Calls For Special E-Mobility Tariffs To Support Fleet Operators in South Africa

South Africa is lagging behind other African countries when it comes to electric vehicle incentives. Countries like Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda, Mauritius, and Ethiopia have cut import duties and taxes on EVs and charging equipment, but South Africa actually charges more in import duties and taxes on electric vehicles than on gas and diesel equivalents.

Kenya offers something South Africa doesn't: a special electricity rate for EV charging. Kenyan EV owners pay about $0.12 per kilowatt-hour at peak times and $0.06 off-peak, well below standard household and business rates. Kenya recently removed a cap that had limited how much power fleet operators (like bus companies) could buy under this special rate, making it more useful for larger vehicle fleets. At an industry event in Stellenbosch last week, an executive from Golden Arrow Bus Services, which runs 120 electric buses among its larger fleet, called for South Africa to adopt a similar supportive electricity pricing system, saying recent rate hikes on off-peak power (the time when bus fleets do most of their charging) are squeezing companies trying to expand electric fleets.

For individual homeowners with an EV or considering one, none of this changes anything directly yet. There's no special home charging rate on offer in South Africa the way there is in Kenya. But the push for one is gaining attention, partly because South Africa's grid operator, Eskom, has record-low power outages right now and could use the extra electricity demand that EV charging would bring.