A suite of government support incentives to lower the cost of production and stimulate demand.
“It is clear that NEV transition support is urgently required for positive plant decisions to be taken. OEMs require a lead time of at least three to four years to motivate to their parent companies before any potential production could start and to align with existing production cycles,” he added.
Mabasa said the Naamsa CEO Advisory Council will be meeting on Friday to make its final amendments to the thought leadership paper before it is released and shared with other social and business partners before the end of the year.Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel published a Green Paper in May 2021 on the advancement of NEVs in South Africa.
However, Patel failed to provide any specific timelines about when the Green Paper will become a White Paper and then official government policy.Auto industry insiders have indicated that government only wanted to provide support for the manufacture of NEVs while the OEMs are adamant that support also has to be provided to stimulate demand for NEVs to enable the industry to justify the investment in localising the manufacturing.