During the first two quarters of 2022, 205 fully-electric vehicles (EV) were sold in South Africa.
While this figure is dwarfed by the sales of petrol and diesel vehicles, it shows a positive uptrend in EV adoption by local car buyers.
Compared to the first six months of this year, a total of 218 EVs were sold in the country throughout the entirety of 2021, 92 EVs were sold in 2020, 154 in 2019, 58 in 2018, and 68 in 2017, according to Naamsa’s second-quarter business review.
If this trend continues for the remainder of 2022, we may very well see more than double the EV deliveries we did last year.
More proof of the accelerated shift to new-energy vehicles (NEV) in South Africa is a noticeable jump in the number of hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles that found new owners in 2022 in comparison to preceding years.
A total of 1,850 hybrids and 82 plug-in hybrids were sold between January and June 2022, considerably more than in 2021, hinting that more local car owners are starting to trade in their fossil-fuel-powered wheels for new-energy alternatives.
The following table, as provided by Naamsa, details the number of NEVs sold in South Africa from 2017 until now:
“The slowdown in momentum in sales during the second quarter of 2022, compared to the first quarter of 2022, could be attributed to the impact of the severe floods in KwaZulu-Natal on vehicle production and sales, logistical import, and export challenges at the Durban port as well as a weak economic climate,” said Naamsa.
Call to kickstart EV production in South Africa
In May 2021, the department of trade industry and competition (DTIC) published an Automotive Green Paper focused on the advancement of NEVs in South Africa.
“The Green Paper highlighted that the NEV challenge in South Africa is two-dimensional, encompassing both demand and supply side considerations, and that it is an inevitable transition for the South African automotive industry, as it will be the future driving technology adopted by the global automotive industry,” said Naamsa.
Although the local industry currently still enjoys substantial income from manufacturing internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, there have been many calls to also kickstart the production of EVs in the country so that the sector will not fall behind overseas competitors during the global shift to NEVs.
Naamsa previously said that the local economy stands to lose up to R201 billion in export earnings per year if it does not embrace NEV production, largely due to the phasing out of ICE vehicles in the UK and European Union, South Africa’s two largest automotive export destinations.
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