'Bietjie koffee en spek to go with your EV top-up?' The firm says all of its charging stations will offer a farm stall for motorists while they wait for their cars to charge.

South Africa's tortoise-like transition to the electric vehicle (EV) revolution has gained some traction with the launch of the CHARGE group's first EV charging station, powered by carbon-free renewable energy.

The company, set up two years ago by Western Cape businessmen Joubert Roux and Andries Malherbe, is hoping to build at least 120 off-grid charging stations nationwide over the next year or so - located roughly 150km apart along all major routes, mainly in rural areas.

Oddly, perhaps, the first CHARGE station is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, next to a farmstall in Wolmaransstad, a small agricultural town in North West, about 250km southeast of Johannesburg.

Speaking at the opening ceremony last week (Thursday, 28 November), Roux emphasised the need to reduce South Africa's transport-related carbon emissions, by switching away from charging EVs through Eskom's largely coal-powered national grid.

To do this, his company hopes to lease land from farmers along busy national highways where there is also sufficient land available to install dedicated solar-power farms to feed the charging stations. Farmers will be offered a 5% share of the revenue generated from stations on their land, along with excess solar power for farming operations.

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