Oct 09 2008
SA to manufacture own electric car
By Joule! South Africa has developed a 6-seater multi-purpose electric car. It’s called Joule and the first manufacturing plant will be based in Gauteng, reported the UK-based newspaper The South African.
When the first car will roll off the assembly line, is unknown. It will cost between R200,000 and R250,000 and will run 200 km, before a battery recharge is due – which will take 7 hours. The car was on show in Paris recently. Not a bad-looking car either. Take a look here and here.
Of course, it’s still some way off the state of the art in the US, which is the sports car Tesla. Here you get 365 km for a “battery-full” and to recharge takes only 3.5 hours. If you are in a hurry, you can go from zero to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds. You also have to dig a bit deeper in your pocket. Quite a bit deeper, to be more specific. The Tesla will be available in Europe from 2009 for €120,000 (about R1,440,000).
(Remember, a Porsche Boxster sets you back “only” about €50,000.)
I think I’ll take the Joule.
PS. Here you’ll find a nice list of all electric cars currently on the market, or close to being brought to market.