What South Africans really think about electric vehicles

 

The majority of South African car shoppers are inclined towards owning an electric vehicle (EV) in the future, according to the 2023 South African Electric Vehicle Buyers Survey. Unsurprisingly it’s the youth (24-35 year-olds) rather than the oldies (over 65) who are most likely to be future EV buyers.

But the EV’s higher price remains its biggest drawback along with charging time, lack of charging infrastructure and impact of load shedding. Its main advantages according to respondents? Reduced carbon emissions, reduced air pollution, and cheaper running costs.

“The perceived disadvantage regarding the initial cost to purchase has decreased by 3.4% from 65.2% in 2022 to 62% in 2023. This decrease can be attributed to the introduction of more affordable new EVs in the market this year, as well as a growing used EV car parc, one that offers a cheaper entry point to ownership,” states CEO of AutoTrader, George Mienie.

The report, which provides valuable insight into local EV sentiment, saw BMW emerging as the most trusted EV manufacturer (52% of respondents) ahead of Mercedes-Benz (43.3%) and Toyota (37%), while battery efficiency (think charging time and range), safety and price were cited as the top influencing factors when purchasing an EV.

Men, it turns out, are more willing to spend in excess of R500,000 on an EV, while women appear more concerned with performance, higher resale value, and safety than their male counterparts, and they are more optimistic about the EV’s ability to produce a range of +500km.

Significantly, 82% of respondents said they would consider purchasing an EV if it could be fully charged in under an hour at a fast charging station. As to charging costs, people aged over 34 remain the most realistic, estimating the cost to charge within the R200 – R500 price range.

While EV adoption remains slow, EV experience has seen an increase with 12% of respondents having been in an EV in 2022 to almost 20% in 2023 with 18-24 year-olds having the most EV exposure.

Outlook

And the outlook for used EVs looks bright, 48.5% of respondents stating they would consider a used EV over a new EV. Reduced prices were cited as the main reason.

Mirroring previous trends, 79% of respondents reiterated their preference for used EVs with mileages under 60,000km. The most favoured mileage bracket remained the 20,001km-40,000km range.

Still, EV ownership inclination diminished by 3% in 2023, in addition the number of consumers unlikely to consider purchasing an EV in the future has risen to 17% from 13% a year ago.

 

“This points to lack of EV education as well as lack of government incentives to tackle the price of EVs. These are primary detractors to EV adoption,” states Mienie.