November 4, 2021
THE WITNESS
Future transport jobs Current transport trends show long careers for diesel mechanics and fuel-to-evee converters ALWYN VILJOEN With 20 cities in 14 countries planning to ban fossil fuel drivetrains in favour of electric motors — from as early as 2025 in the case of Norway — local mechanics are asking how much longer they will have a job? The short answer is that both diesel and petrol mechanics can look forward to long careers, albeit with a bit more focus. With electric drivetrains getting smaller and cheaper, petrol mechanics can expect many clients who want to replace the expensive fossil fuel drivetrains in cars and bikes with more powerful, much cheaper-to-operate electric motors and battery packs. This demand for conversions will be driven by three factors: • increasingly expensive fuel; • plummeting costs for solar, wind and • battery systems; and the low ownership costs of evees.
A long future for diesels Diesel mechanics have even less to worry about as far as their careers are concerned, but in their case the focus will not so much change, as broaden to include biodiesel, gas and hydrogen conversions. The reason lies in the shortcomings of batteries that cannot as yet match diesel’s energy dense, low mass properties to power heavy load carriers for
The 1978 Ford F100 Eluminator shows what future petrol mechanics will do a lot of — removing the fossilfuel-burning engine and installing in its place an electric motors that makes 353 kW (480 hp) 860 Nm in this bakkie. long distances in developing markets. Fleet owners make their profits in payloads and see no cost benefit in reducing this payload to fit the extra weight of enough batteries to power a 30-ton truck into Africa. As long as refineries pump out high grade 50 PPM diesel, they will use diesel to power trucks around the world. But when refineries start to scale down their diesel production to meet less demand from Europe, the price for diesel will go up ever higher, which is when diesel mechanics will rediscover the clean-burning, if less energy-dense properties of biofuels. Brazilians have long turned the leftover bagasse from sugarcane into biofuel for petrol cars. In the U.S. soybeans are the main source of biofuel, in the Southeast and East Asia palm oil is used, while Euro-
peans prefer to trans-esterify rapeseed oil into biofuel. Dagga diesel the biggest dream Having spoken at length on the topic at a Smarter Mobility conference, this humble scribe hopes South Africa can grow its own biodiesel in the form of hemp. Imagine the annual Reed Dance turning into a monthly Weed Dance, with rural women delivering bundles of locally grown hemp to co-op refineries to turn into fuel. The billions we currently send overseas to pay for increasingly expensive diesel each month, will instead boost local economies. This is part of the vision the North West government dream about, but instead of moving to an economy where SA grows its own fuel, the Department of Agriculture last week removed all the hemp
growing permits from its website, as various bureaucrats in government bump heads on what is hemp, what is dagga, and who should be allowed to grow it. While South Africa’s government continues to dither on regulating hemp and cannabis farming in Mzansi, vehicle builders are amping up to go all electric. Volkswagen’s aims to introduce an all-electric ID.4 test fleet in SA in 2022 to test drivers’ reactions. Both the plants of Toyota and Mercedes-Benz are ready to send hybrid or full electric cars off the assembly lines. At Volvo Trucks’ assembly plant in Umbogintwini south of Durban, the plan is to build electric trucks for SA’s roads in the next two years. This means a lot of batteries will need to be recycled in a few years, creating an enormous new industry.
INDUSTRY BRIEFS In exciting news for supercar fans, Rimac Automobili has officially joined forces with everyone’s favourite fast Volksie — Bugatti — under the recently announced company Bugatti Rimac. The new company aims to “generate an exciting new movement in the automotive and technology industries”. Mate Rimac (pictured), who started Rimac a decade ago in a garage on the outskirts of Zagreb in Croatia, will be the CEO of the new company, “supported strongly” by Porsche, the other sports-car builder in the VW Group.
Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) is reproducing spare parts for the Corolla Levin/Sprinter Trueno (“AE86”), and started selling them both domestically and overseas on November 1 as part of the GR Heritage Parts Project. Local Supra driver, Desmond ‘Dizzy’ Govenden of DY Performance, said the project enables classic car enthusiasts to keep their pride and joy in superb factory condition by making parts that have been discontinued available again. TGR has already reproduced spare parts for the A70 and A80 Supra, the Toyota 2000GT, and the 40 Series Land Cruiser. The AE86 is the next model in the project. The AE86 parts will only be produced for a limited period. Details such as part numbers and production periods will be published on the TGR website.
‘Recycling bigger than mining’ Tesla co-founder, JB Straubel, founded Redwood Materials to profit from this new sector. “All the materials that make up those cars are going to be in a closed-loop ecosystem. “That combined industry is bigger than all of the mining that feeds it, it’s bigger than the parts industries that supply it, and it doesn’t exist today”, Straubel said in a statement punting his company. Currently, the cost to purify rare earth elements (REEs) out of batteries and phones are prohibitive, but a group of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania last month announced a separation process that could make purifying recycled REEs less expensive, which brings this new career path for the mechanically inclined a step closer.
Local rally racers prove their mettle on Dalton’s muddy farm tracks ALWYN VILJOEN Local rally organiser Dean Redelinghuys was in his element — mud — at the monthly rally test stage hosted by the Natal Recreational Club near Dalton at the weekend. The champion navigator was reading the pace notes for multiple rally champion Mally Saville (78), who came out to show the laaities how with his Subaru WRX. Saville managed to set the fastest times when the pair’s headsets functioned, but when it did not, the WRX became a mud plough, showing the importance of having a co-driver who can warn of upcoming corners when driving at speed. On the other side of the rally spectrum, in the Clubmans Class, Kurt Volmink was the only entrant to finish, using all his drifting and spinning skills to get the “Mighty Matiz” over the finish line. Redelinhuys said the three teams that entered the Clubman Class represent the real spirit of rallying.
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e-Crate electric motors Ford has already started to serve this burgeoning market, selling Part No. M-9000-MACH-E, an e-crate motor sold at authorised Ford parts warehouse dealers in the U.S. or online at Ford Performance Parts. Retailing at just under R60 400 at current exchange rates for its $3 900 price, this is not a cheap electric drivetrain. Rather, Ford sells the e-crate motor as specialised equipment to mechanics looking for a transversely mounted powertrain to electrify from modern to vintage vehicles. Each Eluminator e-crate motor produces 206 kW and 429 Nm and Ford this week showed two of the motors shoe-horned into a 1978 Ford F100 that boasts 353 kW (480 hp) and 860 Nm of torque. For comparison, the fantastic BMW M5 Competition makes “only” 460 kW and 750 Nm.
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The first batch of Chinese company BYD’s HAN EV electric cars has arrived in Latin America, showing what can happen in SA should President Cyril Ramaphosa’s dreams of electric vehicles comes true in the near future. The cars are heading to dealers in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and the Bahamas, giving BYD a foothold in LATAM and the Caribbean passenger vehicle markets. Inside its nice, with wood panels and high-quality Nappa leather seats in a design that won the 2021 iF Design Award. The HAN EV is fast too, doing zero to 100 km/h in under five seconds, with a 500 km range and a next generation DiPilot ensuring grip all the way via an intelligent all-wheel-drive system. Underneath it all, BYD’s ultra-safe Blade Battery that was launched in March, sets the safety standard for batteries.
WE HAVE A LARGE VARIETY OF ENGINES AND GEARBOXES TO CHOOSE FROM The Natal Recreational Club hosted a very wet test stage last Saturday, with Brian and Page Scott winning in the cars (left), and Glen McDonald being the only biker to finish. PHOTOS: WENDY MCDONALD “Brandt van der Merwe and Carina Nielsen; Johannes Horn and Lizann Maritz; and Kurt and his sons, show what it is all about. They drive their cars to the venue, race, and then drive them
home again.” He also thanked the local farmers for allowing the club to plan rallies on their farms, and congratulated Brian and Page Scott for again setting the pace
to win the race. In second place in the cars was Paulo Gouveia in his Skyline. On the quads, Bodo Ortmann rode a blistering pace on his Yamaha YFZ 450, followed by Seelan Reddy on a Ya-
maha Raptor 700. The bikers had a torrid time in the mud, with only Glen McDonald managing to finish on his KTM 350. • alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za
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MAHINDRA TRACTOR DEALERSHIPS OPEN IN SA Mahindra, the world’s largest manufacturer of tractors by volume, will launch a network of dealers in South African on November 18. The company said it will offer a complete range of Mahindra tractors and farm equipment through the dealer network, with technical and customer service support offered directly by its head office and parts distribution centre in Gauteng. Mahindra first launched its range of farming equipment on local soil in May 2019. For the two-and-ahalf years since, it has partnered with regional resellers to help create a footprint in the major agricultural hubs, establish relations with farmers and agricultural organisations and offer customer support. Rajesh Gupta, CEO of Mahindra South Africa said rapid growth in interest in the Indian company’s tractors and other equipment and the company’s aim to firmly make South Africa Mahindra’s second home outside of India, led to the decision to take direct control of its agricultural division. “This means that where we assisted a third party to sell, service and support farmers in the past, we will now do so directly. After careful consideration and market assessment, we have decided that one of our most important customer segments, the farmers, would be better served by MSA distributing the product range directly,” Gupta said. Customers are invited to attend a virtual launch on November 18 and stand a chance of winning major prizes. More information on mahindratractors.co.za and social media. — WR.
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