Introduction
As an SSI(Self Sovereign Individual) I know that paying for fuel makes no sense. Every single year fuel gets more and more expensive, and we’re the ones who end up paying through the nose for it. Fossil fuels are bad for our health, the planet and the pocket – so when the most affordable EV hit the South African market, I was already in line.
After 10 months of owning a Chinese BYD EV, was it worth it? Lets find out.
Costs
Price
I bought the BYD Dolphin Surf Dynamic. It’s one model higher than the base version and it cost R399,000(₿0.18 at that time). I wanted this particular model because the 39.9kWh battery provides 295km (WLTP cycle) worth of range, and it would handle practically any length of trip rather the base model which provides 200km at R329,000.
To my chagrin, I later learned that in China, the base BYD Dolphin cost $10,000(R170,000 or ₿0.07). You have to ask why we’re paying so much more in SA for the exact same vehicle. The reason is because of an ad valorem tax of 24% imposed by the government, and without it my EV would have cost R300k at most. The government benefits enormously from these ad valorem taxes at the expense of South Africans ability to transport and travel cheaply.
Nevertheless, I know that it’s important being an early adopter in some cases and taking a hit early on. I’ll touch on why this is important later on.
Fuel Cost
I pay nothing for fuel because I charge my EV with my solar system. And even though I’m using the 7kW granny charger which charges at 5-7% per hour, it still works great – it feels like I’m plugging in a kettle. I must admit I have been lazy to install the free BYD 20kw accessory charger which would charge the entire battery in 5 hours.
I’ve also learned there’s no need to fully charge the battery. In fact it’s better keep the battery charged between 20% and 80% which works fine for me.
I have tried charging at Charge Stations which can be dirt cheap. The last time I did so, it cost me R60(~6000 Sats) to charge from 40% to 100% in an hour.
It’s interesting comparing the fuel savings. Currently, fuel consumption for an ICE(Internal Combustion Engine) vehicle is 10 liters/100kms and R25 per liter of petrol, resulting in R250/100km petrol consumption. Whereas my EV uses 12kWh/100kms( EV consumption calculation : kwh/100km), household electricity costs R3.00/kW, resulting in a energy consumption of R36/100km.
| ICE | EV | |
|---|---|---|
| Consumption | 10L/100kms | 12kWh/100kms |
| Energy/Fuel Cost | R25/L | R3.00/kW |
| Consumption Cost | R250/100km | R35/100km |
| R1000 | R140 |
That’s a 70% cost saving!
I understand some people are paying R2000 per month on fuel which is a massive waste of money. You’d rather buy an old EV or a new cheap one, and save 70%to 100% of your fuel costs.
Some Other Stats
The EV battery is an 38.9 kWh BYD LFP battery pack. Interestingly, my home solar system has a 10.5kWh battery which makes you wonder if you could run your home off of your car battery. The EV supports Vehicle to Load which means you can power things like laptop or microwave. I believe the newer EVs now support Vehicle to Grid which means you could actually be paid to stabilize the electrical grid in future.
When driving I average 11.0 kW-h/100km.
Fender Bender Accident
Thanks to my stupidity, I did have a fender bender in May which was all my fault – I reversed into brick column. That’s costing me R6,500 to fix. I haven’t been impressed with that process though. It’s taken weeks to get the parts, the service of the panel beaters is bad despite having fancy offices and they even skimp on a courtesy cars. Thank goodness for Uber.
Clearly, the supply chains aren’t set up well to provide parts for the vehicles. This is nearsighted considering that we know everything will be electric very soon. The country of Loas just had 100% EV imports this year and we’re still slacking on supply chain.
This was incident was sore, but a good learning experience. Clearly we in South Africa will need to start thinking holistically about navigating this transition. We know what’s coming, so we need to be prepared for the changes.
Insurance
Insurance costs about R843 for the EV. I reckon I should paying less and getting more value.
It does make me wonder about the future of insurance though. When FSD (Full Self Driving) becomes prevalent, how will insurance react? The studies and real world data show that AEVs(Autonomous Electric Vehicles) have less accidents than people, so will insurance be forced to drop prices? Is that another cost we can expect to disappear?
Features
I’m not really a car person, so I don’t know much about the features, but what is there is Great.
BYD EV App:
- The app lets you open the car with your phone
- You can see how charging status and;
- It tells you about any issues with the EV from wherever you are.
Phone:
- Your phone connects to the car via Apple Airplay or Android Auto.
Other:
- You can speak to the car and tell it where you want to go.
- You take phone calls while driving and listen to podcasts.
- Lots of apps on the EV
Bottom Line : It’s Dope.
Issues
- Tyre pressure : The car has been complaining about tyre pressure, but I already filled the air pressure correctly. The dealership wasn’t much help in resolving this. I reckon its just our usual South African bad service and poor knowledge when dealing with customers. This is a problem I’ll sort that out later.
- EV goes silent : I’m not sure if I had a problem, but initially it felt like the EV switched off once or twice. The EV is already very silent, so you’re not sure if it’s on. Also when you’ve stopped at a traffic light, the brake automatically kicks in and everything goes quiet so you’re not sure if the EV is off. It’s nice because you can take your foot off the brake and chill. But I’m not sure if the EV switched off. Maybe this isn’t a problem, but it still takes getting used to.
- Beeping with Passengers in the back: The EV is safety focused, so if someone isn’t buckled in the EV beeps. One time a backseat passenger had their seat belt clicked in and it was still beeping. He had to redo once or twice before it stopped beeping.
These EVs are getting more technologically advanced, so I think quirks crop up like with your phone or computer. I like it for the convenience, but there is something to be said for mechanical devices being easier to understand and fix.
Experience
This car is phenomenal. Even though I overpaid(relatively speaking), it’s total value for money.
The ride is smooth and quiet. It’s zippy and you feel like driving briskly. Its got enough power on the highway, overtakes easily and feels like an extension of your body.
Regular driving is just a pain in the neck. We do it because we’ve got places to be. But this EV makes driving a pleasant experience and you can sit back and relax. I still don’t like driving, but this EV makes it so much better.
The best part is that I got the BYD EV before the global oil shock. Not having to pay exorbitant fuel costs at a petrol station is absolute bliss, not to mention I’ll never have to see a petrol station ever again.
Hands down this is the best car I’ve had.
Wrights laws
Moore’s Law states that every 18 months, computer processing speed doubles. Wrights Law is similar buts deals with production of physical goods. Wrights Law occurs when you double production of an item, and then the cost to produce that item falls in price(usually by 20%).
And this is also why we’re seeing so many inexpensive Chinese vehicles on the road. China produces millions of EVs each year. For each new doubling of EVs they make, the price drops another 20%.
This is applied to all technology like cell phones, smart watches and laptops, and this will now apply to all vehicles going forward including trucks, small airplanes and shipping tankers. So expect everything to get cheaper.
Sodium Ion Batteries
Sodium Ion batteries are now going into production this year. Sodium(Salt) is everywhere and now these batteries don’t need lithium and other expensive minerals – they can just use salt.
So battery prices are set to crater and this nest point is important. The biggest cost of an EV is the battery which is half the cost of it, so if that prices crashes, you can be expecting to pay less than R100k for an EV in the near future.
Competition Geely
As mentioned I’m an early adopter with respect to somethings. Even though my BYD Dolphin is inexpensive, the newer EVs coming out are cheaper and have more features and functionality.
A good example of this is the Geely E2 that recently launched. It’s similar to my BYD but with more bells and whistles. That’s Wright’s Law in action. The over production has resulted in a model that’s a little cheaper with a little more to offer.
Breaking Bad
I can clearly see how government and certain big businesses fail given this new paradigm.
The two most expensive imports for practically all countries in the world are oil and vehicles.
South Africa is no exception. When these industries collapse it takes down a lot of big players.
Close to half of what you pay for fuel goes towards taxes of some kind : General Fuel Levy, Road Accident Fund Levy, Wholesale and Retail Margin, Transport and Storage. Basically half of what you pay goes to government and big business.
When we collectively switch over to EVs, this will drain governments taxes(general fuel and RAF levy) and big business rentier extraction fees(Wholesale and Retail Margin, Transport and storage). This has the ability to collapse those institutions and they won’t adapt quickly enough to the changes.
But it’s bigger than that. The legacy auto manufacturers cannot keep pace with the Chinese. Case in point – VW has just cut 140,000 jobs. So you can add legacy auto manufacturers to that list of entities that will collapse.
To close the circle, that now means the two biggest imports for any country goes away because citizens generate their own electricity and they’re buying inexpensive Chinese EVs.
Decentralization of our energy production (solar systems) and electrification of all transport, will bring massive benefits for all of us.
South Africa Taxes
We in South Africa pay a lot of taxes. Taxes should be paid because the state is obligated provide public goods like road infrastructure, and private citizens as well as businesses are unlikely to fund public infrastructure. Having said that most of our taxes are wasted so I don’t feel particularly obliged to fulfill my part of the social contract if the state is failing theirs.
Below is a short list of taxes we pay, and I think of how I can avoid taxes(not tax evasion) by using self sovereign means, By adopting electrification we can legitimately avoid some of the taxes. Going forward I’m keen to see what other self sovereign means can reduce taxes even further.
| List of South African Taxes | |
|---|---|
| Direct Taxes (Income & Wealth) | Personal Income Tax (PIT) PAYE |
| Capital Gains Tax (CGT) | |
| Dividends Tax | |
| Wealth Transfer & Property Taxes | Transfer Duty |
| Estate Duty | |
| Donations Tax | |
| Municipal Property Rates | |
| Indirect Taxes (Consumption & Transactions) | Value-Added Tax (VAT) |
| Excise Duties (“Sin Taxes”) | |
| ❗Electrification removes these – General Fuel Levy – Road Accident Fund (RAF) Levy – Customs and Excise Levy on petroleum | |
| Customs Duties & Tariffs | |
| Securities Transfer Tax (STT) | |
| Air Passenger Tax | |
| Carbon Tax | |
| Mandatory Payroll & Social Levies | Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) |
| Skills Development Levy (SDL) | |
| COIDA (Workmen’s Compensation) |
Conclusion
My BYD Dolphin Surf is Dope! It’s gives me all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings. I have a vehicle that is genuinely technologically advanced. It’s fast, slick, comfortable and fits me like a glove. I don’t pay for fuel, and I charge it for free with solar energy. The government is being denied taxes, and the legacy auto manufacturers which produce expensive, ancient ICE vehicles are failing. I’m protecting the planet, clearing the air and dropping the noise levels.
It feels like we’re driving into the future.
Leave a Reply