For years, the biggest hesitation around owning an electric vehicle in South Africa was where to charge it. But as EV adoption accelerates, the centre of gravity has shifted from public highways straight into home garages.
Driven by a surge in home-charger installations and the popularity of residential solar, motorists are discovering that an EV isn't just a secondary commuter car - it's a primary vehicle that can eliminate monthly fuel bills.
By pairing smart home chargers with solar power, South Africans are turning their garages into personal filling stations, quietly rewriting the rules of daily motoring.
But as more EVs arrive on our roads, the charging conversation is changing.
Increasingly, the most important charger is not the one at a shopping centre or on the highway but the one sitting at home.
According to Winstone Jordaan, managing director of GridCars, demand for home charging has grown rapidly as more South Africans make the move to electric vehicles.
“Six months ago we were doing about 50 to 80 units a month, now we're doing 400-plus units a month,” he says.
That’s a significant increase and provides a useful indication of how quickly the home-charging market is developing.
The charger at the end of the day
The basic idea behind home charging is remarkably easy.
You arrive home, plug the vehicle in and leave it to charge while you sleep. The next morning, instead of stopping at a filling station, you start with a fully charged vehicle.
Most electric vehicles already come with some form of home-charging device. The important question, says Jordaan, is what that charger can do.
There is a difference between a conventional, non-smart charger and a smart charger.
A smart charger can communicate with the charging system, providing information about how much energy is being used and allowing the charging process to be managed.
That may not sound particularly important when you first buy an EV, but it becomes increasingly useful as the relationship between electric vehicles and the home energy system develops.
“The big thing is just what the capabilities of that charger are,” Jordaan explains.
A smart charger can potentially control charging speeds and provide information about energy consumption. In the future, this will allow motorists to take advantage of different electricity prices or manage when the vehicle charges according to the availability of energy.
EVs and solar make sense together
There is another interesting trend developing alongside the growth in home charging.
Many people buying electric vehicles already have solar systems at home.
Jordaan says EV buyers tend to be people who are already thinking about energy efficiency and new technology. Some have installed their own solar systems, while others use solar rental arrangements.
Once an EV arrives, the relationship between the solar system and the household changes.
The electricity generated by the solar panels can be used to charge the vehicle, reducing the amount of energy that needs to be bought from the grid.
For somebody who drives regularly, this can make the solar installation even more valuable.
“You can put bigger solar in, and it covers your fuel cost much more from solar rather than from the grid,” says Jordaan.
It is an important point because the financial argument for an EV is not just about the price of electricity versus petrol or diesel.
It is also about where that electricity comes from.
An owner who can generate some of their own electricity at home is effectively able to use their home energy system to help power their vehicle.
Your EV may not be the second car
There is also a perception that an electric vehicle will be the household's second car.
The thinking is to use the EV for school runs, shopping and short trips while keeping the petrol or diesel vehicle for longer journeys.
Jordaan argues that this often gets the economics the wrong way around.
“The minute you get an EV in the family, it becomes the primary car,” he says.
The further you drive an EV, the more you can benefit from its lower running costs. If a household is spending R5 000 a month on fuel, replacing the vehicle doing the bulk of the driving with an EV can make a significant difference to the monthly budget.
The electricity bill will increase, but the fuel bill can fall by much more.
And when the electricity is generated by solar, it becomes even more cost-effective.
Smart charging will become more important
South Africa's energy situation means that simply plugging every vehicle in at the same time would not necessarily be the most efficient way to manage demand.
Smart chargers provide the opportunity to manage that demand.
Jordaan says GridCars has chosen to install smart, connected chargers rather than basic non-smart units.
The chargers can communicate with the system, allowing information about energy consumption to be monitored and, where necessary, the charging process to be controlled.
That creates the possibility of charging vehicles when electricity is cheaper or when there is less pressure on the grid.
It also creates a connection between the car, the home and the wider energy system.
The charger becomes part of the home
The biggest change is that home charging is no longer being viewed as an accessory to an electric vehicle, but becoming part of the ownership experience.
The car, the charger, the home's electricity supply and the solar system all work together.
For motorists considering an EV, that means the question should not just be about which electric vehicle to buy.
It should also be about how that vehicle will fit into the way the household uses energy.
As Jordaan points out, the people buying EVs are already thinking differently about energy.
And with home-charging installations growing from dozens to hundreds of units a month, it seems that the plug at home may become just as important to the future of motoring as the fuel pump currently is.
willem.vdputte@nationalmg.co.za