Jaguar to install national EV charging network

Jaguar said on Thursday it will roll out a network of 82 new public charging stations for electric vehicles in South Africa at a cost of R30-million.

The EV stations will be installed in urban areas and along major holiday routes, the car maker said in a statement.

It will install the network in partnership with GridCars, with the stations capable of charging both full electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

The move comes ahead of Jaguar’s launch in South Africa of the I-Pace, which offers an electric range of up to 470km depending on driving style and road conditions.

In addition to the publicly available charging stations to be installed in customer parking areas at every Jaguar Land Rover retailer in South Africa, a total of 30 public charging stations will be erected at various points of convenience, such as shopping centres and in the country’s major hubs. including Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London and Bloemfontein.

“South Africa’s city centres will now also be connected by the Jaguar Powerway — a series of 22 charging stations along the N3 between Gauteng and Durban and the N1 between Gauteng and Cape Town,” it said. “Cape Town will also be connected to the Garden Route with a series of charging stations along the N2 all the way to East London.”

“The launch of the Jaguar Powerway demonstrates our commitment to electrification technology and the future of mobility in our market. This new network provides peace of mind to our Jaguar I-Pace customers who can now experience more of their world with less range restrictions,” said Richard Gouverneur, MD of Jaguar Land Rover South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

Most of charging stations on the public network will be 60kWh fast chargers, meaning 100km of range will take around 20 minutes for Jaguar I-Pace owners. A charge from 0 to 80% will take about 72 minutes.

Fast chargers

Every charging station will also be equipped with a 22kWh AC fast charger to accommodate plug-in hybrid vehicles. The AC standard type-2 socket will allow charging of all EVs currently available in South Africa. The DC charger is fitted with the CCS DC-type socket used by the vast majority of EVs in the country.

Jaguar Land Rover owners will use an RFID card to activate the charging station and manage electricity billing to the card. Cards can be credited with simple EFT payments, much like cellphone airtime top-ups. Charging station electricity rates will also be discounted by 25% for all Jaguar Land Rover EV or plug-in hybrid owners.

Like petrol, the price of electricity fluctuates, but for now the rate for 1kWh on the card will be between R3 and R3.50 depending where in South Africa it’s redeemed. With a 90kWh battery, a full recharge in an I-PACE will cost between R270 and R315 — a fraction of the fuelling costs of conventional internal combustion engine vehicles.

The entire Jaguar charging grid and Powerway is expected to be operational by the end of November. The Jaguar I-Pace will be available in South Africa in the first quarter of 2019.  — © 2018 NewsCentral Media