Electric vehicles and charging stations rolled out by South Africa’s Eskom will not result in cars that are ultimately powered by coal, even though the dirtiest fossil fuel dominates its generation capacity, according to the company’s chairman.
The pilot program announced Thursday will put 20 light delivery vehicles and trucks on the road, plus five sites across the country for the EVs to plug in.
The uptake of electric-powered cars by the utility supports government plans to increase their use and production, but raised questions on social media as Eskom still produces around 80% of its electricity from coal and has extended the lives of some plants to ensure security of supply.
When asked in a response to his LinkedIn post if the use of EVs would be too early in the company’s transition to low-carbon energy sources, Eskom Chair Mteto Nyati clarified that the charging stations are standalone and powered by renewables. He also responded in kind to sarcastic remarks among other complimentary comments.
The utility’s statement didn’t spell out that the stations would have their own independent clean-power source. Eskom didn’t immediately answer questions seeking comment.
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