Post Archives - Generation E HQ

9 April 2020

Flipping The Coin - An Event Success Story During COVID-19 Lockdown

Julie Wurtz News, Post, SMW Press Release 0

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#fullydigital

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COVID-19 Causes Chaos Across the World

COVID-19 caused mass panic and chaos for the events industry, as I know it has for many industries and lives across the world. The mention of COVID-19, or ‘the Thing’ as Roger Atkins and Robert Llewelyn have started to call it, ignites real panic and uncertainty for the event industry, as events are inherently built on the fact that people come together on a specific date, in a specific location, for a joint interest or mission. With the Thing it’s currently not possible, and for good reasons, to bring 100s and 1000s of people together.

But when we realised that the Thing was in fact coming our way and it was not just a virus that affected only those in China and Italy, we realised we have to make a plan to adapt, to what became a descent from a 100% physical event called Smarter Mobility World, to a completely digital event called Smarter Mobility World LIVE. I say descent because that’s what it felt like at the beginning, and it was like a steady descent as we didn’t really know how serious the Thing was back in February.

Generation.e recently hosted a fully digital Smarter Mobility World LIVE event from The Sustainable City in Dubai. The Sustainable City (or TSC as we call it) is where the physical event was originally planned to take place. The venue was chosen because it offers a creative outside experience in one of the world’s most loved sustainable city developments, built on the ethos of community and people centric sustainable initiatives. They are also active in smarter mobility and have plans to do even more to deliver and develop smarter mobility solutions for the world. So far they initiated a new government run bus service with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority, and have designed an urban development that is easy to walk, ride, skate, run or gallop around. They’ve hosted an autonomous vehicle pilot study with BestMile and plan to run another one later this year with another autonomous vehicle company, they are developing an all electric car sharing programme, and they have installed charging stations around the city and most of the management drives electric.

“...we will be including virtual elements into all of our events going forward to ensure business, government, and consumers can join us whether they’re based in Cape Town, Cairo or Conakry.”

Ben Pullen

Co-Founder and CEO at Generation.e

Once we realised what the challenge was, after pulling together as much of the facts and figures around the Thing as possible, we actually realised that while we need to change tactics, this new plan of a fully digital event could actually be quite an opportunity for our partners, speakers, and Generation.e.

Therefore, we can replace the word ‘descent’ to ‘ascent’ as there was a new feeling of optimism and a realisation that the digital version of SMW could in fact be a really unique opportunity for our existing and new audience to engage with the summit, learn about smarter mobility, and network with key stakeholders around the world. For the speakers and partners the new platform created an opportunity to speak to a diverse audience from across the world and to demonstrate resilience and creativity during such a global crisis. Therefore, from here on I refer to the experience as an ‘ascent’ where we were climbing to a new summit that would enable us all to view the world in a refreshed way with positive lenses for how we can create even more impact through inspiring transformation to smarter mobility. With that in mind, the team, partners, speakers, and I began our ascent towards a better world.

We were driven to be able to deliver an event that offered some of the benefits that physical events offer, and to ensure that the two days could be engaging and fun. Our list of objectives for SMW LIVE included:

Be interactive for the audience and speakers
Utilise our amazing hosts to knit the two days of content, speakers, presentations, and session together
Retain the humanistic elements of physical events - which often revolve around mistakes, tech errors, and slightly awkward moments
Create more than just a ‘headshot webinar series’ as that restricts the audience to fully engage with the speakers and topics.

Over 18k peopled tuned in to watch the first Smarter Mobility World LIVE in March.

Organised in partnership with SEE INSTITUTE, COVID-19 risks forced the event to go digital.

The team successfully made the switch with less than 2 weeks to go. #digital #SMWLIVE #smartmobility pic.twitter.com/WRTwSZtvt5
— Generation.e (@generationehq) April 2, 2020

Lead the charge by joining us tomorrow for the Smarter Mobility World Summit LIVE from The Sustainable City on 24-25 March 2020, straight from the comfort of your couch: https://t.co/6O0KiWpWFp #SMWLIVE #AudiMiddleEast pic.twitter.com/co1LnJIrYZ
— Audi Middle East (@AudiMiddleEast) March 23, 2020

Therefore, to adopt this we decided to go for a LIVE event that would be filmed at The Sustainable City, embracing the beauty of the city and bringing the summit to life with a two day TV show.

However, as the Thing began to get worse, and it became clear that we would not be able to host any of the speakers on site we had to rethink how a live event would work if everyone was sitting at their house or office staring at their laptop or phone.

The solution: I would join the two professional hosts that we had invited to host SMW, and I became the TV Anchor based at The Sustainable City, at the SMW LIVE HQ. Roger Atkins (Founder of Electric Vehicles Outlook and most influential person for electric vehicles on LinkedIn) and Nicki Shields (Scientist and Presenter at CNN & Formula E) then became our global correspondents who would host sections, moderate sessions, and bring the event to life. I would be in the TSC studio with the backdrop of TSC, an Audi e-tron, and a Siemens SICHARGE Charging Station, in order to enhance the LIVE and interactive feeling of the two days.

Main highlights:

It was fun for the team and for the audience
We had over 50 incredible speakers join from across the world. We were honoured to have the UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, H.E Dr. Thani joined us on a video link to give the Welcome Address. This was one reassuring example of how the world came together to make Smarter Mobility World LIVE a success.
Over 18,000 people from over 80 countries tuned in to watch SMW LIVE 2020, and more and more people continue to watch the show online today.
Our sponsors and partners were amazing to work with, adapted to the situation, and embraced the new opportunity as best as they could.
We have two days of incredible knowledge and insights that we will be sharing with the world (the full live versions are available on the Generation.e YouTube page now and we’re editing the footage to release the ‘refined’ versions this week)
The team and I basically had a crash course in running a LIVE TV Show!
We realised that digital should be in all of our events going forward.
1. To mitigate the risk of shocks to physical events
2. Generation.e currently mainly operates in the Middle East and Africa. In these two regions there are business and governments whose budgets may not allow for travelling to events in different parts of the world. There are also countries where the strength of the passports do not make it easy to travel to other countries for summits and events. Therefore, we want to make sure that our summits and events are accessible to all, regardless of budget and passport.

The Challenges:

It was such a steep learning curve for us that it created anxiety and a lot of high pressured work. However, this has been beneficial to our team in understanding what we can achieve when we embrace the unknown with hunger and acceptance that failure is part of the process.
The constant change started to become a bit of a joke for the team and our stakeholders, as we literally had a completely new plan every week, if not every day!
When the tech went really wrong (which was around 3 times) it was really tough for the team and the speakers

Key learnings and advice:

Find the best tech partner that your budget can buy, they will be needed! Especially when things go wrong.
Do as much tech pre-event testing as possible with your team and anyone that will be involved in delivering the event (speakers, partners, tech team etc)
Build a strong running order. This is the document that explains exactly what will happen minute by minute and the whole delivery team should know it inside out. When things are going well - check the running order. Not sure what’s happening next - check the running order. When things are going wrong - check the running order. The running sheet is the go to doc for everything!

The formula we used was ‘daring to be different’ and once we gained perspective of what it meant to be different, were we then able to commit to our idea. While entering the territory of the unknown it was important that we had the right support during our new journey. Our partners and sponsors were that support system we needed in order to forge ahead with a virtual event.

The truth of the matter is it could have gone terribly wrong, but luckily it didn’t. There were mistakes along the way but we quickly learnt to adapt and fix them in real time, to ensure the show could go on. The lessons learnt in building a successful event and business is to boldly face external threats despite fear or doubt. When there is an expectation to be different there is a high possibility that you will consistently be ahead of the pack.

When you take risks you have a story to tell. When you boldly face challenges you become brave. When you learn to listen to your own voice and shut out the noise, you start trends. The ingredients to the success of the event came from finding these characteristics within ourselves and as a team. The irony is that the much dreaded “C” word (COVID-19) or the Thing was able to give us and our audience a platform to “define the next decade of smarter mobility” in a way that we would never have imagined. While this is happening we have the opportunity to redefine the way we live, the way we move and spend our time, and the way that we embrace this beautiful world without causing it such pain and damage.

Really interesting and funny speaker doing the keynote for the conference today!

So much faster to do a conference in Dubai via videoconference than flying to the other side of the globe! https://t.co/tEVWQCxuCB
— Dennis Pascual (@dennis_p) March 25, 2020

25 February 2020

New Report puts Saudi Arabia and the UAE as the frontrunners in the field of smart mobility

Yash Agarwal Post, SMW Press Release

It is often seen that when a city witnesses significant growth, there are a couple of byproducts that the authorities might not have anticipated. One of those side effects being excessive traffic congestion. While many cities are trying to curb this issue by promoting public transport, the GCC states are looking to follow suit but with the additional help of technology.

Similar to most global cases of urbanisation, Mark Haddad, a principal with Strategy& (Middle East) claims Saudi Arabia’s biggest cities are facing the usual urbanisation issues like frequent traffic jams, increased demand for transportation services which might further have negative environmental impacts as well.

Hence, the Kingdom is looking to adopt innovative solutions for its daily transportation needs for the betterment of its citizens by utilising smart mobility technologies. To further act as a catalyst for this smart mobility advancement, a recent study called “Smart Mobility in the GCC: Fast Track to the Future” released by Strategy& puts Saudi Arabia and the UAE as the frontrunners in the field of smart mobility in the Middle East.

Cities in Saudi Arabia are adopting their own methods of smart mobility solutions. For instance, the authorities behind the city of Neom touted to be as the futuristic megacity, recently announced their plans to develop the world’s most user-centric, eco-friendly and technologically advanced land mobility ecosystem.

The megacity is further said to be the first place in the world which is entirely digitised. This implies having a 24-hour health service, a 100 percent cashless facility and a fully autonomous mobility ecosphere where both personal and public transport will consist of only electric vehicles.

The capital city of Riyadh, on the other hand, has opted to focus on traffic management first, by enabling AI-based adaptive signaling project, capable of tracking and imposing fines for wielding unruly driving patterns at traffic junctions.

As per Haddad, the Kingdom is even eyeing the most popular emerging mass-transit technology: the hyperloop as well, to further speed up progress. Indicating towards the Virgin Hyperloop’s strategic partnership with the Economic Cities Authority of Saudi Arabia, Haddad told ArabNews that the Kingdom has already engaged in strategic partnerships with hyperloop technology players, so expect the loop to be up and running in the coming decade.

According to the report, employing smart mobility solutions across the GCC area will have broader benefits in several sectors. For instance, road accidents are expected to reduce due to the operation of automated vehicles. Smart-mobility public transport alternatives will ensure a larger number of citizens can travel more efficiently, leading to lesser travel time and minimal traffic gridlocks. Not to forget, the use of electric vehicles even in the public transport sector will see the city operating under a clean and green environment.

This advent of smart mobility will also have a positive impact on the labour class. The report claims the availability of such intelligent transport solutions might instigate the working class to move closer to the city while discarding their vehicles altogether. While those who choose to live away from the urban setup can still benefit from the autonomous transport facility by being productive during transit as well.

Furthermore, the report also foresees the country’s distant future to possess a well-connected transportation system. This system will witness autonomous vehicles (electrically-powered shared-mobility solutions) communicating with each other as well as smart infrastructures like adaptive traffic signals to create a faster, more sustainable, and more efficient system.

However, to build such a high-tech transportation network, Government frameworks and regulations might have to get amended. As per Dr. Ulrich Koegler, a partner with Strategy&, “Many governments will need to revamp the way they license and regulate vehicles to accommodate smart technologies.”

3 February 2020

Enel Foundation and Generation.e help define the next decade of smarter mobility

Julie Wurtz Post, SMW Press Release

Dubai, February 2, 2020

Enel Foundation and Generation.e are reinforcing their partnership as the award-winning non-profit focused on research and education for a clean energy world joins the Smarter Mobility Events 2020 as Global Knowledge Partner.

Smarter Mobility series of events brings together game changers, solution providers, ideators, policy shapers, and thought leaders from across the world to consider, collaborate, co-create and consolidate efforts for accelerating the transition to electric and smart mobility in Europe, Asia, Middle East & Africa.

The partnership will kick off with Smarter Mobility World, a unique 2-day summit taking place on the 24 - 25 March 2020 at The Sustainable City in Dubai.

The summit follows an interactive format blending visionary keynote presentations, case studies, expert panel discussions, peer-to-peer roundtables, and a thrilling experiential product showcasing bringing the best electric vehicles, scooters, planes, buses, autonomous vehicles, electric concept cars and more.

As Knowledge Partner for the Smarter Mobility World (SMW), Enel Foundation will share their most recent research data and insights around the electrification of the transport sector. In particular, Italy’s case study on “Transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy in the transport sector and its impact on society” will be presented. In addition, the partnership will allow the participation of Enel X e-Mobility experts in the SMW Pitch Series in partnership with Bedayat, a dedicated session where innovative companies within the smarter mobility and sustainable living sector have an opportunity to present their latest tech-savvy solutions to potential investors, clients, and partners. To find out more about this initiative go to Pitch Series page.

Enel Foundation Deputy Director João Duarte commented, “We see a lot of value in convergence of actors to accelerate electrification of transport and smarter mobility solutions, and are proud to share our knowledge and research at Smarter Mobility World and Smarter Mobility Africa”.

Ben Pullen, CEO & Co-Founder of Generation.e, said, “It’s been an absolute pleasure working with the Enel Foundation team over the last 12 months on our Generation.e activities to inspire transformation to smarter mobility in Africa and the Middle East. As we all know, knowledge is power and Enel Foundation is boosting capacity-building around the world to enable a faster transition to smarter mobility and cleaner energy access. The Generation.e team are looking forward to taking our partnership to a new level in 2020”.

More information about the agendas and tickets for the forums can be found here.

3 February 2020

UPS invests in Arrival to attain purpose-built electric delivery vehicles

Yash Agarwal Post

As the world works towards reducing carbon emissions and air pollution, it appears that they aren’t restricted to mere carmakers. Companies in every field are trying to minimise their carbon footprint. The latest one looking to adopt greener ways of operating is UPS.

Logistical company UPS recently announced an equity investment in UK-based tech company Arrival. The investment made via its venture capital arm, UPS Ventures comprises of a commitment made by UPS to purchase 10,000 tailor-built electric delivery vehicles from Arrival. This fleet of electric delivery vehicles will be added to its fleet for operations in the UK, Europe, and North America over the next four years.

The vehicles made by Arrival will get built on a modular skateboard platform. This translates to a customisable floor bed which can get modified to change shape or volume depending on the customers’ varied demands and vehicle types. According to Patrick Bion, Arrival’s chief of product, “We have the ability to change the wheelbase, to add front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive. We can also change the battery pack capacity so that the customer, if they only need 150 kilometres (90 miles) per day, doesn’t have to pay for a bigger battery that could theoretically do more.”

At present, the trucks due to get delivered to UPS are still in the prototype phase. This iteration is over 2.5 metres tall and is said to carry Blackberry’s QNX - a more corporate-focussed operating system majorly utilised by vehicles and robots. The company claims these vehicles can go from mere sketches to getting fabricated in just three months.

The above-mentioned investment will see both companies collaborating to develop a range of electric vehicles with Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS). This ADAS technology will better operational efficiency and promote automated movements inside UPS depots worldwide.

UPS will commence testing of the various ADAS functionalities later this year. Results of these tests will determine whether UPS will stick to its commitment towards the purchase of 10,000 purpose-built electric vehicles. Even though either firm didn’t disclose the prices of these trucks, reports from the Guardian claim this purchase deal to be worth €400m (£339m).

“UPS has been a strong strategic partner of Arrival’s, providing valuable insight into how electric delivery vans are used on the road and, importantly, how they can be completely optimised for drivers,” said Denis Sverdlov, Arrival chief executive. “Together, our teams have been working hard to create bespoke electric vehicles, based on our flexible skateboard platforms that meet the end-to-end needs of UPS from driving, loading/unloading and back-office operations. We are pleased that today’s investment and vehicle order creates even closer ties between our two companies.”

This won’t be the first stint where both companies came together. Since the past four years, both companies have been developing EV prototypes of varied shapes and sizes. 2018 saw Arrival deliver 35 EVs to UPS. These EVs came with zero tailpipe emissions, a 150-mile battery range and advanced safety features. UPS scheduled these EVs to get trialled in London and Paris the same year.

Arrival has asked UPS for their set of requirements and specifications. These demands include details as minor as shelving design, number of compartments and door opening sequence to major feature such as cargo load. “As soon as our vehicle leaves our facility, it’s ready for their operations,” Arrival CEO Bion said.

Arrival became the first commercial vehicle manufacturer to supply purpose-built electric vehicles to UPS. Being a technology company, Arrival boasts of having excelled in creating Generation 2 Electric Vehicles - a new product category that levels the cost of producing, designing and manufacturing electric vehicles to that of a regular Internal Combustion Engine vehicle.

Cost-effectiveness in producing these Generation 2 Electric Vehicles come at the back of utilising Arrival’s in-house software, components, sustainable materials and modular skateboard platforms. Even the core vehicle components like the chassis, powertrain, body and electronic controls are said to get produced indigenously. Hence, these EVs will get priced at par with the conventional ICE vehicles.

Carlton Rose, president of UPS Global Fleet Maintenance & Engineering said, “Our investment and partnership with Arrival is directly aligned with UPS’s transformation strategy, led by the deployment of cutting-edge technologies”. He further added, “These vehicles are the world’s most advanced package delivery vehicles, redefining industry standards for electric, connected and intelligent vehicle solutions.”

Arrival will be building these trucks at micro-factories using lightweight-yet-durable materials created in-house. If UPS continues with its purchase commitment, the firm can even fast-track orders as necessary, courtesy of its recently-earned investor tag.

It’s been five years since the inception of Arrival and the next few years could be crucial to the tech firm to become a full-blown automaker. Originally named Charge, or Charge Auto, the tech firm started prototype testing with UPS in 2016. The same year witnessed Arrival striking a deal with Formula E. 2017 saw the firm initiate testing with the Royal Mail in London with the latter testing out six and seven and a half tonne trucks successfully in the British city. If Arrival can deliver demand-specific customised vehicles to UPS, we might be seeing the advent of Arrival in the commercial space. Look out Tesla Semi!

26 January 2020

ION to Operate and run NAVYA’s Autonomous Shuttles in the Middle East

Yash Agarwal Post

Attaining a sustainable and smart mobility infrastructure at the moment is an expensive and time-consuming affair. And to reap the benefits off electric and autonomous vehicles from the get-go, companies are having to resort to collaborations. The most recent association to go public comes from the Middle East.

UAE-based sustainable transport company ION has joined hands with NAVYA, a company pioneering in developing autonomous driving systems, to run and maintain their all-electric and autonomous shuttles in the UAE and GCC region. ION will take up the role of an official distributor for NAVYA’s products. ION will further engage in bringing in new customers, while catering to the existing customers by offering after-sales services.

NAVYA’s Autonom Shuttle will be the sole product entering the Middle East as a result of this partnership. Brought under a fleet scheme, the Autonom Shuttle will serve as the first-and-last-mile transportation solution in the areas as mentioned above.

At present, these autonomous vehicles can be found operating in Masdar City. Operational since October 2018, these self-driving shuttles can carry up to 15 passengers while having a provision for wheelchair accessibility. Each one of these is equipped with a host of sensors comprising of Lidar, odometry, GPS antenna and 360-degree cameras to map the environment, plan the route and drive itself to its destination without running over anyone.

These electric-propelled shuttles can reach maximum speeds of up to 25kph and charging one takes about 4 hours, if fast-charged. In terms of size, the Autonom Shuttles are marginally longer than a modern BMW 3-series but significantly broader and taller than it.

Commenting on the occasion, Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO of Bee’ah and member of the Board of Directors at ION, said: “Our partnership with NAVYA stems from our commitment to revolutionize transportation in the Middle East region, making it greener and smarter, which is key to a better quality of life for cities and communities. This partnership will help ION on its journey towards environmental sustainability and the development of a zero-emissions transportation network in the UAE and wider region.”

Expect more autonomous shuttles to hit the roads of the Middle East in the next couple of years. In the meantime, ION technicians are being made to go through a training workshop on the Autonom Shuttle, in a bid to ensure the ground staff can keep the service up and running at all times.

ION was formed as a joint venture between Bee’ah and CE-Creates, the business incubation platform of Crescent Enterprises. Through innovations in green mobility, ION is working towards attaining a zero-emissions transportation infrastructure in the Middle East region. And this collaboration undoubtedly looks like a step in the right direction.

22 July 2019

Dubai EV road-tripper on the benefits of owning an EV

Rebecca Cooke News, Post 1

When Salman Hussain first heard about Electric Vehicles (EVs) he was simply intrigued by the promise and ingenuity of sustainable transport. After doing his research on the electric cars on the market in Dubai, he took the plunge and became Dubai’s first Renault Zoe electric owner, joining EVRT Middle East (known as Emirates EVRT back then) for the adventure of a lifetime!

Behind the wheel of his new EV, Salman discovered an exciting new way to travel that improved his life in ways that he couldn’t have imagined before embarking on a journey across the UAE to prove the power and endless possibilities of an electric future for his country.

In fact, after his first EVRT experience, Salman enjoyed it so much he joined the convoy for a second time, making him an EVRT veteran. On this trip, Salman was introduced to a very special someone, the Chevrolet Bolt EV, a game changer in the electric vehicle space, combining reliability and affordability matched with great styling. Salman upgraded his Renault Zoe electric to become the proud owner of Chevrolet Bolt EV and they’ve been inseparable ever since.

We caught up with Salman to ask about his journey from EV road trips to Chevrolet Bolt EV ownership.

“I’ve generally been a car fan, Ferrari posters and all, but I was intrigued by EVs. The first time I saw an electric vehicle was a Reva in London and I was fascinated.” The REVAi, known as G-Wiz in the UK is a small micro electric car, made by the Indian manufacturer Reva Electric Car Company. “The first EV I ever drove was my Renault Zoe. I love the car, but it was the promise of sustainable mobility that prompted me to get excited.”

Salman said his experience of EVs surprised him in a few ways. Firstly, the pace of technology and the incredible leap from laptop batteries to the creation of a car battery that can power sustainable, practical and durable EVs. The Bolt EV is powered by the all-new cell and battery pack from Chevrolet. Spanning the entire floor of the vehicle, the Bolt EV delivers on both energy and power, making it a fun-to-drive car, on top of its green credentials.

“The Bolt EV is a natural head turner and I was impressed by the eye-catching finish, especially the interior which is spacious and comfortable for five passengers, a surprise when you see it from the outside. This is something I wouldn’t have expected but certainly fell in love with!”

Salman’s Chevrolet Bolt EV boasts a long range of up to 520km on a single charge, making it a viable, everyday clean transport solution. “My real concern about switching to electric was the range and I know this is a common concern for other people who are considering buying an EV – the thought of running out of battery on the middle of Sheikh Zayed Road was not something I wanted! However, the Bolt EV delivers long range reliability as well as multiple charging options, including a fast charge option, so my range anxiety has been put to bed. It has improved my lifestyle and I find my EV a big improvement.”

And when the time comes to power up again, Salman recently got a pin plug for charging, so can now plug in and charge from any electric output.

Another benefit that Salman noticed in comparison to an internal combustion engine vehicle is savings on his maintenance bills. “It was a big consideration when I realized that EVs are cheaper to run than petrol cars. The first check with the Bolt EV is at 10,000km, as with a petrol car, however it will require only a general check and a tire rotation, which is much more friendly on the pocket! The next service, at 30,000 km will need the cabin air filter replaced which will then see me through for another 30,000km. The savings for me are already tangible and this is a huge positive.”

When asked if he would ever consider going back to a car with an internal combustion engine, Salman says: “If I did not have the convenience of a charging station nearby I would have to, but you would have to force my hand!”

If you’re curious about how making the switch to an EV could change your life, we invite you to join us for EVRT Africa. It’s Africa’s first electric vehicle road trip and see for yourself the power and practicality of the latest and greatest EVs. Find out more here https://www.evrtafrica.com/

25 June 2019

Six steps to speed up Electric Vehicle adoption in South Africa

AAEP News, Post 0

3 June 2019

Everything you need to know about EVs in South Africa

Adam Workman News, Post 0

Drivers are increasingly going electric in SA – if you want to join them, here is a guide to the essential information

The electric-vehicle revolution is gathering momentum in South Africa, with modest beginnings starting to blossom into a full-on movement – something that will be catalysed even further by EVRT Africa in October.

According to figures revealed by South Africa’s Minister of Transport, Dr Blade Nzimande, the country had 867 EVs registered as of March this year. And that number is set to increase significantly with a number of manufacturers either entering or planning to enter the market.

Indeed, earlier this year, Jaguar Land Rover South Africa predicted that 43,000 new EVs could be sold in the country in the next six years, which would represent a phenomenal growth – time to get in on the ground floor.

Why should you make the switch ?

The most tangible metric is the carbon footprint of EVs versus that of petrol cars. On average, an EV is calculated to have approximately half the carbon footprint of an equivalent petrol-powered vehicle. And although South Africa’s energy grid is more reliant on fossil fuels than in many other countries, a move towards solar-powered charging stations will help to combat this disparity.

The cost of charging your EV will vary depending on the manufacturer and model. To give a ballpark example, however, according to CAR magazine, one of the most respected automotive media names in the country, in a recent road test, a full 95kWh recharge for an Audi e-tron 55 Quattro SUV at home would cost between R300 and R350.

Which brings us to the next vital question…

Which EV models are currently available in South Africa?

Choices when sizing up which EV to shell out your hard-earned cash on are, admittedly, rather limited right now. But the options are expanding all the time and this year will see several new models go on sale.

The latest contender to throw its metaphorical hat in the ring is the Jaguar I-Pace, the much-celebrated all-electric SUV, which has won numerous prestigious awards across the world since it first saw the light of day last year. Jaguar currently lists its starting price as from R1,687,200.

The BMW i3 is the market veteran, by comparison, with the charming little hatchback retailing from R658,500.

The Nissan Leaf, meanwhile, which was previously on sale in SA, is currently unavailable until the arrival of the new Leaf model, representatives from the Japanese carmaker told us. A date for that arrival is TBC.

So what else is next? The aforementioned Audi e-tron is mooted for the final quarter of 2019, according to CAR, while compatriot carmaker Mercedes-Benz is also preparing its competitor, the EQC, for later in the year.

Away from the household names, NeuWai, a brand of South Korea’s Songuo Motors, has plans to sell a new generation of affordable electric vehicles in South Africa from as early as 2020. Business Insider South Africa recently reported that the brand promised “fun-to-drive vehicles” that “make people happy”, which sounds rather heartwarming.

And what of the most-discussed EV brand on the planet? Well, South Africa’s electric-endorsing expat son, Elon Musk, tweeted in December that he hoped to have Teslas on the roads in his homeland by “probably end of” 2019. Keep your fingers crossed, then, for the Model S, Model X, Model 3 and, farther in the future, the Model Y and the new Roadster.

As it stands, the strict guidelines for personal imports of cars into South Africa don’t include any specific provisions for EVs. So for now, the best route for owning an EV in the country is buying one of the models mentioned above through the official dealerships (and reputable second-hand channels).

How does it work and where can you charge ?

Charging your EV couldn’t be easier – on the go, it’s simply a case of locating a charging station on South Africa’s growing network (either a regular station or a high-power fast charger), plugging in your vehicle and juicing it up the required amount.

The best way to find your nearest charging stations and plan routes using an EV is to consult PlugShare’s nifty website and app (for iOS and Android) – visit www.plugshare.com. PlugShare details information on charging plug types, network providers, locations where you will need to pay for charging and facilities at the charging stations, so you can recharge yourself as well as your four-wheeled friend.

Replenishing from the comfort of your own abode is even simpler – just about every EV manufacturer provided cables and connectors for home charging while you eat, sleep or Netflix to your heart’s content.

9 May 2019

The roadmap to accelerating EV and smart mobility adoption

Rebecca Cooke News, Post 0

9 May 2019

Electric dreams: my memories of taking part in the EVRT Middle East

Adam Workman News, Post 0

Ever since first getting my hands on a Tesla three years ago – a white-knuckle road test through the foothills of the Austrian Alps outside Vienna in a Model S P90D Ludicrous edition – I’ve been an unashamed electric car convert. As I write this, I’m awaiting a pre-ordered Model 3.

Living in Abu Dhabi, the timing was good: the first iteration of the EVRT Middle East landed in the UAE less than six months after my Model S experience, and although I missed that debut event thanks to a pre-arranged trip overseas, when the second helping hit the region in January 2018, I made sure to book myself in.

That first personal taste of the EVRT was, sadly, all too short, with work commitments meaning I was only able to jump on the opening stint from the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi south to the Tilal Liwa Hotel, a desert resort on the fringes of Madinat Zayed.

My ride wasn’t quite as speedy as that Ludicrous-level Tesla, but the 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV demonstrated that there is plentiful life at the opposite end of the electric-car scale, being treated to a preview of the car before anybody else in the Middle East. Accompanied by a revolving cast of fellow motoring journalists, under the watchful, knowledgeable eye of GM comms and product don Ronald Balit, we eked out the little Bolt’s relatively modest range – and my abiding memory is of the whole car gleefully taking photos of a road sign for Million Street. Said amount of UAE dirhams would buy you more than five Bolt EVs in the Emirates.

As the distance went up, the camaraderie did so incrementally a year later on the EVRT Middle East 2019 – this time around, I was able to commit to the 500 kilometres or so that opened the event between Abu Dhabi and Muscat. That longer leg meant that charging stops would become an important focal point.

The first drive saw me grouped with an eclectic team that spanned enthusiasts to industry and showed off the community-crossing potential of the road trips. American EV devotee Charlotte Omoto was first in the driver’s seat, entertaining and informing the other three occupants: myself, green lifer Ben Hill (former vice president of Tesla Europe, Africa & Middle East) and journalist Kyle Hill (of trailblazing US website CleanTechnica). One breakfast break and a team shuffle later, Charlotte and I were joined by the amiable motoring vlogger known to his 150,000-plus YouTube subscribers as Mr Mawater. The teamwork – and an impromptu pub-grub pit stop – that followed in our attempts to keep our Model S charged all the way to Oman’s capital were in fact so successful that we were the first road trippers to reach the day’s destination.

The beating-the-system feeling of locating a squirrelled-away destination charger in Al Ain for a top-up, just before crossing the border into Oman, was only matched by the team bonding that resulted in Omani city Sohar – it was there that we decamped to the aforementioned pub for satisfyingly greasy food and some rounds of pool while the Tesla’s battery refilled outside. You don’t get that kind of socialising at your local petrol station.

Quite aside from clambering into new EV models in a real-world setting before the general public and, for anybody who hasn’t previously been an owner, first-hand experience of the charging lifestyle, what really stood out on my two EVRT events so far is the people I met. Indeed, the friendships forged meant I’ve kept in touch with several of them. The spectrum of nationalities, ages and professions cannot fail to take you enjoyably out of your own social bubble.

Another continent is about to be conquered. EVRT Africa is set to add multiple new dimensions to the whole road-trip format, with rolling South African landscapes – and probably a few wildlife sights – providing the canvas. It feels like something of a new frontier in electric cars’ seemingly unstoppable spread across the planet. And that pioneering spirit seems entirely in keeping with the EVRT ethos.

1 May 2019

How electric cars can help South Africa’s electricity grid

Adam Workman News, Post electric vehicle, news 0

Rather than placing extra strain on power supplies and causing load shedding, EVs have an important role to play in the future of electricity

Load shedding has become a hot topic in South Africa. For anybody who is unaware, in a nutshell, load shedding is a last-resort measure used to ease over-demand on the electricity grid via scheduled temporary localised power cuts.

With electric vehicles beginning to make real inroads around the country and this October’s first ever EVRT Africa set to raise the profile of EVs even further, many South Africans have voiced concerns that load shedding could be worsened by the power demands of charging them.

Ben Pullen, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Generation.e, first experienced load shedding in South Africa in October 2018. He says that concerns that EVs could exacerbate problems are wide of the mark – and that the grid could actually be aided.

“Currently there’s been no load shedding at nighttime – it’s been more of a daytime issue,” he explains. “So you’ll charge your vehicle at nighttime and you’ll be fully charged for the day ahead – it’s very rare you would use all of your battery [in a day] unless you were doing a long-distance road trip, which is rare for the majority of the population.

“What you’re doing actually is helping the grid. The current grids don’t act in a way where they can flick the energy on and off when they like, so [at off-peak times, such as during the night] you have electricity being generated and maybe being wasted. If cars can start taking some of that load at nighttime, it could be good for the grid, because they’ll sell those kilowatt hours instead of generating and wasting them.”

The next stage, indeed, is that electric vehicles are set to be able to feed power back into the grid, as well as via related tech such as Tesla’s Powerwall home battery.

“Nissan is one of the leaders of that technology right now,” Pullen says. “They’re already doing pilots around the world where they’re applying vehicle-to-grid technology, which means it becomes part of the grid – when the car needs energy, it can charge, but if the grid needs energy, it can feed some energy back. While we have a small amount of cars, it’s hard to imagine the impact, but even if we had 1,000 cars in an area, if all of them had batteries at 60kW, that’s 60,000kW of battery power. The car could become a battery storage unit, which the grid desperately needs – across the world, storage is the big challenge with electricity.

“Tesla Powerwall would charge itself from the grid and then you would use it for your home when it needs it, either when the grid’s down or, most likely, because you’re trying to benefit from buying electricity when it’s cheap and then using it when it would be expensive.”

As the owner of a BMW i3, Johannesburg-based Maletlabo Handel has enjoyed plenty of first-hand experience of running an electric car in South Africa. The EVRT Africa Project Coordinator is positive about the future – and the present.

“Load shedding is still a challenge in SA,” she admits, “but this has never affected my daily commute with my electric car. I just need to plug in my car during off-peak periods and in the morning I’m good to go with a guaranteed fully charged battery.

“The infrastructure is slowly being put into place strategically in SA, and with solar-powered charge points, soon worrying about charging your car during load shedding would be a thing of the past.”

It has been theorised in the past that too many EVs being charged in a small area could cause blackouts, but that is, Pullen says, “a lot of scaremongering. Technically, it could be an issue if you had hundreds and hundreds or thousands of cars all plugging in at the same time expecting the grid to give them power, but it’s not a risk that we need to be worried about in terms of it making the grid collapse. The best chargers all have demand-management capabilities. So, for example, if you had 10 charging stations, they can be controlled so they would never be charging, say, 22kW at once, because 220kW is quite a big load.”

Much like the way we are investing in our planet’s future by switching from petrol to electric vehicles, taking a forward-facing approach to power supplies is vital to South Africa’s future, Pullen stresses.

“If something isn’t working as well as it should be, it doesn’t mean you stop trying to improve anything,” he says. “So, yes, there is obviously an issue with the grid to provide consistent and sustainable power, but if we start ruling out new technologies, the grid’s going to be so outdated.

“It’s really important to embrace electric vehicles, battery storage, renewable energy and smart meters now – anything that helps the grid be smarter. There’s so much more that you can do with the grid. The more that someone like Eskom is embracing these technologies, it can only be a good thing, because it means they’re looking ahead to the future. South Africa cannot be left behind.”

1 May 2019

3 Intrepid EV Explorers

Rebecca Cooke News, Others, Post electric vehicle, news 0

For 21st century explorers, electric vehicles represent a new frontier in overland adventuring. As the power and capability of EVs develops there are new borders to cross, boundaries to break and records to set for intrepid travellers.

Check out these intrepid EV explorers who conquered the globe one EV charging port at a time.

1. Wiebe Wakker

For most of us a road trip might entail a week of country driving, coastal roads and a few picnics in scenic spots along the way. But Wiebe Wakker is not most of us. The Dutchman just completed the longest electric vehicle road trip taking three years to drive from the Netherlands to Australia. He set off from Amsterdam on the 15th of March 2016 in his fully electric vehicle named the Blue Bandit, headed for Sydney.

The car boasted a 150kW motor, a 37kW hour lithium ion battery with a range of 200km and a top speed of 180 km/ph.

Wakker set out to learn as much about sustainability and electric transport as possible on his journey and made pitstops at organisations and communities active in the sector to “show the challenges in various countries and explore innovative solutions and ideas.”

“I believe everyone can contribute to a more sustainable world. I try to do my part by showing the possibilities of sustainable mobility.” Says Wakker.

Wakker broke records by completing the world’s longest EV road trip when he arrived in Sydney, three years later in April this year.

Find out more about his journey, his car and his discoveries on the road via his website, PlugMeIn.

2. Chris Ramsey

Chris Ramsey made history by becoming the first person to complete The Mongol Rally in an EV. The rally renegade took on the 10,000+ mile challenge from the UK to Ulan-Ude.

Chris Ramsey and his wife Julie set off in their electric Nissan LEAF on July 16 headed for Ulan-Ude in Siberia, via Mongolia, along with 340 other petrol or diesel cars.

They arrived on Sunday 10 September after travelling across the mountain ranges, deserts and the steppe of Europe and Asia with no back-up, no support and no set route.

Ramsey said: “Over the past 55 days we’ve driven 10,000 miles across mountains, desert and grassland and our Nissan Leaf has coped with it all. I hope our adventure shows Scotland has taken the right decision to be ambitious and aim to phase out fossil fuel vehicles from 2032.”

Ramsey, who founded Plug In Adventures in 2011, has completed several previous rallies in his electric vehicle including John O’Groats to Land’s End, London to Monte Carlo and Scotland’s North Coast 500.

3. Marek Kamiński

Renowned Polish adventurer Marek Kamiński has made a name for himself mounting expeditions to the North and South Pole on foot.

In May 2018 he decided to turn his infamous adventurous streak to sustainable transport by testing the limits of EVs with his #NoTraceExpedition (see below tweet). Kaminski set out from his home in Poland to take on the mammoth 16,000km journey from Poland to Japan in a Nissan LEAF.

He made it to Japan in August 2018 after crossing two continents and nine countries with zero emissions in the 100% electric vehicle.

In his mission to challenge the myths around sustainable travel, Kaminski saw the Nissan LEAF as the perfect partner. The car produces zero tailpipe emissions and offers a host of features including Nissan e-Pedal and ProPILOT semi-autonomous driving system.

Kaminski said: “For me, this journey is not just about reaching my destination – it is also about making a simple, brilliant change to be more sustainable.

At Generation.e we know that EVs have the power to shape the sustainability of travel and we’re making the journey to clean mobility an unforgettable adventure. Don’t miss your chance to take on your own EV adventure. Join us for EVRT Africa Oct 2-10th, get your tickets online now here: https://www.evrtafrica.com/tickets

12 July 2018

London’s Electric Revolution gets a Boost from Zipcar

Julie Wurtz News, Post 0

The smart mobility movers and shakers were out in force last night as Zipcar UK throws a celebration event in London's Soho. I caught up with some familiar faces as well as meeting a few key people helping to shape our mobility future.

This evening I attended a cool and very underground launch event for a product that I have personally been waiting for for a long time! It was hosted in a basement of 51 Poland St. which was accessible only through Phonica Music Store, a record store that looks like it’s come straight out of the 90s. We were gathered to celebrate Zipcar’s introduction of electric vehicles to their car sharing fleet in London. Yes that’s right, the company that we all know and love for changing the world and the way we view car ownership has made the much needed move to offer electric vehicles.

Tonight Zipcar celebrated the introduction of 325 full electric vehicles as part of the new Zipcar Flex Fleet which is now available in 10 London boroughs. Westminster became the 10th Borough to welcome the service and I hope that the remaining 22 London Boroughs join soon. I say this as I believe there is a place for a well operated ‘free floating’ fully electric car sharing service in London, which will help to reduce carbon emissions, pollution, and congestion. Furthermore, the 325 electric vehicles have the potential to increase demand, and therefore hopefully supply, of electric vehicle charging stations which will help bolster infrastructure as the capital embarks on its electric revolution.

I’ve been an E-Car Club member for a while now so using 100% electric vehicle car sharing is nothing new to me, but the significance of a company as big as Zipcar rolling out EV is huge. It will have a rippling effect throughout the industry and I’m sure that the other car sharing companies will be quick to announce the introduction of more electric vehicles soon.

The introduction of the EV fleet increases the amount of ‘public transport’ options that are running on electricity. These modes of mobility include the new electric LEVC Black Cabs which are increasingly being spotted on the roads of London, the fleet of electric busses which were recently introduced by TFL, and then of course the range of taxi drivers who have already opted for EV.

The event attracted a variety of the country’s movers and shakers making things happen in the smart mobility and electric vehicle space. I had the pleasure of meeting Lukas Neckermann as I arrived, which bizarrely was in the Phonica Music Store above the launch venue. It was the first time that we had met and I informed him I was planning to buy his book ‘Smart Cities, Smart Mobility, Transforming The Way We Live and Work’.To my surprise and absolute joy, he told me not to worry about buying the book as I could have the one in his backpack. He even signed it for me which was a cherry on the cake! I also caught up with the main man Mr. Robert Llewellyn from the Fully Charged Show who was hosting the event, Charlie Jardine the founder of EO Charging, Joe Seal-Driver one of the main contributors to the UK’s sharing economy, and Tom Callow Director of Communication and Strategy at BP’s recently acquired Chargemaster. This was only a handful of movers and shakers I managed to speak with from around 100 that attended.

On show were three of the VW e-GOLF electric vehicles which will join the other 322 vehicles as part of the Zipcar Flex fleet in London.

During the event Robert Llewellyn hosted a panel consisting of:

Jonathan Hampson - General Manager at Zipcar
Mike Orford - Head of Press and Public Relations at Volkswagen UK
Greg Archer - Director of Clean Vehicles at Transport & Environment
Michael Hurwitz - Director of Transport Innovation at Transport for London

Michael Hurwitz closed the panel by inviting government and industry to work together to unlock the number of benefits that are possible with a transition to electric vehicles - cleaner mobility options, an opportunity to contribute to the balancing of the grid, and creating the right environment for increased renewables to come on line.

9 June 2018

Demystifying EVs - Part 2

Afeez Kay News, Post 0

This is our second piece about the misleading information and propaganda about EVs. In this blog, we will look at performance and EVs’ real impact on the environment. In a nutshell, EVs are a lot more fun to drive than fossil fuelled cars and they are also much better for the environment.

Range and Performance

MYTH: EVs are for sandal wearing liberals who don’t enjoy driving.

FACT: The Tesla Model S P100D takes 2.5 seconds to get to 60mph. That’s comparable with a $750,000 supercar.

The key difference between the way an internal combustion engine delivers its performance and the way an EV does is torque, which, as any car enthusiast knows is key to acceleration. There is no torque “curve” as with an internal combustion engine (ICE). Unlike combustion engines, torque in an EV is a straight line, as maximum torque is achieved from zero revs. This creates a unique driving experience as you leave even top end Mercs behind at the lights. In a quarter mile race, a Tesla Model S P100D Ludicrous can pretty much beat any internal combustion engine car in the world in a straight-line race.

Environment

You can imagine where the rumours that EVs are worse for the environment came from! Though we can’t prove it, it smacks of a PR agency hired by an oil company and told to make EVs look worse than fossil fueled cars.

MYTH: EVs just moves pollution from the tailpipe to the energy source.

FACT: One of the main differences of EVs from fossil fuel powered cars is that they get cleaner the cleaner the source of the electricity. Plug-ins can run on renewable electricity from sources such as the sun, wind and hydro powered generators.

Even if the source of the electricity is from the dirtiest coal powered power plant, based on the ‘Well To Wheel’ study of EVs vs fossil fuel powered vehicles, EVs are still significantly cleaner over their lifespan compared to their petrol or diesel equivalent.

MYTH: Battery chemicals are bad for the environment and can’t be recycled

FACT: Most electric car manufacturers offer a 10 year warranty on the lithium ion batteries that come with the cars as standard.

After years of use in an EV, the batteries will often have up to 80% capacity left. This means they can be repurposed into energy storage for the grid, houses, or to store energy from renewable sources to be used during peak energy demands.

Even if the batteries have truly come to the end of their lifespan, they can be broken down, melted, and separated for recycling as at least 90% of the components of an EV battery can be recycled for future use.

Lithium-ion battery recycling facilities are now being built in anticipation of the influx of second hand EV batteries from the 1st generation mass market EVs including the 2011 Nissan LEAF. These facilities will take time to be fully operational as the amount of EVs on the market is still growing.

To be part of the EV conversation and find out more about accelerating the adoption of EV’s in the transition to cleaner, low-carbon economies in Europe, you can participate in Global EVRT’s ESCP Europe Electric Vehicle Road Trip (EVRT) and/or attend our E-Mobility Conferences in London and Paris…

8 June 2018

Demystifying EVs - Part 1

Afeez Kay News, Post 0

In the modern world where some of the news you see on TV and in the newspaper is possibly fake, you’d not be surprised to hear that much of what you hear about electric vehicles (EVs) is utter rubbish. In a two-part blog series, we will look deeper into these myths and set the record straight! By all means please feel free weigh in with you comments and opinions.

Charging and Batteries

MYTH: EV adoption will only take off with a developed charging infrastructure.

FACT: Most cars are driven in cities and only cover a typical daily driving distance of around 45 miles. An older EV range is around 120 miles, while the new Tesla Model S P100D now has a range of over 300 miles. BMW, Renault, VW, Hyundai Renault and Chevrolet are all about to sell cars of a similar range.

Most of your charging can be done at home. If you charge at home you wake up to a fully charged car and will hardly ever have to use a public charger. Charging during off-peak hours, the cost of electricity can be as little as 70% the cost of petrol.

There are different types of EV charging speeds. They are Level 1 (rated at 3 KW), Level 2 (rated at 7 – 22KW), Level 3 & 4 rated at 43KW – 145KW DC fast/rapid charging. Even the slowest chargers will replenish the average EV overnight, though faster charging units are about to be brought on line.

An ultra-fast charging network is being developed in Europe. The infrastructure is being jointly developed by four major European car companies and Ford. The network will be using the CCS (Combined Charging System) protocol that will be able to charge a 300 mile range EV to 80% in around 15 minutes, meaning that you can have a cup of coffee while the car’s being charged, recharging yourself for the next leg of the journey as you do the car. The CCS is nearly double the speed of the current fastest network, the Tesla Super Charger network.

MYTH: The grid will crash if everyone has an EV and charge at once

FACT: Electrical energy use has been growing ever since it was first developed. If the lights went out governments would fall. If we were all so community minded to not buy an EV to save everyone else’s electricity perhaps we should pack our bags and head out to live in log cabins and whittle spoons for a living to save the planet and everyone else’s electricity?!

The fact is that as our energy use changes so it is being matched by governments. One day we will not need fossil fuel power stations or gas pumped into our homes for heat. When that day comes the infrastructure will be in place to make it happen.

Cost

MYTH: Electric Vehicles are too expensive for market penetration

FACT: All new technologies cost more until economies of scale can be brought into play. In the 1970’s only rich people owned cars – now almost everyone has one. The same applies to EVs.

While the technology is expensive at present, there are government tax breaks around the world to support the EV production and take up. As global production and take-up grows so these tax breaks will be reduced and the cost of EVs will eventually be cheaper than their gas powered equivalents.

The purchase and lifetime operating cost of an EV is lower than an equivalent fossil fuel powered vehicle as EVs require less maintenance or repair due to fewer moving parts.

MYTH: Battery replacement costs a fortune to replace after only a few years

FACT: This again is a question of economies of scale. They cost a lot less now than they did a few years ago and the cost is still falling fast. For example the Nissan LEAF battery production costs at the launch in 2011 was about $750 per kilowatt hour, however by October 2015, car maker GM said that they expected to pay a price of $145 per kilowatt hour for Li-ion cells in 2016 the Chevy Volt EV.

They don’t die as quickly as mobile phone batteries. The Tesla Model S’s battery will only lose on average 23 miles every 100,000 miles.

8 June 2018

Electric vehicle 101 - Everything you wanted to know

James Wight News, Post 0

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#smartermobility

#covid-19

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#sustainablecity

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COVID-19 Causes Chaos Across the World

Brought to you by AAEP

1. Develop a quota and milestone-restricted policy for EVs

2. Boost International Trade: Introduce Tax exemptions on imported EVs

3. Develop a preferential funding scheme

4. Replace canvas roofing by retrofitting with PV Solar rooftop panels.

5. Collaborate with other transport providers and networks: install Solar PV Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in Gautrain stations

6. Put South Africa on the map as an EV-friendly destination through our Electric Vehicle Road Trip South Africa

Why should you make the switch ?

Which EV models are currently available in South Africa?

How does it work and where can you charge ?

What are the initiatives, drivers and policies in South Africa to accelerate the adoption of Electric Vehicles and smarter mobility?

Policy

Infrastructure and Investment

1. Wiebe Wakker

2. Chris Ramsey

3. Marek Kamiński

The smart mobility movers and shakers were out in force last night as Zipcar UK throws a celebration event in London's Soho. I caught up with some familiar faces as well as meeting a few key people helping to shape our mobility future.

On show were three of the VW e-GOLF electric vehicles which will join the other 322 vehicles as part of the Zipcar Flex fleet in London.

Range and Performance

Environment

Charging and Batteries

Cost

How?

Why are Electric Vehicles so expensive?

What happens when you run out of battery?

Why should we care when we have so much oil?

EV image and existence: designs are mixed, some look weird, why’s that? Not a great selection to choose from right now, when will this change?

Worth your time

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