Zero Carbon Charge yesterday launched its new subsidiary Zero Carbon Logistics, which will roll out 120 solar PV electric truck charging sites on national highways across South Africa – the first off-grid, 100% green electric truck charging network in the country.
Joubert Roux, the co-founder of Zero Carbon Charge, said the shift to electric trucks offered a major opportunity for South Africa to meet its Green Transport Strategy goal of reducing transport-related CO2 emissions by 5% by 2050.
“Every day, 8 756 trucks travel on the N3 between Durban and Johannesburg, using over 658 million litres of fuel at an import cost of R8 billion, emitting 1 781 256 762kg of CO2 emissions per year. Replacing these fuel-powered trucks with electric models will save 670kg of CO2 emissions per truck per day, significantly reducing our country’s reliance on expensive dirty fossil fuel imports,” Roux said.
The initial six sites will be built on the major N3 freight route between Durban and Johannesburg. This 120 truck charging network will be additional to the 120 electric passenger vehicle off-grid charging sites currently being built by Zero Carbon Charge.
This offering is in response to the growing shift by major truck manufacturers to producing electric truck models, with many truck manufacturers already committed to achieving full electric transition by 2040.
Andries Malherbe, the co-founder of Zero Carbon Charge, said it was therefore critical that South Africa started investing in off-grid infrastructure to power these trucks, particularly while travelling on long-haul routes.
“The first six sites on the N3 have started the permitting process, and we hope to be up and running by November 2027,” Malherbe said.
Zero Carbon Charge said the growth in electric trucks would create an increased energy demand: the electricity required to charge the 8 756 trucks using the N3 route daily totalling an additional 2.3 billion kWh/year alone. If one took into account all 14 national roads, the country would need an additional 8 billion kWh/year of electricity to power the 30 000 electric trucks travelling on these routes daily, placing a major strain on the national grid, it said.
It said these charging stations would be completely off-grid, with each facility powered by 35 MWp of solar PV, which means they would be able to continue servicing customers during load shedding and would not contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
In light of Eskom’s electricity network being powered primarily by dirty coal for the foreseeable future, a major shift towards electric trucks poses the real risk of increased CO2 emissions.
Zero Carbon Charge’s research showed that an electric truck charged by the Eskom network could emit 37.5% more CO2e emissions per kilometre compared to an equivalent diesel powered truck, the company said.
It added that each station will deploy ultra-fast charging technology coupled with modular battery packs that are being developed in China, with the goal of being able to charge a truck within 20 minutes.
“A big focus of the project is creating safe, clean facilities for truck drivers to rest, which in turn, will increase road safety. Each station will offer restrooms and a shop, fast wi-fi as well as repair and wash facilities for trucks. There will be secured day and overnight truck parking bays available that will be monitored 24/7 by CCTV cameras linked to local security companies,” it said.
Roux said critical to the success of its electric truck charging network roll-out was obtaining the necessary government approvals to build the sites.
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