June 11, 2020
THE WITNESS
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The end of ICE age Like paperclips and cheese slicers, car-selling trends in Europe’s far north coming to ‘Sefrika’ ALWYN VILJOEN
van. The petrol van drives further, delivering on average 105 km/day, at an average costs R2,16/km, compared to electric van, which drives on average 50 km/ day, at a cost of R0,83/km. “It’s really good and also profitable for fleet operators to switch to all-electric vans and enjoy all those very clean electrons with 93% of Kenya’s electricity coming from renewable energy sources,” Romano told Clean Tech.
NORWAY has given the world the paperclip, the cheese slicer, Thor (and his reincarnation Petter Solberg) as well as Vikings, so when car dealers there report they can no longer sell ICE cars, dealers in South Africa better take heed. For non-petrolheads, ICE stands for internal combustion engine, the tried and trusted, fossil fuel guzzling, air-polluting unit that the rest of world — including us in ‘Sefrika’, still use to move our vehicles. Norwegian dealers cannot give away ICE cars because buyers there want subsidised evees — or electric vehicles. They are spoiled for choice, with 28 evees to pick from, ranging from this year’s best-selling Audi e-tron (5 185 units) to the recently launched Mercedes-Benz eVito van (17 units). Motorists in southern Africa are not yet spoiled for choice when it comes to evees, but “halo cars” like the fullyelectric Jaguar I-Pace and BMW i3, as well as the much more affordable Nissan Leaf, herald the coming wave of evee offerings on our dealer floors. Much lower running costs Jaguar last week said in a statement the migration from internal combustion to purely electric motoring will require a shift in mindset for South African drivers, which behavioural adjustments will be made easier by the fuel savings. “The practice of topping up from your very own wall socket or dedicated wall box, most often while you sleep, is a tasty proposition and far more convenient than stopping to fill up while on the move as is necessary with traditional ICE,” Jaguar said. The I-Pace has a range of up to 470km, and Jaguar last year proved this by driving from Johannesburg to Durban. But at a starting price of R1,68 million, excluding the home charger that
South Africa is at least a decade behind when it comes to buying electric vehicles, but the unexpected clear skies that emerged during lockdown have made many more motorists aware of the benefits that the charge station on the left holds for their and the planet’s health, versus the drawbacks from the carcinogenic smog pump on the right. PHOTOS: ALWYN VILJOEN costs another R30 000, the I-Pace is clearly not yet aimed at the middle classes. Jaguar says the I-Pace would cost only around R180 to “fill up” at home, working on an average electricity cost of R2 per kW/h. Using these figures the cost of driving an I-Pace works out to roughly 38
cents per kilometre, about half that of a comparable V6 diesel engine, Jaguar said. The Nissan Leaf, which has a woeful range compared to the I-Pace, has become the budget buyers’ choice around the world, with 2 604 sales in Norway this year. Nissan’s lower prices for its electric
offerings is also why Drivelectric in Kenya, the first company there to provides e-mobility solutions, has leased an all-electric Nissan e-NV200 to GreenSpoon, Kenya’s first artisan online food store, since November 2019. Drivelectric’s founder, Francis Romano, reported the electric van is some 60% cheaper to run than the petrol
Converting ICE to Evee Meanwhile, more mechanics and enterprising car owners who don’t want to add their exhaust fumes to our lungs are either adding electric motors to their fossil fuel vehicles, or replacing the entire fuel drivetrain with an all electric unit. Your humble scribe did the latter to an old Daewoo Matiz with much help from meister mechanic Jens Denk. Denk is now in Namibia, where he and three partners have registered Electric Vehicles Namibia to cheaply convert bakkies and small cars into hybrid or full electric vehicles — and all of them solar powered. Pioneering Namibian company eBikes4Africa are meanwhile steadily growing their network of solar powered charging stations that power affordable fat-tyre electric bicycles at a price that Namibia’s indigent rural population can afford. South Africa’s dealers do not have to rush into changing their show rooms to offer electric cars. We are at least a decade behind when it comes to buying electric vehicles, but the unexpected benefit of clear skies that emerged during lockdown has made many more motorists aware of just how polluting our cars are. The change is coming, and forewarned is forearmed for our local dealers. • alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za
Change laws to cut SA’s high road fatalities, says AA
Pertunia Sibanyoni, CEO of InspectaCar.
NEW DIGITAL SERVICES WESBANK and Ford have adapted their websites to better serve customers at home. Wesbank’s InspectaCar franchise now allows private individuals to sell their own vehicle via a newly created portal. Wesbank said in a statement all the seller needs to do is complete a list of requirements on the online form, upload a photo of the vehicle and the digital process facilitates the rest. “InspectaCar dealers are committed to providing a wide choice of quality pre-owned cars, in a safe and hygienic environment, by using the latest technologies to allow them to transact digitally, ensuring that their experience is convenient and seamless,” says Pertunia Sibanyoni, CEO of InspectaCar. Ford meanwhile launched ‘Ask Ford’ on the www.ford.co.za website, The self-service tool uses artificial narrow intelligence technology to answer customers’ questions using Ford’s systems, owner’s manuals or Ford websites. Ford said the system delivers results “far beyond the reaches of standard search engines”. Ask Ford can be easily accessed via the magnifying glass icon on the Ford website A survey is incorporated into the Ask Ford page, giving users the opportunity to select a star rating and provide feedback so the system can be improved. Ask Ford is an intelligent system that learns through each use about related topics, and how best to provide relevant answers. This enables Ford to continually improve the user experience, Ford said. — WR.
WHILE road fatalities in 2019 declined by three percent on those of 2018, the total number of deaths on South African roads is still far too high, and will remain a problem until government urgently intervenes. This is according to the Automobile Association (AA) in its annual review of the road fatality statistics released by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) in late May. “The official figures show 12 503 people died on South African roads in 2019 compared to 12 921 in 2018. An improvement, to be sure, but still way too high, particularly given that vehicle safety technology and other mitigating instruments are available which can reduce this figure dramatically. “We have now reached a point where we can no longer plan for safer roads, action is needed, and needed urgently,” says the AA. The association says among the interventions government can implement now are: · Obtaining International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) star ratings of all roads in South Africa. · Instituting mandatory safety ratings on all new vehicles sold in the country.
· Urgently reviewing and revising safety regulations for new vehicles in South Africa. · Introducing regulations that require ABS, ESC and two airbags as minimum safety standards on new vehicles. · Festive season policing all year long. · Drink driving weekend blitzes. · More focus on moving violations and better policing of child restraint usage, illegal device usage while driving, and speeding. · Re-introducing road safety education and driver training in schools. · Introducing a 30 km/h speed limit in areas near schools. “Of particular concern is the fact that 40% of all fatalities are pedestrians, more or less the same percentage as in the previous 10 years. This indicates that not enough is being done to provide adequate resources to those walking on roads, and that not enough is being done in terms of road safety education of both drivers and pedestrians. We would like to see pedestrian safety education embraced with as much as vigour as Covid-19 education currently, specifically at those points where pedestrians congregate,” notes the association.
It says given the current state of affairs, South Africa has little chance of meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) of halving road deaths and injuries by 2030. “The trajectory of road fatalities in South Africa may be declining but they are declining at such a slow rate that it will be impossible to meet these targets in 10 years’ time. If, for instance, road fatalities decrease by three percent year-on-year for the next decade, only a 28% reduction will be achieved, which is simply not good enough,” says the AA. Based on the current fatality figures, 132 485 people have died on South African roads since 2010. “This is a national tragedy, a catastrophe of untold magnitude. Importantly, though, one must not only look at these numbers for the full story. They do not tell you of the countless families which have been destroyed and the financial devastation these deaths have caused. The RTMC puts the cost of crashes at around R165 billion annually; we would venture that this figure is way higher,” says the AA. The AA also notes that the Minister
of Transport, Fikile Mbalula, in January stated that there had been a 10% reduction in road fatalities over the 2019/2020 December festive period. “These official statistics do not support the enthusiasm at the time of perceived lower death rates on our roads. Instead they should serve as a stark warning that unless serious measures are taken to deal with fatal road crashes and deaths, our fatality numbers will continue to remain high despite the fact that proven local and international tools are available to curb them,” says the AA. The association also warns that fatality figures for 2020 will be significantly lower given the decreased traffic volumes during the national lockdown as a result of Covid-19. “Travel has been severely impacted by the lockdown, and even though the country has moved to Level 3; for some time it’s unlikely the volumes will be close to what they usually are. “We should keep this in mind when the 2020 annual figures are released. We should not be deceived by the inevitable decreases; they will tell one story, but not give the entire picture,” the AA said. — WR.
Cut fleet management costs with driver training ECONOMISTS predict the economy will take over a year to recover from the financial challenges created by Covid-19. Many businesses have had to make difficult decisions when it comes to cutting costs. Fleet managers, in particular, need to assess every part of their fleet to determine where costs can be cut. Managing director of MasterDrive, Eugene Herbert, said training can reduce fleet costs in three of the top 10 most expensive categories of expenses; driver downtime, vehicle downtime and the expense and difficulty associated with obtaining new parts. “An effective safety management programme is of utmost importance in a well-run fleet. When training is part of this it will result in a number of benefits and reductions in expenses. Training will reduce the cost associated with accidents and consequently injuries. Cost of insurance can be reduced as you will become a low-risk company and some insurance providers offer a reduction in fees if you send your drivers for
This social media photo shows truckers having fun while waiting for the tow rig. Driver training reduces crashes, says Master Drive. training. Trained drivers will complete their job more effectively and therefore have higher productivity rates.
Lastly, by investing in your employees you improve retention as you show drivers that you care about their
well-being and growth. If this does not convince you, there is a simple method to determine the cost. “To get a quick idea of just how much crashes cost, work out the expense of all your crashes in one year and multiply it by your percentage profit margin. The final figure that you arrive at would then be how much extra revenue you need to make in sales in order to cover the costs of the crashes. “If your crashes cost you a modest R100 000 per year and you have a profit margin of 10%, you need to generate an additional R1 million worth of sales revenue to cover this cost. This is a very conservative example. Realistically, numerous truck crashes, for example, can soar into the millions. The loss of cargo, injury to the driver, the damage to the vehicle, clean-up costs and many other expenses means truck crashes can equal much more than R100 000.” “The most important way in which to reduce the number of truck crashes is by training your drivers,” said Herbert. — WR.
Pandemic leads to indefinite postponement of Aarto roll-out
Simo Zitha (left) and Caster Sithole at Battery Centre in Pietermaritzburg have seen a lot of dead batteries in the past weeks because of lockdown parking. Sithole shows a smart battery charger, which he advises is the best investment you can make to keep the expensive battery charged. PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN
Flat batteries everywhere THE worst thing you can do to a modern lead battery is not to use it, as a lot of people have been doing during lockdown. SA’s most popular SUV, the Toyota Fortuner, loses almost 20% of its battery charge in four days while standing. Older batteries drop their charge faster on cold days. This means four weeks’ standing will drain a battery. The second worst thing you can do — as many people also did — is to idle the parked vehicle for a few minutes once a week, as the charge required to turn the starter motor has to come from the battery and new cars need to drive for about 15 minutes for the alternator to replace this charge. A few minutes of idling in the garage only adds to air pollution and repeating this exercise every few weeks will drop the charge that much faster to zero. See batteries like balloons In layman’s terms, the battery like is balloon made from strong rubber. Once fully deflated, it is initially easy to inflate a little bit, but as the air pressure builds up inside the balloon, the inflater’s cheek muscles have to work a lot harder to force air into the balloon. In this analogy, the average car alternator has weak cheeks that can only “blow” out a relatively low amperage, like a baby trying to inflate a bicycle tyre by blowing into it. As soon as the voltage in the flat battery is higher than the average car alternator’s abilities, that alternator will not charge the battery any further, as it cannot increase its amperage. Some bakkies and most trucks have another problem — their alternators are too strong and will continue forcing current into a battery to the point where it starts smoking. This is when the battery owner storms into a battery shop and demands a new battery, only to be pointed to the line at the bottom of the invoice, which states in bold print, “warranty does not cover flat battery”. Witness Wheels spoke to Simo Zitha and Caster Sithole at Battery Centre in Pietermaritzburg who have seen several such irate customers in the past weeks, and they say there is a solution to the problem. Trickle charge is the answer Sithole said the best thing vehicle owners can do for batteries that are parked for weeks at a time is to invest in a smart trickle charger, which sells for less than R500. Zitha agreed this is the best investment you can make to keep the expensive battery charged, adding the trickle charger will even resuscitate dead batteries, as it sends current at constant amps into any size battery, be it for cars or trucks, but stops when the battery is full. Meanwhile, most battery shops are doing their best to help customers by trickle charging their dead batteries overnight while lending their customers a battery. We recommend vehicle owners with flat batteries make use of this service, but please, ask the staff, don’t steal our batteries! • alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za
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THE roll-out of the Administrative Adjudication of Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act has been postponed from its June date due to the outbreak of Covid-19. Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula said that the roll-out of the Aarto Act has been postponed indefintely. Because of the pandemic, the Road Traffic Infringement Agency, which is responsible
for Aarto, has experienced financial problems and cannot fund the roll-out. Mbalula’s spokesperson Ayanda-Allie Paine (pictured) said the agency didn’t have the capacity to move forward at this stage. “The entity is not in a position at this stage to successfully conduct that national roll-out of Aarto. The situation will be reviewed in due course
for further determination to when the roll-out date will be promulgated,” she said. In KwaZulu-Natal, meanwhile, vehicle test stations and registration centres that remained closed last week are slowly opening as allowed by inspections of their readiness to prevent the spread of Covid-19. — WR.
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