Indeed. Similar to the “Big Mac index”, or my father used the “how many drums of Diesel per head of cattle” index, I use the “Hilux” index. A new entry-level double-cab is, and I’m going to ignore the 2.7 Petrol as nobody wants that and go with the 2.4 GD6, is 520k. Over that is expensive. Under that is affordable. I suppose everyone has their own yardstick, but this is mine.
Now I would not buy a new Hilux. I’d buy a good second-hand one for a 100k less. Since cars are such poor investments to start with, I’m rather loathe to spend anything above 350k… but for an EV (which pays back the extra investment), I may be willing to do it.
From a value point of view, that would be garbage. All in product cost there cannot be more than a few Rk, lets say 3. The moulding costs and machine costs is a few Rands over the life of them if they sell a number.
Assembly and labour and packaging and some advertising…. Hell no, that would be scalping right there.
Certification would add quite a lot to the plain bill of materials cost, but you’d expect to recoup it on number of units sold. So they’re probably not expecting a lot of sales. Self-fulfilling prophecy…
I all likelihood that is it. But also, it took hundreds of hours to make the software on that little MCU. And it had to be made waterproof, frost proof, and it did indeed go through a strict certification process. I remember during development they had units in a freezer. But as you say, the market for these isn’t going to be particularly huge. There isn’t much point in installing this one unless you already have a Victron system.
Remember also that cheaper models will be coming in future. There is already one on the cards that comes without a display.
So, what if the area where the Wind/CSP/PV is installed, is currently LS? Does it not also disconnect from the grid?
And if not, worse, there is no wind or it is nighttime?
Methinks, generally speaking, that it is a bit of useless information although it does “help” some “feel better” about Eskom and renewables, as in “looks good”.
I cannot fathom the scale of SA’s baseload being on renewables … yet. We simply don’t have the political “stomach” for that level of commitment. Mantashe was right. You cannot just “switch off” coal. It is a transition, not forgetting the immense amount of livelihoods linked to coal that needs to be able to live.
I also don’t see EVs in SA/Africa being the new norm anywhere soon.
Obviously, a few rich people will make it work for themselves, but millions of cars on SA/African roads becoming EVs, nada, not gonna happen quickly because of 1) reliable copious amounts of electricity and 2) the cost of EVs initially.
I don’t mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but Eskom’s performance is so bad it seems almost intentional. Like we going to have no choice but to eventually have another state of emergency where things like the Turkish poweships can be pushed through.
The Turkish powership thing depends on being able to pay for it, which also isn’t necessarily a given. If I am not mistaken, it’s one of the lesser mentioned reasons why it’s being held back…
What’s more interesting to me is that there are still panels pumping out power at 18:15.
They are definitely installed somewhere in the Western Cape, up here in Limpopo its already dark by that time.
Tesla “ In 2020, we generated almost $1.6 billion in revenue selling zero-emission regulatory credits to other OEMs. Proceeds from such sales will go towards building new factories to produce EVs that will continue to displace ICE vehicles. While it is common practice today for ICE vehicle OEMs to purchase regulatory credits from other companies (such as Tesla) to offset their total CO2 emissions, it is not a sustainable strategy. In order to meet increasingly strict regulatory requirements across the world, OEMs will be forced to develop truly competitive EVs.”
Ran across a Kia EV6 earlier today in Grongingen. Man, what a beautiful car. There is also a Hyundai Ioniq not far from the office, and I went past a BZ4X in a Toyota showroom too.
It’s happening. I’m just waiting for it to happen in Africa, and drop into those lower price brackets. Because I still cannot stomach the idea of a small city car costing more than a Hilux. Sorry.
Nada nothing Zero, and I am not referring to the emissions. Back since 2014, I used to visit Megawatt Park at least on a weekly basis. They had them chargers installed right at the main entrance to MWP offices.
