Electric car push stalls on demand as skills gap looms, industry warns
A 150% tax deduction for local manufacturers is in place, but the demand side, the skills base and the charging infrastructure still need work, an industry voice told eNCA.
South Africa’s push towards electric vehicles has support on the manufacturing side, but the demand side, the skills base and the charging infrastructure still need work, an industry voice said in a broadcast published by eNCA (YouTube).
The supply-side policy is already in place. Local manufacturers building new energy vehicles can claim a 150% tax deduction, the broadcast states. What is missing, according to the same account, is a matching effort to build demand for those vehicles among South African buyers and fleets.
The skills question is the sharper one. Electric vehicles need fewer of the parts that workshops currently repair, the broadcast notes, and the work shifts towards software. That changes what technicians need to know, and the broadcast says the skills base has to start matching the new technology.
It also calls for more collaboration between the public sector, the private sector and the industry, so that the transition moves in step. Part of that is educating customers, part is getting more fleets to switch, and part is investing deeply in charging infrastructure. As the market grows, the broadcast states, the need for that infrastructure will grow with it.
The account does not put figures on the size of the market, the number of vehicles involved or the cost of the infrastructure still required. What it sets out is a transition with one leg already funded and the other three, demand, skills and charging points, still to be built.
