"Green" technology - you can look but you can't have

Multinational motor companies are spending billions on alternative forms of energy, as well as on improving what they already have developed.

Nissan's Leaf electric car is the 2011 World Car of the Year. Ford's Fusion hybrid - a combination of electric and petrol power - has been voted North American car of the year. The Prius hybrid is Toyota's top-selling car in Japan. All over the world, cities are putting in infrastructure to support clean motoring. Hybrid, electric, solar, hydrogen, even nuclear - every potential alternative source of power is being investigated.

Late last year, the government introduced a new emissions tax for cars emitting more than 120 grams of carbon for every kilometre travelled. Then, this year, it extended the tax to some light commercial vehicles. The reason, according to the government, is to encourage motorists to become environmentally conscious and buy low-emission vehicles.

There's a catch

However, there's a catch. Many of those low-emission vehicles can't come to South Africa.

Absa's Green Vehicle Finance offers reduced rates to vehicles below the 120gm/km threshold. Absa executive Sydney Soundy said that the package reflects the reality of climate change. "Every person can play a part by making responsible decisions about the type of vehicle they drive."

But only 12 brands are represented on the initial list: Audi, Citroen, Daihatsu, Fiat, Ford, Honda, Lexus, Peugeot, Smart, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo. All have made giant strides in emissions control, but so have many others.

Some of the vehicles on the list are hybrids, but most are low-emission versions of the traditional combustion engine. There are no all-electric cars. Most electric cars have limited travel ranges and require regular recharging. Despite ongoing requests from motor companies to national and regional governments to consider city-centre recharging infrastructure, there appears to be little official urgency in SA to confront the issue.

Little demand in home market

Even Optimal Energy, the SA company hoping to build the locally-designed Joule electric car, recognises there will be little demand in its home market and that almost all its production will be exported. This, despite the fact that the government's own Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) is a partner in the project.

Hybrids have found it hard going as they try to make headway in SA. The Toyota Prius has been available for some years, but sales have been slow. Lexus, with its more upmarket, environmentally-aware target market, has fared better. Last year Honda entered the fray with the CR-Z, which it described as the world's first hybrid sports coupé.

The poor quality of SA fuel

But the biggest obstacle to green motoring progress has been the poor quality of SA fuel - both diesel and petrol. Diesel's main pollutant is sulphur. In SA, the most common diesel contains 500 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur. A cleaner version, 50ppm, is available in many areas, but not everywhere. The latest clean-burning diesel-engine technology, however, requires 10ppm.

Until this fuel becomes available in SA - probably not in quantity before 2017 - many of the world's cleanest vehicles will be unavailable in SA. Those that do come here will probably have to be re-engineered to use dirtier fuel, which rather defeats the purpose.

Several generations behind

It's the same with petrol. SA's fuel is several generations behind that of Europe, the US and Japan. Nearly all the world's motor companies have products available to SA. They want to bring in the latest and the best, but can't. Eckart Mayer, head of sales and marketing for Mercedes-Benz SA, complained: "Environmental issues are gaining importance here, but not at the rate we see elsewhere."

To make matters worse, the rest of the world isn't standing still while SA struggles to catch up. By the time we are up to current developed-world standards, they will have leaped ahead again. Mayer said: "Five years ago, no one would have predicted the breakthroughs we've seen in clean technologies. Look ahead 10 to15 years and we will see even greater changes in sustainable mobility."