This South African-made electric car is coming back to the roads

The Optimal Energy Joule is making a comeback after nearly 13 years, but probably not in the way you think it is.

E-mobility firm Rubicon is in the process of acquiring two of the last remaining prototypes of the Joule with only one of them earmarked to be registered and put back on the roads.

Only four examples of South Africa’s first electric vehicle (EV) were ever produced between 2005 and 2009. Over the years, one of these have been dismantled while three remain intact to this day and in possession of the uYilo e-mobility programme at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

Rubicon’s Greg Blandford told MyBroadband that on a recent trip to the university, he noticed that the three EVs were still standing there gathering dust, no longer drivable but still very much recoverable.

Blandford subsequently made an offer to the institution to acquire at least two of the units, which it accepted.

One of these will now undergo a cosmetic restoration to be as close to the original Joule as possible and will be displayed to visitors at Rubicon’s Cape Town offices.

The remaining one will be returned to working order with fresh parts and fluids as well as receive a comprehensive interior upgrade.

It will duly be used to increase public awareness around EVs and their benefits. Interestingly, it will only be able to travel on “B-roads” under a special licence from the Department of Transport.

All four Optimal Energy Joule prototypes. Credit: Gerhard Swart

The riveting rise and dramatic downfall of the Joule

The Joule was one of the first EVs the world had ever seen, being far ahead of its time when it was developed some two decades ago. At the time, the only other automaker competing in this space was Nissan with its renowned Leaf.

Optimal Energy was co-founded by Kobus Meiring, Mike Lomberg, Jian Swiegers, and Gerhard Swart in 2005 from the realisation that internal combustion engines would not be environmentally sustainable forever.

The forward-thinking visionaries set out to produce the Joule and managed to hand-build three prototypes in three years, just in time for the Paris Motor Show in 2008.

Here, it gained widespread praise for its cutting-edge tech, which included a 36kWh lithium-ion battery with a real-world range of about 220km, which blew the Leaf’s claimed range of 117-172km – which in reality was closer to 80km – out of the water.

Another highlight was its electric motor with 70kW and 250Nm which propelled the Joule to 60km/h in roughly five seconds and 100km/h in under 14 seconds. It also boasted a top speed of 135km/h, all stellar numbers for an EV of the time.

Additionally, it was penned by South African-born Keith Helfet which is famous for machines such as the iconic Jaguar XJ220, the lesser-known XJ180, and the F-Type concept.

Looking closely, perhaps with one eye shut, one can see a faint resemblance between all these cars and the Joule.

The interior stunned, too, featuring a fully digital driver’s display, a touchscreen infotainment system, and a minimal gear selector akin to one you’ll find on an EV of today.

It was once again showcased at the Geneva Motor Show in 2010 where it garnered similar attention and praise, however, this is when things started to go awry.

Motoring industry veteran and former Joule engineer Nicol Louw told to cars.co.za that the enthusiasm behind Optimal Energy’s creation was the very thing that led to its downfall.

At the height of the project, Optimal Energy employed approximately 100 people roughly half of which were engineers, including incredible talent that once worked on Denel’s Rooivalk attack helicopter and the South African Large Telescope.

Louw explained that the company initially set out to build 10-20 cars per annum with the bulk of these going to government and driven by politicians and other officials.

This would have allowed it to slowly and steadily expand operations whilst garnering support and interest in the locally built Joule.

However, the Joule’s headline-grabbing appearances at the 2008 and 2010 motor shows convinced the company that there was enough demand to build an astounding 50,000 cars a year.

Optimal Energy initially budgeted R1 million per car, translating to R55 million to R65 million in total investment, however, with its sights now set on 50,000 units, it required a mindboggling R9 billion of capital.

It surmised that it would be able to sell one Joule for R300,000, or R245,000 when leasing the battery pack to the buyer.

For reference, Elon Musk’s Tesla received $465 million in funding from the US Department of Energy in 2010, worth roughly R8.8 billion at the time.

Optimal Energy aimed to kickstart production in 2012, but the company never made it that far.

The South African government wasn’t sold on the idea of pumping R9 billion into a greenfield EV project.

“They basically said if this was a commercially viable project, Optimal Energy should be able to get funding for it from elsewhere,” Louw explained.

The EV maker subsequently approached manufactures such as Jaguar Land Rover and Tata with the investment opportunity, which agreed on a small cash injection.

As the company set out to establish its operations and get the production line running, funding slowly dried up and the engineers were tasked with smaller projects to keep themselves busy while the moneymen went out looking for more investors.

Ultimately, they couldn’t find anyone willing to flip the bill, and Optimal Energy shuttered its doors before its first production model rolled of the assembly line.

“Looking back, it is always easier to criticise. Back then, it looked like we were guns blazing,” concluded Louw.

“If we stuck to the small number of vehicles, I think that it could have worked with a small hand-built plant.”

Headline image credit: Alexander Plushev, Flickr