What No One Tells You When Buying an Electric Car in Nelson Mandela Bay

Buying an EV is one of the more exciting purchases that one can make these days – the promise of cheaper, quieter driving and envious looks from neighbours, peers and assorted rabble is a heady concoction driving many to put pen to paper.

Drivers are getting over range anxiety as most EV’s are supplied with a Wall Mounted Charger and the national charging network is on a steep growth path.

The absolute mind boggling thing is that instead of heading to one’s closest petrol station you can park at home (or at friend) and charge your vehicle whilst safely locked away in your garage and fill up at prices ranging from R2.00 to R4.50 per kilowatt. Of course if you also have solar installed on your premises that cost of a fill up can be below R0.70 per kilowatt and up to R2.40 per kilowatt depending on how large your back up battery back up is on your premises.

Aside from getting used to silent driving, blistering acceleration and those now audible bumps and squeaks that one never hears from a combustion engined vehicle here are a few more things that you need to know:

Your Dealer Supplied Electric Vehicle Charger will probably be installed by Straton Electrical who have an impressive pedigree and list of happy clients.
You will save even more money as a kilowatt of electricity is not taxed in the same way as a liter of fuel. Typically one liter of fuel (asof today) costs R12.15 BEFORE Government Levy (R3.96), Road Accident Fund Levy (R2.18), Distribution and Retail Costs (R2.00) and Retail Margin (around R1.00). So, even if all taxes are stripped away from petrol you will still save money as an EV Owner.
EV Owners do NOT pay government taxes/levies nor transport/distribution/retail margins when topping up with electricity.
You will probably be motivated to install a home Solar System in order to really save on charging your EV Battery with cheap power and, eventually, take advantage to Vehicle to Grid technology.
With a Wallbox Smart Charger you can expect one hour of charge to add between 40 km (7.4 kW) and 120 km (22 kW) of range.

More essential tips: When commissioning an electrician to do your installation check that the electrician is registered, has experience with Solar Systems as well as EV Chargers and always insist on a supplementary to be added to your existing Certificate of Compliance.

Connect and control with the Wallbox app. One app. Everything you need to charge smart.