By Faridat Salifu
German automaker, Mercedes-Benz, has called on the South African authorities to expedite the advancement of electromobility as a means of participating in the worldwide energy shift.
It said for South Africa to increase demand for electric vehicles, regulations must be implemented swiftly.
The call was made by the joint managing director of Mercedes-Benz’s local affiliate, the German automaker.
Mercedes-Benz already sells a number of electric “EQ” vehicles with four to seven seats that can be charged at designated public recharging stations using clean energy.
Its competitors in this market in South Africa include American Ford and Japanese automakers Toyota, Nissan, and Isuzu.
An official of the Mercedes-Benz Cars in South Africa, Mark Raine, in a recent statement, asserted that there is no time to delay in accelerating electromobility, especially in light of the ongoing energy crisis that the Rainbow Nation is currently experiencing.
“It is imperative that a concrete e-mobility policy be put into place as soon as feasible. With creative solutions, it would facilitate the car industry’s unavoidable progression toward the energy transition.
“The car company is actually exerting pressure on the South African government since it exports the majority of its 90% combustion-powered vehicle production in East London (a province in the Eastern Cape) to Europe. Part of the European Union’s (EU) Green Pact will prohibit these gasoline-powered vehicles from being driven on the Old Continent. Like the majority of other global automakers, Mercedes-Benz wishes to expand its range of all-electric vehicles”, Raine said.
The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers South Africa (NAAMSA) projects that the automobile industry will contribute 7% of the country’s GDP in 2019.