Ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa delivering his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on February 12, electric vehicle (EV) charging company Zero Carbon Charge (CHARGE) has reiterated a call to act decisively on the country’s EV transition, particularly as inaction is holding back investment.

CHARGE previously warned Ramaphosa and national government that its continued inaction on the EV transition is actively undermining investment, energy security and economic growth.

The company explains that, despite more than three years of direct engagement, government has failed to articulate a credible plan for renewable-powered EV charging infrastructure or to provide practical steps toward an EV future.

The result has been a widening policy vacuum that threatens South Africa’s competitiveness in a rapidly electrifying global automotive market.

Automakers Volkswagen South Africa and BMW South Africa have also publicly warned that South Africa lacks clear policy direction and long-term planning for new-energy vehicles; however, these warnings have gone unheeded.

CHARGE says it has repeatedly written to Ramaphosa and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition in seeking leadership, coordination and support. “The silence is reflecting broad failure to treat the EV transition as a national priority rather than a future talking point,” the company adds.

CHARGE says South Africa cannot claim to support EV adoption while ignoring the infrastructure required to sustain it. The company points out that, in the country’s case, grid-connected chargers are not a long-term solution given chronic electricity shortages.

As EV uptake grows, grid-tied charging will simply increase pressure on an already failing system. Rather, a credible EV transition requires charging infrastructure that generates and stores its own power – renewable, resilient and independent from the grid.

In this regard, CHARGE is developing 120 fully offgrid solar-powered EV charging stations across South Africa, which will mark the first national network of its kind in the country and on the African continent.

The project is poised to deliver direct socioeconomic benefits, including income streams for landowners, education support and job creation in rural areas.

CHARGE started operating its first offgrid EV charging station on the N12 last year, with two additional stations set to unlock on the N3 corridor in May. This was made possible through investment from the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

Yet, CHARGE says its project has faced persistent obstruction rather than efforts to enable investment.

CHARGE has also successfully lobbied for Chinese EV manufacturers to enter the South African market, including to establish manufacturing plants and battery development facilities, but faces substantial challenges with government and South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral). 

For example, CHARGE claims Sanral has delayed regulatory feedback for more than 1 000 days and attempted to apply fuel-station tariffs to renewable-energy microgrids under the guise of “sweating assets”.

It further claims that Sanral is delaying the awarding of permits for CHARGE’s land-use applications, which is holding back plans to develop a national EV charging station policy that would realise billions worth of investment.

CHARGE believes this approach misclassifies clean energy infrastructure and sends a chilling signal to investors.

Moreover, CHARGE says there has been no meaningful engagement from Ministers responsible for Public Works and Infrastructure, Electricity, Agriculture or Forestry, Fisheries and the Environmental, despite each portfolio standing to benefit from renewable EV infrastructure.

“CHARGE is calling for immediate, practical action, including lower EV import tariffs to stimulate market adoption, the removal of red tape blocking EV and renewable infrastructure, the reintroduction and extension of the S12BA tax incentive to include EV charging equipment, targeted funding for EV and energy skills development, and accountability for State entities that quietly obstruct the transition,” says CHARGE co-founder Joubert Roux.

He concludes that South Africa cannot continue to invite private investment while simultaneously obstructing the infrastructure required to grow the economy. If government is serious about industrialisation, energy security and climate commitments, the EV transition cannot remain an afterthought in another SoNA speech.