As the 7th administration Eastern Cape government undertook to “Taking the Legislature to the People’’ from 21 to 25 October 2024, members of the Legislature handed over legacy projects to communities. This campaign culminated to the officiation of the Electric Vehicle Charging station that is in Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium by the MEC of Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs, and Tourism, Ms Nonkqubela Pieters on the 25th of October 2024.
A profound shift in the global automotive landscape coming with massive technological advancements has forced the provincial leadership to rethink how they view the automotive sector holistically. The province accounts for 46% of vehicle production and a whooping 56% of vehicle exports simultaneously.
As the leadership ambitiously lobbies for the National Department of Transport to consider investing in electric vehicles when it procures government fleet for MECs, Premiere’s and speakers, it is also actively investing in EV Charging stations to enable seamless e-mobility.
“We want our environment to be selfishly conductive for the investors we are attracting to come and nest in the province. The government is focused on promoting Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in East London and Gqeberha. We want to ensure investors also have access to a talented workforce.
Hence, through the work of our agencies, we are vehemently advocating for an enabling environment for investment into our province’’ - said MEC Pieters.
Through the Automotive Industry Development Centre Eastern Cape (AIDC-EC), the provincial government is also prioritising people. This means working with TVET colleges and universities to influence the shape of their curriculum and steering students towards engineering studies and related fields.
‘’With this approach, the intention here is for investors to be overwhelmed by an influx of skills because we do not want to import skills at all’’, added Pieters.
According to AIDC-EC CEO, Mr Thabo Shenxane, the Eastern Cape has the best EV charging facilities. This was echoed at the South African Auto Week recently held in Cape Town hosted by The Automotive Business Council of South Africa (naamsa) as the automotive sector in the country celebrated 100 years of its existence.
‘’Most charging stations across the country have just 30 kilowatts of capacity. Whereas the AIDC-EC powered EV charging stations have 150 kilowatts capacity. As such, when the executive team from naamsa embarked on a road trip from Cape Town across the country driving EVs, we had 5 EVs charging here at the stadium using this charger Thereafter, they lauded our charging facility as the best in the country of South Africa’’, said Shenxane.
This was the 4th launch of AIDC-EC's multi-phased roll-out initiative to support and encourage the adoption of electric vehicles and promote beneficiation in the region.
The EV Chargers have been rolled out since May this year, at Dan's Country Lodge in Libode - OR Tambo District, Virgin Active, East London - Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, and Tsitsikamma in Sarah Baartman District respectively.
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