October 29th (AMSP/CGTN) – – South Africa’s big electric-vehicle push is part of the government’s ambitious climate goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Another part is de-carbonizing the country’s road freight industry. The government says it’s looking into the viability of electric trucks as well as using cleaner fuels. An electric charging network is also being piloted on one of South Africa’s busiest trade corridors between the port city of Durban and the economic and manufacturing hub of Gauteng.
South Africa’s transport sector is trying to clean up as one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. In the absence of a fully functioning rail network, road transport is now the primary means of moving freight to and from the ports
” We’ve proven that you can reduce the CO2 emissions of an existing diesel truck by typically 20 to 24%. But that’s not good enough to reach our climate goals. And what we have to aim for is net zero by 2040. To do that, we have to go electric, ” underscored Abdool Kamdar, manager of Net Zero and Decarbonisation at KDG Logistics.
Going electric also has its challenges. Electric trucks go the distance but the vehicles are manufactured overseas and are at least five times more expensive than diesel truck.
” To import an electric truck at the moment costs you about 6.5 million landed, of which about 1.2 million is import duties alone. So they’re killing the child before the child is even. So that’s the one challenge. The other challenge is that there’s regulatory reform needed to allow for slightly longer, slightly heavier vehicles, which is what they’ve done in Europe, “Abdool Kamdar pointed out.
A reliable charging network is also a key component to the sector’s decarbonisation journey. A pilot project will soon be run on the N3 highway, where almost 30 million tons of freight is carried by high emission trucks.
” Durban is a major harbour and Johannesburg, Pretoria is a major manufacturing hub and a major consumer hub. So it is the busiest truck route in South Africa and that is why we decided to pilot the national project on that route. / The truck stops are specifically aimed at the logistics market. These are battery swapping stations. All the necessary infrastructure for the trucking industry, ” Zero Carbon Charge Co-Founder Joubert Roux told CGTN’s Julie Scheier.
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