3,000km EV Road Trip From Johannesburg To Simola Hillclimb To Raise EV Awareness In South Africa

South Africa is lagging behind its peers and similar markets when it comes to EV adoption. A number of factors have contributed to this, including the limited variety of battery-electric (BEV) models in the country, coupled with the high import duties and taxes levied on electric vehicles. This means most of the vehicles available in the global market would end up being quite expensive compared to their equivalent ICE vehicles if they were introduced in South Africa. This price difference would be more prominent in the smaller vehicle segments, making it a bit challenging to sell those EVs to the wider customer base.

Taxes in South Africa are set at 18% for ICE imports vs 25% for EV imports. There is also the ad valorem tax for EVs which pushes the cost of an EV to more than 2X that of the average price of a new ICE vehicle of a similar make/model in most cases. This is probably why the majority of EV models in South Africa are the more premium models where the pricing is more competitive than in the smaller vehicle segment.

Things are starting to change, and several more affordable models have been launched, including the BYD Dolphin, as well as EVs competitively priced compared to their ICE equivalents. One of these competitively priced EVs is the Volvo EX30. The Volvo EX30 is South Africa’s bestselling BEV, taking 32,3% of the  BEV market in 2024.

In order to catalyze adoption and help South Africa catch up with countries where adoption is more advanced, it is extremely important for South Africa to have programs and initiatives promoting electric mobility to help raise awareness in the country. This is what Ryan Jarret is attempting to do as he drives around various popular routes in South Africa in electric vehicles to showcase how easy it is now to drive electric across the country. His latest trip was a 3,000 km roundtrip from Johannesburg to the Simola Hillclimb challenge in a Volvo EX 30.

“We had the idea to take an electric vehicle down to Knysna for the Simola Hillclimb and try cover what electric vehicles were competing, I’ve always been super interested in checking it out and seeing what the event was all about. Setting off on the Thursday from Johannesburg just before 6am, charging at 3 places along the way as I got to Nieu Bethesda in the afternoon. Day 1 saw me cover a little over 800km and 4 provinces traveling for about 10hrs including charging stops. Traveling at a leisurely pace on the Friday morning, I arrived in Knysna at about 2pm, seeing the 5th province in 2 days cruising through different biomes and environments from open semi desert to lush tropical rainforest. The next 2 days were spent at the event witnessing a few South African firsts and EVs featuring in the top 5 of the fastest cars up the hill. It then came time to come home, this would be over 2 days of similar stretches, but I would take the scenic route through Jeffreys bay and Gqeberha up through Jansenville, through Graaf Reniet and into Nieu Bethesda in the eastern cape. On the last day I got an early start and made my way back, stopping in Colesburg, Bloemfontein, and Venterburg for charging, coffee, and lunch stops. After 816km, I would arrive back home in Johannesburg with plenty of time to walk the dog.” You can find out more about Ryan’s trip in this video.

Images courtesy of Ryan Jarrett