Big four-month upgrade for South Africa’s busiest highway

Following the recent rollout of its off-grid, solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging network on the N3, Zero Carbon Charge (Charge) is already planning to double each station’s capacity and also expand to the N1.

The planned upgrade will increase capacity from 360kW to 720kW, allowing the system to direct up to 600kW to a single connector, for vehicles and commercial trucks to charge simultaneously at higher power.

According to the company, the upgrade will also future-proof its network against the introduction of next-generation 800-volt vehicles and lay the groundwork for a move towards megawatt-level charging.

“When we launched these hubs in May, we built them to accommodate today’s vehicles while leaving room to grow,” said Joubert Roux, Charge Co-Founder and Chair.

“Within three months, demand from customers driving both passenger and commercial vehicles has made it clear that we need to bring that growth forward.”

The expansion is in line with the rise in EV sales in South Africa, with the latest Naamsa data indicating that electrified vehicle sales now account for 6% of new light vehicle sales and NEV sales growing 500% in a year.

“This is a recognised tipping point in market penetration. More EVs on the road means greater demand for charging, and the infrastructure needs to keep pace,” he added.

Once the station upgrades are complete, up to six vehicles simultaneously charging will have access to at least 120kW each, adding approximately 150km of range in 15 minutes, depending on their efficiency.

400kW charging could increase that to roughly 500km over the same period, while an electric truck can add approximately 75km in 15 minutes on a 500kW charger.

Beyond charging capacity improvements, Charge will improve solar capacity at each site by around 68%, from 280kWp to 470kWp, and increase battery storage by 117%, from 645kWh to 1.4MWh.

“The additional storage will help bank renewable energy and support high-power, off-grid charging when solar production is insufficient,” the company said.

Generating gigawatts of EV charging every year

Once upgraded, the two Charge Hubs will have the potential to generate around 1.6GWh of renewable energy annually, which will be enough to support around 8 million passenger-vehicle or 940,000 heavy-truck kilometres per year.

This equates to close to 6,900 passenger-vehicle return trips or 810 heavy-truck return trips annually along the N3.

Charge estimates that increased solar generation could also avoid 585 tonnes of carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions each year, boosting the hubs’ total emissions avoidance to around 1,450 tonnes annually.

“It’s not only about how many electric vehicles are on the road. It’s about displacing imported diesel and petrol with energy we generate here, and building the kind of energy resilience that comes with it,” said Roux.

“These sites will save 800,000 litres of fuel directly, most of it imported. That is the advantage of off-grid, renewable-powered infrastructure.”

According to electrified commercial freight operator Zimi, the upgrade will be a boost for operators that make use of the corridor.

“High-speed, green charging capacity is what transforms electric freight from a pilot project into a competitive edge,” said Michael Maas, CEO and Co-founder of Zimi.

“This N3 upgrade ensures our clients’ electric trucks and vehicles stay fully charged and on schedule, proving that zero-emission transport on South Africa’s busiest freight route is now a reality.”

Charge expects to complete the expanded capacity upgrades before the end of the year and will follow it up with a major rollout along the N1, which will be built with megawatt-level charging capacity from the start.

“The N3 has shown us what happens when the infrastructure is ready before the demand fully arrives. We expect exactly the same story to play out on the N1 – and we’re already planning for it,” concluded Roux.