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Hala Motors wants to become the first African manufacturer of electric taxis in South Africa.
The company, which has secured land near Soweto, in what is known as West Rand Mega Park, says that its vision is to create a smart city that can unlock the wealth of the green economy for “the benefit of all South Africans”.
Founder Siphiwe Dhlomo’s eyes light up and his voice rises a baritone higher every time you speak to him about the future of EVs.
“When we spoke to some taxi associations and some [taxi] owners about the look and feel of the electric taxis, it was something they said they were waiting for,” Dhlomo says.
Dhlomo says that although a prototype is not available yet – it is in production “at an undisclosed location” at a local partner’s factory – they are hoping to have it done sometime next year to facilitate growth in the EV market.
Dhlomo agrees that there is a long way to go, but believes that if “[South Africans] don’t start now, others will tell our story”.
Cindy Smith, the company CEO, says: “We want to transform Soweto into a green city.”
The company plans to do this through partnerships forged in Germany and Croatia, for graduates to go there and learn the necessary skills so that they “bring all of those skills back home and create the hubs of upskilling graduates”.
Over the past three years, the company embarked on aggressive research and knows that initially the cost of the vehicle could be higher than what is currently on offer, but “the price will start to level out because the most expensive component, the battery, will be more advanced, and because of scale the price will drop.”
Dhlomo feels that being the largest commuter of people in the country, the public transportation sector would be the perfect fit to fast-track South Africa’s EV market.
“We want to be the Tesla of Africa,” he says.
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