South Africa is way behind countries such as the UK when it comes to sales of electric vehicles. Although the countries have similar-sized populations – 60-million for South Africa and 67-million for the UK – the latter sold hundreds of thousands more EVs last year. South Africa only sold 1,080 electric vehicles in 2023, according to the International Energy Agency, an independent organisation that focuses on the global energy sector.

More than 450,000 were sold in the UK and 8.1-million were sold in China, the most in the world. The high price range, lack of variety and charging stations are some reasons why South Africans have been slow to take to the green road.

Most of the electric vehicles available in SA are high-end cars from manufacturers such as Volvo, Porsche and Mini. With a starting price of R687,000, the GWM ORA 03 is one of the cheapest EVs in South Africa, according to cars.co.za.