South Africa drafted a green paper on new energy vehicles on 18 May to establish a clear policy foundation. This will enable the country to coordinate a long-term strategy that will position South Africa at the forefront of advanced vehicle and vehicle component manufacturing, Cleantechnica reports.
In August of 2019, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition set the large automakers of South Africa a challenge: to help develop a framework for the local production of electric vehicles, and the branches of the auto industry’s Master Plan were launched.
South Africa’s motor vehicle assembly and manufacturing industry is one of the key pillars of the country’s economy, contributing over 7% of the national GDP.
This decision is welcomed as the biggest importer of South African assembled vehicles is the UK (58% of exports), who recently put forward a ban on petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030.
South Africa, therefore, has nine years to develop its industry if it wants to keep its proportion of the UK market, as South Africa’s major assembly plants only produce internal combustion engines.
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition plan to submit the proposals to the cabinet by October 2021 to give South Africa a foothold in an industry that is predicted to overtake internal combustion engines by 2038.
Picture: Breev South Africa
