"We are excited to bring our industry-leading products to South Africa and provide users with reliable energy sources and sustainable energy solutions," said Joy Wu, head of LAMEA&APAC at EcoFlow. "The showroom serves as a dedicated platform for users to experience our energy solutions firsthand.”
Visitors can view the entire Ecoflow range on sale in South Africa including the popular River 2 and Delta 2 portable power stations and the off-grid solutions like Power Kits and the Smart Home Panel.
“Ecoflow wants to take away the emotions of the purchase, because South Africans are shopping for solutions to a traumatic load shedding experience and then end up buying cheaper,” explains Daniel Leshaba, the Ecoflow product specialist for the South African operations.
Leshaba came to Ecoflow by way of Rectron, an electronics sales agent, where he handled the brand’s business-to-business sales, selling into retail outlets. He says that the brand store allows product specialists to answer any questions that customers may have.
“We want to bring the South African public peace of mind,” continues Leshaba. “Ecoflow is on the more premium end of the market, so we want to empower customers to know that they’re spending money on quality and not just buying the cheapest load shedding solution that may come with other problems.”
The company updated its product lists in 2023 to included the second generation River and Delta power stations with the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries that offer benefits like more charge cycles, faster charging and better thermal stability over the older lithium-ion chemistries.
This technology is gaining traction in the automotive industry, specifically through manufacturers like Tesla and BYD, with Ford announcing a $3.5bn investment in an LFP plant in Marshall, Michigan in February.
While there is no LFP battery manufacturing in South Africa, Leshaba says the Ecoflow will pilot a local battery replacement service in the coming months where customers can have the replaceable battery (River 2 and Delta 2) swapped for a new one. That programme will be administered by local companies.
Ecoflow is also using the store to demo the home and outdoor market focused power kits that include batteries and inverters which can be controlled via an app and are generator and solar panel ready. This represents meaningful competition for the Huawei M-power offering that gives similar user benefits.
The new Ecoflow store is only a showroom and products are available to purchase through retailers and on the official website.
