A completely viable electric car has yet to hit the world’s showrooms, but South Africa might just be the country to provide the answer. Later this year Optimal Energy is scheduled to release the first demo of its Joule, a car that runs entirely on electric energy.
It’s described by Optimal Energy boss Kobus Meiring as an ‘Urban Electric Vehicle’.Which means it won’t get you from Joburg to Cape Town without a re-charge, but will be fine as an everyday city run-around. To be precise, it should be able to do a minimum 200km between re-charges: far more than the average urbanite needs each day.
The general idea is to plug in the car overnight, something Meiring says will be far cheaper than paying for fuel. He has also calculated that, even considering the burning that goes on at power stations, it will mean far fewer carbon emissions than an internal combustion engine. Finally, he believes that overnight charging will not put strain on Eskom’s systems; in fact it will use what is currently ‘wasted’ off-peak power.
Could it be the revolution we’re waiting for? We can’t wait to try it!

For more info www.optimalenergy.co.za

By Richard Asher