While the electric vehicle (EV) market remains important to South Africa, there will be a good period of hybrid vehicles due to geographical challenges and the availability of coal resources.
So said science, technology and innovation minister, professor Blade Nzimande, speaking during a panel discussion at the 2025 World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting.
Led by president Cyril Ramaphosa, a South African delegation that included Nzimande attended the annual meeting that took place in Davos, Switzerland.
Nzimande participated in a panel discussion that focused on the EV supply chain, with labour activist and president of the AFL–CIO Elizabeth Shuler, Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm, and Chinese battery manufacturing company CATL’s Pan Jian also among the panellists.
Highlighting SA’s long automotive history, Nzimande expressed the industry is very important for SA, contributing 15% to the country’s gross domestic product.
The Southern African nation counts itself as a key hub for many Japanese, American and German car manufacturers, assembling over 600 000 cars per annum – half of which are exported, he stated.
The “fairly huge” industry employs about 160 000 people. Across the value chain, that figure stands at about 400 000 employees, he added.
“We are still fairly low in terms of EVs,” he said. “In 2024, we produced 1 000. These are very important cars, because they are the first real fully EVs in South Africa.
“We are estimating that South Africa's EV market is projected to reach $101 million this year. Now this growth is expected to continue at an annual average growth of 8.73%.”
Explaining why this is the case, the minister pointed the country’s electricity supply as a challenge. “But I’m very pleased that for over 300 days now we haven't had load-shedding in South Africa, we are stabilising our electricity, which is going to spur on the production of EVs.
“South Africa as a developing country, we might have a good period of hybrid vehicles because [of] the geographical spread in the country – rural areas – where there might not be immediate absorption of this.”
According to him, SA sells more than 1.2 million cars per annum. “Once we get into the EV market, we're going to be rapidly important.
“I'm also saying hybrid because…we have 300 years of coal in South Africa. It's a challenge that we have. [However], we are doing a lot of work in terms of producing clean coal to minimise carbon emissions. That may contribute to a period having hybrid cars, but we anticipate very quick transition.”
Estimates indicate that over 30 million new EVs are expected on the road in 2027.
Like the rest of the world, SA’s focus on new energy vehicles (NEVs) comes as automotive manufacturers accelerate the push towards EVs, in efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
NEVs utilise alternative energy sources instead of relying solely on traditional fossil fuels.
They are designed to be more environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on non-renewable resources.
To meet the current demands of the EV market, Nzimande revealed investing in the production of new battery technologies through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), together with one or two universities.
As part of the new battery technologies is also looking at energy storage capacity. “You can't just be looking at batteries without also looking at storage of some of the energy that we’re producing. As South Africa, we are doing quite a lot of important work as part of laying the foundation for EVs.
“We have the skills for assembling vehicles, we are investing in science, technology and innovation to be to support the industry.”
He also made the case for South Africa to serve as an entry point for the African continent for EV production, saying: “I have confidence that investing in the EV car auto market in South Africa is a good proposition, even where we are.
“We are likely in the continent to be among the top three countries that are likely to move fast in terms of EVs. We've also got relations with the rest of the continent in terms of auto assembly of vehicles.”
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