Frustration as politicians eye electric car business

Locally-based electric cars manufacturers are once again experiencing major setbacks with registering their newly-manufactured cars.They are unable to register more of the cars they have produced because the government system is unable to recognise their product. This comes a few weeks after AT Bus and Truck Body Builders announced that they have finally managed to manufacture an electric car of wanted speed and assured that the cars are now ready for purchase.Last year, they manufactured a car of 70km/h speed but government rejected it because it was “too slow,” the company now has cars of 120-150km/h speed.Early this year, AT Bus and Truck Body Builders successfully managed to register one of their higher speed vehicles with the Department of Road Transport and Safety (DRTS).However, news coming out of the manufacturer now is that the car is actually registered as a petrol using car, not electrical vehicle (EV).Company General Manager Milton Mbaiwa confirmed the matter.“Yes, it has erroneously been registered as petrol car and not EV, we are still in talks with DRTS to see how best the matter can be resolved. Our cars are ready to be purchased but what will we do without registration, we have been to DRTS and the last we heard is that they are working on it,” he said.From what The Midweek Sun is gathering, DRTS has been working on the matter for more than a year when dealing with the initially produced cars of 70km/h which they allegedly rejected. To date, they are still not able to register EVs in their system.This publication tried to reach out to DRTS on the matter a year ago but the questionnaire sent to them was not responded to. Last week, another questionnaire was sent to the Ministry of Transport and Communications and at the time of going to print this week, the questionnaire had not been responded to.Efforts were also made to reach Minister responsible and his assistant but messages left were not answered. Asked if government is happy with the product that has come out so far, given that President Mokgweetsi Masisi had in the past assured that electric cars would be produced in Botswana and if they know of the frustrations being faced by AT Bus and Truck Body Builders, Minister for State President Kabo Morwaeng said the ministry and government communications were better placed to respond.Government spokesperson, John Thomas Dipowe’s phone rang unanswered on Tuesday morning and he did not respond to messages left for him.Meanwhile, allegations making rounds suggest that some politicians want in on the business of manufacturing electric cars. It is alleged that the said politicians have made an offer to business owners with the promise that once in, all their frustrations will be over.A cagey Mbaiwa could not confirm nor deny the matter.“We trust the system and hope that they will assist us, we are working with DRTS to find a solution to the matter,” he said.When The Midweek Sun team visited the plant recently, they found several Nissan model electric cars displayed outside with price tags attached to them. Mbaiwa was quick to explain that although the process of manufacturing electric cars took longer than expected, they have finally made a breakthrough.He explained that some people are concerned that they are producing models which have been in the market.“The reason why we do not have our own names is because all we are doing is producing available brands in electric form. We can produce any model, Honda, BMW or even Volkswagen, the only difference is that ours use electricity and not petrol,” he explained.The cars they have in stock currently cost P78 000.“After buying the car, the owner will not have to worry about major maintenance costs that come three to four times a year when using fuel cars depending on usage. With electric cars, one can go one to two years without being forced to replace anything. These cars have no engines, meaning it is less complicated to use," he said.The cars use battery and once fully-charged, they travel a total distance of 200km before they can be recharged,” Mbaiwa explained.He added that the cars are charged using a super charge hence drivers will not wait a long time for their cars to be fully charged. The waiting period is between 10-30 minutes for a full charge.“The amount of time one takes fuelling petrol will be the amount of time one takes to recharge and then continue with their journey. But the difference will be that when others pay P800 to P1 200 for a full tank of petrol or diesel, electric car owners will pay less than P100 for a full charge,” Mbaiwa explained.The company GM further explained that provisions are already being made in several fuel stations to have points where electric cars can equally recharge without a struggle.And just like other cars, a driver will need to always top up at a nearby fuel station when on a long journey to avoid running out of power in areas with no fuelling stations.Alternatively, drivers will be able to charge even at home. This means that in the absence of a fuel station and a driver gets stranded, they can ask for help from nearby homesteads.However, home charging will take longer, approximately two to four hours.Bus and Truck Body Builders also have a hybrid type that uses both petrol and electricity. With this type of car, when driving at 40km/h, it uses electricity for power while anything above 40km/h the car automatically restarts the engine to use petrol or diesel.

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Frustration as politicians eye electric car business