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Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Daily Maverick
Hermanus teen's solar app powers a win at electric vehicle showcase
Connor Lewis, a pupil from Curro Hermanus, has built an app that calculates the exact wattage of solar panels needed to charge an electric vehicle. At EV Now's EVs on Display showcase in Hermanus, a glossy lineup that included a Tesla and a Powerade-blue electric G-Wagon drew plenty of stares. But the most impressive piece of engineering came from a 17-year-old who, in two hours, built an app that could help South Africans figure out exactly how to power their electric cars through solar energy. The event itself was organised as an electric vehicle showcase – a chance for the public to touch, prod and test-drive without the usual sales patter. The most meaningful component was a competition launched among high school pupils four months earlier, aimed at myth-busting EVs and giving young brains the space to design something genuinely useful. Seven of the eight high schools in the Overstrand area signed up, tackling categories such as essays, infographics and app building. In the end, one entry stood out: a working piece of software that could have easily come from a professional developer's desk. The two hour build Connor Lewis from Curro Hermanus took the crown with an app that calculates the exact wattage of solar panels needed to charge an electric vehicle. The app pulls data from your home solar system (maximum output in kilowatts), factors in your location for both real-time and average weather conditions, and matches that against your vehicle's battery specs. If your EV isn't on the preloaded list, you can add it manually. The result is a real-time calculation of how fast you can charge and how long it will take, under average conditions. Lewis didn't lean on AI, existing templates or a friendly adult with a coding background. 'I wrote it in two hours,' he said, in the same tone someone might use to describe making a sandwich. 'I've been coding and tinkering with code for many years now,' he said. 'Very basic in Grade 5, and then at the start of high school around Grade 8, I started getting into proper programming languages like Java and Python.' Hermanus mayor Archie Klaas handed Lewis his prize – a R10,000 electric scooter – at a special ceremony during the showcase. The mayor pointed out that the EV shift will be led by the young people of today. 'Younger generations naturally embrace such changes,' he said. 'I think there's a lot of potential for EVs,' Lewis said. 'Currently, the biggest issue is the infrastructure that charges them, as well as battery density. If we can sort those two problems out, then EVs are definitely the future.' EV momentum in the Western Cape It would be easy to treat this as a charming local-boy-done-good story and move on. But Connor's app is a microcosm of the type of innovation South Africa will need if it wants to make EVs mainstream rather than a niche hobby for the wealthy. The Western Cape is establishing itself as the country's EV leader. Golden Arrow Bus Service has begun rolling out 120 electric buses, 20 of which are already in service, following a successful pilot. 'In the public transport sector, the shift to electric vehicles is critical to achieving sustainable mobility for commuters and creating economic opportunities and job creation in various sectors of the province,' said Isaac Sileku, the Western Cape minister of mobility. Government motor transport is adding hybrids and battery electrics to its fleet, aiming for 2.5% new energy vehicles this year. Charging infrastructure is sprouting across the province, albeit slowly, with 55 stations, 18 of them DC fast chargers. Yet, for all the planning and roadmaps, the gap between policy and personal adoption is still wide. This is where projects like Connor's come in – tools that empower people to make more sense of EV ownership. What this means for you Instead of guessing whether your solar setup can handle an EV, apps like Connor's can give you hard numbers before you spend a cent; The next wave of practical EV solutions may not come from big corporations but from small-scale problem solvers; As tools like this make EV ownership less intimidating, the move away from petrol and diesel becomes more realistic for households; and Every coder, technician and designer working on EV tech strengthens South Africa's green economy. A glimpse of the future What makes Connor's win notable isn't just that he beat out dozens of other entries or that he wrote the app in less time than a Sanral meeting takes. It's that he created a functional bridge between two of the country's most urgent realities: a rapidly warming climate and a creaking, unreliable grid. A 2015 study by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research predicted that by 2050 nearly half of Cape Town's vehicles could be electric. If that happens, the demand for home charging solutions will skyrocket. 'Billions of rands leave South Africa to buy fuel, to buy oil and to find fuel from countries like Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. We feel that we want to keep that money in South Africa, so that there is more money to go around. Despite Eskom, which is one of our biggest polluters, it's still cleaner to drive an EV than to drive a petrol diesel car,' Justus Visagie, EVs on Display co-organiser, said. Gerrit Kruiswijk, the other organiser of the showcase, said that targeting young people matters. 'With South Africa, in the very early stages of electric vehicle adoption, it is so important that we start educating the youth. They are going to make future decisions on buying vehicles, not only for themselves, but for their parents and your grandparents,' he said. Kruiswijk believes that Hermanus itself could become a model for EV-led transport. With traffic jams choking the town during tourist season, the vision includes electric buses and shuttles, taking inspiration from Oslo's clean transit systems, to turn the town into a pioneer in South African EV adoption. DM
Forbes
15-05-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Test-Driving The 2025 Ford Transit Custom PHEV—Power To The Masses
2025 Ford Transit Custom PHEV Matthew MacConnell The Ford Transit Custom PHEV is the blue oval's entry into efficient hauling. Remember the 2007 Ford Transit SportVan? It featured heaps of sporty trimmings like go-faster stripes, twin exhausts, lowered suspension, and 18-inch alloys, things usually reserved for Ford's ST range. It was for those still connected to their youth and yearning approval from fellow construction site colleagues; underneath its athletic bodywork was the usual 129 bhp 2.2-litre diesel engine. Ford has since evolved its sporty Transit by giving it a meatier plug-in hybrid powertrain to match its looks—that's more like it! If racing stripes and rear spoilers aren't your thing, you can opt for the non-sport guise and still get the 228 bhp powerplant. Like the all-electric E-Transit Custom, the PHEV drives the front wheels via a single-setting continuously variable transmission, meaning it drives like an automatic. It has eight driving modes: Normal, Eco, Tow/Haul, Slippery and Sport. These settings can be found in most Ford's nowadays, but the PHEV can tow a 2.3t trailer. Being a hybrid, it gets three more modes: EV Auto, EV Now and EV Later. EV Auto is all you'll need for real-world driving. Here, the van will choose between electric and petrol power depending on the environment. EV Now engages the electric motor only, and EV Later preserves battery range. Ford Transit PHEV Matthew MacConnell During my week with the Ford Transit Custom PHEV, I ran the 11.8kWh battery flat, because let's be honest, van drivers might not have time to charge it as they skip from job to job. With the battery charged, the van returned 173 mpg. Battery drained, and using only the 2.5-litre engine, it returned 37 mpg. It's the quickest van I've driven; cracking 0-to-62mph in 8.3 seconds and 30-70mph in 8.6 seconds. There's heaps of power and torque for overtakes, although it can be fitted with a 70 mph governor. A handy feature if it's a company vehicle. Up front, you'll find three reasonably sized seats, and because it's technically an automatic, there's no gearbox tunnel, meaning cabin entry from each side is easy. Likewise, it has heaps of storage from large door bins to cupholders and in-built dashboard cubbies. But there's no overhead storage for clipboards or books. The steering wheel is littered with buttons to control the radio, cruise control and various digital dashboard settings, but the vehicle's settings are changed via the 13-inch touchscreen. Ford Transit PHEV interior Matthew MacConnell The Sync 4 touchscreen is quick enough and includes Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Below the touchscreen are five physical buttons, which control the driving modes, parking sensors, window demister, radio volume and reversing camera display. There are also two USB ports and a 12v socket. At motorway/highway speeds, it remains relatively hush; my sound meter recorded 70dB at 70mph. An E-Transit is quieter, but that's to be expected. Ford Transit PHEV load area Matthew MacConnell My loaner was the 320 L2 H1, which means it can take a 1,361kg gross payload and has a load capacity of 6.80 m3. Opening the 90 through to 180-degree rear doors reveals a 3,002mm loadspace length, which came in handy during various junkyard runs. There are a few tie-down loops in the load bay to secure loads, and a full-height steel bulkhead protects the cabin from loose items. It's quiet, smooth, powerful, efficient, and it's easy to lose smaller items in its vast loading area (ask me how I know), but it comes at a cost. The base vehicle costs £44,384, but my loaner tipped the scales at £49,749 because of a few extras like the stunning Digital Blue Aqua paintwork, a B&O sound system, 19-inch alloys and a digital rear-view mirror. A diesel equivalent will return circa 40mpg; most of my journeys were short motorway runs with occasional backroad and town driving. Therefore the Ford Transit Custom PHEV would make more sense if your journeys were shorter.
