Nissan pushes for electric vehicles in Africa

JAPANESE vehicle manufacturer Nissan says it is making efforts to introduce electric vehicles into Zimbabwe and other African countries.
This comes as several automakers including BMW and Volkswagen are in talks to bring the electric-car revolution to the continent as part of a global switch to greener vehicles.
Linda Mazimhaka, Nissan’s regional manager for central and southern Africa region, said the company was already looking beyond Zimbabwe’s electricity and fuel shortages.
“The world has become so conscious of the environment and what a better way to move with the times than to embrace electric vehicles. What Zimbabwe is facing now – power crisis – is only temporary and the country will soon have enough electricity and infrastructure for the cars,” he said.
Mazimhaka noted that electric vehicles are relatively cheaper to maintain than conventional cars due to fewer parts involved in their structure.
In South Africa, the Nissan Leaf, which has sold over 400 000 units globally since its debut in 2010, has become a hit among motorists.

Industry experts are expecting a sharp increase in the uptake of electricity vehicles from 2020 onwards due to an increase in rural urban migration.
With urbanisation comes the need for better infrastructure, which will not only improve the economy but also prove to be an attractor for the use of electric vehicles. In 2018, Sweden launched the world’s first smart road which charges electric cars on the go. Such technological advances may advantage Africa with a leapfrog growth factor.
Energy minister Fortune Chasi said it was critical for Zimbabwe to come up with incentives to boost the manufacture and use of electric cars in the country.
“Now it’s the time to think about incentivising these developments, for instance through encouraging investment in electric cars,” he said.
“In some countries there is both traditional fuel and other forms of energy to power cars so we really need to begin to think about how we can encourage investment in electric cars. It will have its own challenge, no doubt like how long will it take to charge but those are extra issues, it’s like saying I can’t buy a car because there is no fuel.”
The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) is facilitating developments of policy guidelines for electric vehicles in the country. The authority is also developing standards for charging stations, most of which would be expected to be run from solar parks — less reliance on the grid — making the electric cars technology a truly renewable and energy efficient one.
“We are in the process of procuring a demonstration electric vehicle as a way of raising public awareness on the benefits of the technology as compared to the traditional internal combustion engine vehicles,” said Edington Mazambani, Zera’s acting chief executive.
“This is in line with the Zera mandate to promote energy efficiency and environmental protection. The technology will displace the polluting internal combustion engine vehicles with non-polluting electric vehicles’ (zero CO2 emissions),” he said.