Kaya Biz hosted GoMetro CEO, Justin Coetzee, after the launch of eKamva, at SMA 2024. Gugulethu Mfuphi’s interview captured the excitement eKamva created at SMA and explored more profound questions about South Africa’s transition pathway from ICE to EV minibus taxis.
Responding to Mfuphi’s question about eKamva’s origin story, Coetzee explained it was a solution’s outcome. “It seemed obvious that moving from diesel to electric minibus taxis would create huge savings. We embarked upon a quest to find the vehicle.”
Finding the SA-spec EV minibus taxi
Sourcing the ideal vehicle specification wasn’t easy, as Coetzee clarified. “The world has moved on and uses 9m vans. In South Africa, we use ‘compact’ vans for short and long-haul.”
Coetzee and his team were determined to source a van that would be familiar in configuration and operation, for local minibus taxi fleet owners and drivers. “Finding a 6m van, with 13-15 seater capacity, more than 200km of change and sub-hour recharging capability, really became a quest.”
The culmination of that quest is eKamva, built by Chinese vehicle specialist, Higer.
There’s a sound recharging case
During the Kaya Biz interview, Coetzee unpacked the data-centric approach that created the eKamva. And how the South African urban minibus taxi operator’s daily schedule experiences a natural recharging window.
“Rank adjacent charging is the solution, and we’ve evaluated the data to understand that. Over the last five to seven years, GoMetro has logged data on more than 1000 local taxis. We’ve also used machine learning to understand range and performance.”
Hidden in all that data was the discovery that minibus taxis can have six to eight hours, between their morning peak traffic routing and the afternoon journeys. “Most taxis do less than 150km in the morning, then have a lot of time between the traffic peaks to recharge,” Coetzee said.
Mfuphi questioned price, import tariffs and stakeholder involvement, with Coetzee’s answer outlying the legacy tax barriers that punish imported EVs. “We’ve met many taxi owners and operators during SMA who came to look at the eKamva. And the feedback has been great. But we need to address the 40% import tax on eKamva. It is classed as a luxury vehicle, and that’s frankly ridiculous.”
The African opportunity
Coetzee also outlined a broader vision with eKamva, including the valuable domestic automotive assembly industry.
“There is R271bn at risk over the next ten years, as the destination markets for South African built vehicles move from ICE to EVs. We want to build EV minibus taxis in SA, saving jobs and driving exports into Africa. I met several people at SMA who are interested in taking eKamva into African markets.”
Listen to the full Kaya Biz interview below, as GoMetro’s CEO goes into deeper detail about price, GoMetro’s global expertise, EV project support, and what eKamva’s market journey will be over the next year.
