Mellowcabs, an innovative Stellenbosch based start-up company, plans to change the face of transport in South Africa by rolling out the first eco-friendly metered transport system in the country. The company’s electric Tuk Tuks will make their debut in Belville in August or October (depending on licensing rights) and in Johannesburg and Cape Town by the end of 2018, following a successful pilot run.
A fully operational ‘Mellowcab’ ready to roll out on launch day. PHOTO: Michael Davidson
Looking beyond South Africa, the company aims to be active in the global market shortly after launch. “We’re in the final pre-launch phases, we’re scaling up production for both South Africa and Asia. We’re aiming to penetrate the market in India, where there are over 300 million Tuk Tuk trips daily. We’re thinking globally,” said Neil du Preez, founder of Mellowcabs.
The cabs will be brought out across the country in different phases as the various required permissions get approved. “If not for the licensing issues we’re experiencing here, our pilot would be launched in Stellenbosch,” said Du Preez. “We’re proudly Stellenbosch based, and we have a good relationship with the university. We would have loved to run our pilot here. ”
In the most recent CO2 emission ranking, South Africa was ranked as the 14th largest producer of CO2 emissions globally, and the largest emission contributor in Africa. Mellowcabs’ eco-friendly model could help reduce that. “The energy efficiency is much higher in electric vehicles than in internal combustion engines. The vehicle is 100% electric, and we’ve done everything we can to make it green.” said Bart Horn, Mellowcabs electrical engineer.
Different countries contributions to total global CO2 emissions.
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Mellowcabs is aiming to use its model to bring something new to the market. “Once we’ve established ourselves as a brand, the outsides of the vehicles will be wrapped in whichever corporation wants their brand on the cab,” said Ernie Aylward, Mellowcabs technical lead. “It’s really quite sexy for them [corporations], it’s an electric vehicle, it’s quiet, there isn’t really another vehicle like this in South Africa.”
An unpainted ‘Mellowcab’ standing on the manufacturing floor, ready to be branded. PHOTO: Michael Davidson
Mellowcabs will be implementing fast payment options in order to make the system as user-friendly and efficient as possible. “Inside the vehicle there will be a display screen, mainly for making payment easy. They’ll host Yoco and SnapScan,” said Aylward.
The vehicles will also feature a telematics system, which allows for interconnectivity between the physical world and the internet. “It means you could send it notifications, updating the software of the vehicle as its driving around town,” said Horn. “We’ll connect wifi too in later models. It’ll also help with gathering important data about how our product is used.”