Zero Carbon Charge (ZCC) has inked a R1-billion deal to bring new 480kW electric-car “superchargers” to South Africa.
The South African company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chinese energy storage systems manufacturer Shanghai Magic Power Tech (otherwise referred to as Magic Power) and its local partner Greencore Energy Solutions to import and build the first-of-its-kind charging stations around the country.
The superchargers will be installed at the 120 renewable charging stations that are already being built by ZCC and will be able to replenish any electric vehicle (EV) at its maximum rate.
At present, the most powerful EV charger in the country is an Audi-branded 200kW station at the Mall of Africa in Gauteng, Tesla’s superchargers only go up to 350kW at select locations in Europe and the US, and the “world’s fastest car charger” produced by ABB only does 380kW.
Therefore, these ZCC superchargers will be a massive step forward for South Africa’s EV infrastructure.
Laying the groundwork for the future
Zero Carbon Charge has been spearheading a plan to develop South Africa’s charging network in preparation for the day when EVs constitute the majority of the country’s transport, and has already started construction on the first of its 120 planned top-up stations in Wolmaransstad in North West province.
These stations are situated at 150km intervals along major routes and boast features such as farm stalls at every location – with owners of the land on which the chargers are installed also benefitting from them, even if they don’t drive an EV themselves.
The ZCC stations are all powered by renewable energy in the form of solar panels with lithium-ion phosphate batteries, ensuring that these sites are off the grid and therefore unaffected by load-shedding.
You can see a map of the company’s planned locations below:
The incorporation of these new superchargers is the result of ZCC’s visit to China at the end of 2023 in an effort to source the latest solutions for a national off-grid charging network, as China currently is one of the leading adopters of electric transport.
The 480kW liquid-cooled superchargers are scheduled to arrive in South Africa in the next six months and will integrate seamlessly with the solar panel and battery setup planned for each station.
“The first batch of superchargers is expected to arrive in South Africa before July which means that – pending regulatory approvals – we are on track to have our full network of 120 solar-powered charging facilities operational by September 2025,” said ZCC co-founder and director, Joubert Roux.
The company has stated that the national government’s draft Integrated Resource Plan 2023 shows that the country’s predominantly coal-powered grid will not be able to cope with the demands of mass EV charging, which is why it is critical to establish off-grid charging stations, stabilize the national grid and end load shedding.
Furthermore, if South Africa intends to meet its global emissions targets, renewable energy must be used to power its EV, as a car charged with Eskom’s coal-fired electricity produces 5.4 metric tonnes of carbon emissions in a year.
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