As one of the world’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide, South Africa would benefit greatly from a mass adoption of zero-emission electric vehicles like Nissan LEAF.
But were that to happen it could lead to another unexpected problem… there are concerns that the country’s power grid might not be able to handle the surge in demand as cars were charged overnight. As it is, the country’s power reserves are so low that rolling blackouts to conserve energy are regular occurrences.
To see what effect plug-in electric vehicles might have on the grid, South African utility firm Eskom has taken delivery of 10 Nissan LEAFs. They plan to use the cars in a three-year study to see what potential effect the arrival of thousands more EVs might have on the national grid.
The contribution the EV could make to the country is significant. South Africa has ambitious plans to cut carbon emissions to about one ton per person by 2050. Even with 50 million inhabitants, that’s still a substantial reduction from the 230 million generated by Eskom in 2011.
The arrival of the Nissan LEAF fleet will help the company prepare for the future as it redesigns its power stations to emit 15 per cent less carbon than other coal-powered stations.