Nissan and BMW agreed last year to jointly roll out EV charging infrastructure in South Africa. Now, following the initial introduction ofsuch charging stations in Gauteng, the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town has just been added to the growing list of places where owners (or operators) of EVs can recharge their green machines.

The latest development has seen 3 such charging stations going live at the Waterfront. The project is supported by Growthpoint Properties, which manages the complex.

“We welcome the opportunity to partner with another pioneer to establish a wide electric charging infrastructure and, in doing so, drive the adoption of this eco-friendly technology,” says Mike Whitfield, Managing Director of Nissan South Africa.

Although sales of EVs remain slow in South Africa, it is expected to grow as more (as well as cheaper) products become available, and charging stations become more commonplace.Since its introduction the all-electric LEAF has found almost 230 000 owners worldwide, and just shy of 100 have been sold in South Africa.

The new Waterfrontcharging stations use the faster direct current charging method and Type 2 connectors to charge a wide range of current and future EV and PHEVs (plug-in electric vehicles). BMW and Nissan have also confirmed that they are working on charging stations for Brooklyn Mall in Pretoria and they will add a number of smaller alternating current (AC) charging stations around Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town to expand South Africa’s EV charging network.

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