Bay in line for electric car project

The project will either be based in Port Elizabeth or East London, according to Kobus Meiring, chief executive of Optimal Energy, the Cape Town-based company which has developed the Joule.

Hi-Tech Automotive, a specialist sports car manufacturer headed by Jimmy Price and situated at St Albans outside Port Elizabeth, is a front-runner for the manufacturing site.

Meiring said Hi-Tech Automotive would manufacture “at least 100 pilot vehicles” for testing and evaluation purposes.

He said the announcement regarding where the Joule would be built, would be made before the end of the year.

Meiring said it was essential for the site to be near an export harbour because of the yearly production figure of 50 000 vehicles of which about 45 000 would be exported.

The remaining 5000 would be sold locally.

He said Optimal Energy already had “letters of intent” from the government to use the Joule in their fleets. Other major fleet companies had also expressed keen interest in acquiring the electric vehicle.

Pilot production planned for next year

At present there are two fully functioning Joules which are being used in the test fleet.

Meiring said pilot production was expected to start between May and June next year, with full production by the end of 2012.

Exports to the UK and large African countries was scheduled to start in 2012, with left-hand drive production set to start in 2013.

The manufacturing operation was expected to be profitable by 2020.

The five-seater electric vehicle was designed to meet 5-Star Euro Ncap safety standards.

However, Meiring said they would be “more than happy” with a 4-Star rating.

Meiring said the Joule needed practically no after sales service as there was “only one moving part” and it did not have a gearbox.

The braking system, which operated on a regeneration system, never needed to have disc pads replaced.

The Joule is planned to sell for R235 000 for the base model and R278 000 for the top-of-the-range vehicle. The show car which was on display at Automotive week in Port Elizabeth was not a functional vehicle but was merely for display.

It was built in Cape Town by John Spence, Jaguar designer Keith Helfet, who was born in Calvinia in the Northern Cape, and Keith Bright.

Meiring was previously programme manager of a number of prestigious high-tech projects in South Africa including the Rooivalk helicopter and the giant telescope at Sutherland in the Western Cape.

Source: The Herald

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