Yellow BMW i3 to the Limpopo River
by Diana Studer
- gardening for biodiversity
in Cape Town, South Africa
I didn't anticipate our electric car escaping the city on an
expedition. His goal was Crooks Corner at the top of Kruger Park, where the
Limpopo River forms our border to Zimbabwe inland and Mozambique on the coast. A
long journey with many coaching inns to change the horses - instead we took the car on the
Premier Classe train to Johannesburg, and back. Three thousand kilometre round trip. Cape Town is convenient as
they use the last platform and we can drive straight on. Jo'burg was a devious
route up, down, and around, repeat. Again.
 |
| Loading our car on the train at Cape Town station We were up at 4 before the birds and the sun! |
We charged at BMW dealers. Most convenient in Pretoria at Club Motors
Fountains! In Polokwane and Emalahleni (Witbank) the outside charging
station was broken and they took the car into the workshop for us. We tried the
new (Jaguar) point at Ilanga Mall at Mbombela (Nelspruit) shopping mall, but it
wouldn't accept our BMW.
 |
| Charging at BMW in Pretoria |
He has been planning this journey for about a year. Asked
each host about charging. Magoebaskloof was impossible, till I suggested
plugging in at Reception overnight (with bonus load shedding, so we began that
day fully charged, but with only 160 km range at 4C. Quiet panic, but we
acquired kilometre as the day thawed)
In Mbombela / Nelspruit we had to park across the steps to
the main entrance, then trail the cable across to our room as the exterior plug
was broken.
 |
| Inconvenient charging, but possible |
The section of corrugated gravel was a nightmare, but the
good gravel roads were happy. Silently approaching the animals was a pleasure. Seven hundred kilometres in Kruger on tar or gravel roads.
 |
| Near Punda Maria on good gravel roads |
Mission accomplished. He reached Crooks Corner. I was
horrified that the 'great
grey-green, greasy Limpopo River' was absolutely dry. You could walk across
the sand to Zimbabwe!
 |
| Crooks Corner way up North in Kruger Park Mission accomplished! |
Thanks to a warning from his hiking companion we took two heavy duty extension leads 20 m and 10
m - which we needed to reach the plug along the boardwalk to our tent at Punda Maria.
 |
| Charging at our distant Punda Maria tent |
At Olifants Rest Camp
and Lower Sabie in Kruger Park we could park conveniently and feed the cable
straight to the plug.
 |
| Easy charging in Kruger |
Heading South we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.
 |
| On the Tropic of Capricorn |
At Pilgrim's Rest we were the most exciting thing they saw
that day. Always lots of questions about an electric
car. The Ungardener in the brown shirt - demonstrating no engine under the bonnet, and a socket under the petrol cap. Pictures of the unusual
dashboard too.
 |
| Pilgrim's Rest hadn't seen an electric car before Most exciting thing that day! |
Freshly charged on a good day we achieved over 340 km range
(but missed the photo proof).
2 091 kilometres of trouble free driving!
2 091 kilometres of trouble free driving!
 |
| Freshly charged on a good day |
Closing with a salutary reminder that our nice clean
electric car sadly draws its power from coal fired
power stations. This is Witbank. The town renamed eMalahleni ‘place of
coal’ in the Ndebele dialect. Huge issues around air pollution and associated
health risks - visible evidence of why South
Africa ranks SO poorly for carbon dioxide emissions.
 |
| Witbank coal fired power station BMW took us across to the shopping mall while they charged our car |
UPDATE: We added photovoltaic panels to our garage roof in 2020.
A few days up the West Coast for spring flowers in 2018
Sold our twenty year old Land Rover and bought this electric car in November 2017
2 Cape Town to the Limpopo River our journey up to Kruger Park
3 Pilgrim's Rest to Cape Town heading home
4 Elephants and friends
5 Clivia and Gerbera at home Walter Sisulu and Lowveld National Botanical Gardens
A few days up the West Coast for spring flowers in 2018
Sold our twenty year old Land Rover and bought this electric car in November 2017
2 Cape Town to the Limpopo River our journey up to Kruger Park
3 Pilgrim's Rest to Cape Town heading home
4 Elephants and friends
5 Clivia and Gerbera at home Walter Sisulu and Lowveld National Botanical Gardens
I invite you to join us at Elephant's Eye on False Bay.
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How wonderful that you have an electric car. I look forward to the day when they become more available and more affordable n the US. We also need more charging stations. Looks like you had quite the trip. xo Laura
ReplyDeleteAffordable would be good - we pay a heavy import duty unfortunately.
DeleteIf electric BMWs are available in the US, I've yet to see any but then we don't get many of the new European cars when they're first introduced. I want my next car to be electric but, even though I don't usually range long distances, I'd like to be assured that I could get 250 or more miles on a single charge. Charging stations can be difficult to find here too (even though California is ahead of the rest of the US pack there). My husband used to drive an electric car, a Mazda RX-7 he converted from a gas vehicle himself, but he drove it mainly to work, which was only a few miles away for most of his working years. When we moved to our current hilly location, he gave the car to our nephew, who sadly kept it only a couple of years before he went to college. My husband's brother donated it to the local high school automotive shop.
ReplyDeleteBMW are moving on to other models of electric cars. Glad we caught this iconic classic with its carbon fibre body. When the car battery needs replacing, technology will have moved on, and the range will increase.
DeleteSnap - I call it the bumble bee too ;~)
ReplyDeleteThat is a very exciting adventure! My son thinks my next car should be electric. We actually have some charging stations on the campus, though not sure about elsewhere in the area. Right now I make do with my hybrid which I truly enjoy. I enjoyed the trip as well as the car story!
ReplyDeleteA hybrid is a good compromise, if you are not using the car for short city distances.
DeleteI thought of Kipling as soon as I saw Limpopo in your post's title! What a trip you've had - we're considering an electric car as our next purchase but have been put off by the worry about where to charge on long journeys, plus my engineer husband isn't convinced how green they actually are owing to the electricity has to come from somewhere. Good point that the car's range differs according to temperature - I hadn't thought about that, even though I see the same thing happens with the life of my camera's battery. Thanks for your insightful comments over at my place - I'm updating both my Swiss and Jewelweed posts thanks to you. I hadn't twigged capensis referred to the Cape and I'm intrigued how botanist Nicolaas Meerburgh made that mistake when he named the plant.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK you at least have the option to buy green / renewable energy. Our solar and wind energy goes to the national grid, then combined with coal and nuclear from Koeberg.
DeleteJust read your conversation with Kris. A local company (Dyson) is investing heavily in battery technology research and is in the process of building a massive new facility to do so just a few miles away from here.
ReplyDeleteGreat car. My daughter-in-law has a Tesla and loves it. Their community in Arizona is pressuring the electricity company to adopt solar energy - to no avail yet. P. x
ReplyDeleteArizona would be perfect for solar!
DeleteThe big utilities in Arizona (the sunniest state in the country) have worked with the Republicans in state government to fight solar energy in AZ as much as they possibly can. It's very sad.
DeleteThe Limpopo was dry. Yikes.
ReplyDeleteYour yellow I3 is very cool. Great planning to accomplish a long trip with minimal EV charging locations. We've been on several road trips with our EV, and enjoyed them all. More and more EVs and chargers here.
Your holiday with your electric car was much more challenging than ours! Congratulations in all you achieved, it certainly takes a lot of planning! How widespread are electric car points? There are over 15 different companies who run charge points here - they are meant to be moving to a touch screen payment which will be easier than signing up with so many companies! Did you meet any other owners of electric cars? We have found them to be so friendly and helpful. Sarah x
ReplyDeleteHe had to plan very carefully for charging (overnight at our accommodation was mostly straightforward) Jaguar has recently installed a new network - but we need a new card and a credit on their account. Otherwise we depend on BMW dealers in the cities, and the occasional shopping mall.
DeleteWe didn't meet any - but we did see one! in city traffic.