Green charge spot a Hout Bay first

YOLANDE DU PREEZ

Hout Bay residents making use of electric scooters can now recharge their vehicles at Dario’s Café while enjoying a cappuccino.

The new charge points were officially launched on Sunday May 22 and the City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for transport, Brett Herron attended the event, cutting the green ribbon, to make it official.

He said it was a great initiative to encourage people to lower their carbon footprint.

Ewizz, a manufacturer, importer and builder of electric vehicles provided the charging infrastructure while Dario Mustarelli, café owner will provide the electricity.

A variety of Ewizz electric scooters were on display and founder, Andy Le May said the new charge points can charge up to three electric scooters at a time and are free to use for Ewizz customers visiting Dario’s Cafe.

He said the charging points in Hout Bay were the first to be launched as part of a new Ewizz charge network that will allow Capetonians and tourists to use Ewizz electric scooters and electric bikes to ride green routes all around the peninsula.

He explained due to the incredibly low power requirements and energy efficiency of Ewizz electric scooters the cost of the electricity is very manageable and around R1 an hour to recharge a bike.

“It’s a win-win situation for everyone,” he said.

He said the electric scooter charge point technology is very cost effective to install and using Ewizz electric scooters directly reduces traffic congestion, travel time and the harmful emissions we breathe.

“Switching to a Ewizz electric scooter is something we can all do to limit global warming, save money, save time and it is much easier that you think,” he said.

The charge points have been configured to only be available during opening hours at Dario’s café for safety reasons.

Mr Le May said care of the environment is an important consideration for everyone and running an electric vehicle is driving a cleaner and healthier future all.

“Nearly all of the materials in the electric scooters are reusable or recyclable and where we can reuse or recycle we do,” he said.

He explained that electric vehicles are much more efficient than petrol – with Ewizz electric scooters costing around 5c a kilometer in energy costs to run.

Electric scooters are much cheaper to run and more convenient to own because there is a lot less servicing needed and service intervals are much longer, he added.

Electric scooters have no belts, chains, pistons or gears to wear out and no filters, spark plugs or engine oils to change and no clutches either.

They are twist and go but have advanced features like regenerative braking and reverse.

Mr Le May said conventional internal combustion engines waste large amounts of energy in heat, noise and friction.

“This is all energy from the fuel that you have paid for but is being wasted because of the inefficiency of this old tech.

“Ewizz electric scooters are silent and smooth with nothing to burn yourself on and are around 10 times more efficient in energy usage.”

These scooters can be charged at any normal 16 Amp household plug point and they take between three and eight hours to charge from flat to full depending on model, charger and battery time. Faster charging systems are available.

Thrive founder; Bronwen Lankers-Byrne has been using an electric scooter, sponsored by Ewizz or a while.

She said she was thrilled with her scooter and would be recharging at Dario’s on a regular basis while enjoying a cappuccino.