-carbon and sustainable
economy can create large numbers of green
jobs across many sectors of the economy,
and indeed can become an engine of development.
To this end the Government
has already put in place policies to enable
this transition that is pro-development,
pro-poor and pro-job creation. Beginning
with the National Development Plan we have
developed and are implementing the National
Climate Change Response Policy; the Department
of Public Enterprise launched its guideline
for the State Owned Enterprises to respond
positively to the challenges and opportunities
presented by climate change. The Department
of Trade and Industry has also gazetted
the Electric Vehicle Industry Strategy which
is meant to guide our investment as a country
in this emerging market that is integral
to our Green Economy – car manufacturing.
This Electric Vehicle
Industry Strategy prepares for the future
transition into design and production of
alternative propulsions systems in order
to maintain or increase South Africa’s global
market share in the automotive sector while
still responding to its commitment to decrease
its carbon footprint.
This strategy also informs
the roll-out of this Green Car partnership
we are launching today.
Programme Director,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to briefly
touch on some of the key elements of our
project, which is aimed at demonstrating
the capability and readiness for South Africa
to transition to a low carbon path in the
transport sector with the use of a combination
of renewable energy technology; state of
the art electric vehicles and a carbon neutral
offset mechanism.
Four Nissan LEAF test
cars will be placed at the Department of
Environmental Affairs disposal for usage
and testing in the initial phase of the
project, to be run over three years. The
LEAF, is the world’s first mass produced
electric vehicle, which will be launched
later this year in South Africa by Nissan
as the first car manufacturer to introduce
a 100 percent electric vehicle into the
country.
These electric cars
will be charged via charging stations which
have dual grid connections.
In addition, the department
has completed the first installation of
a 15 Kilowatt solar tracking device at its
new premises where its green building is
currently being constructed. This solar
tracker produces enough energy to charge
the electric cars as well as provided excess
clean renewable energy into the grid to
offset the carbon footprint of the construction
of its green building. Any carbon footprint
of the vehicle is thus neutralized through
the use of free solar energy generated by
the tracker. Where charging is required
overnight this is offset by the excess energy
that the trackers produce during the day.
The amount of electricity utilized for charging
and running of the vehicle is carefully
monitored and logged and is offset against
the amount of electricity generated by the
solar tracker.
It is envisaged that
in future, these tracking devices will be
installed on the major commuter routes for
the direct charging of vehicles in real
time. An e-transport location analysis which
will be conducted in partnership with other
government agencies, to inform the roll-out
of the solar-e-cars installation package
at key transportation and commuter hubs
country wide such as key government precincts,
Gautrain stations, OR Tambo, key commercial
centres and business districts.
Together with the renewable
energy charge stations, the E-cars will
be raising awareness of carbon neutral transportation
in South Africa. With the increase in urbanization
and a growing middle class in South Africa,
the demand for modern transportation to
support its urban lifestyle can be met by
the carbon neutral electric car option.
The electric car is slowly changing the
landscape of modern commuter transportation.
The future for urban
car ownership and driving is definitely
green.
Thanks a million times
for joining us as we drive the South African
economy towards a sustainable growth.
I thank you.
