Looking at the Google map of the proposed EV charging stations from Zero Carbon Charge, there are no less than 120 pins marking the sites on national and secondary roads. Charge’s vision is to roll out a countrywide network of solar EV charging stations, and if you’re on a national road, there’ll be one every 150km. It received a R100mn equity investment from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) in May, which, as co-founder Joubert Roux says, will unlock the N3 and N1 highways for EV drivers.

Charge has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding worth R1bn with Chinese energy storage systems manufacturer Shanghai Magic Power Tech and local partner Greencore Energy Solutions for the solar EV super chargers.