Real-world costs on SA's cheapest EV and a USB-C drive the size of your thumb
Tech Things #62
South Africa has officially made history! Bafana Bafana secured their first-ever spot in the FIFA World Cup knockout stages after a 1-0 victory over South Korea in Monterrey, Mexico. I was meant to be there but alas my ticket application was rejected by FIFA, however my sister still ended up going by securing tickets elsewhere and had a fantastic time. Here are some pics that I shared on Threads.
I finally got to test South Africa’s cheapest EV, the Geely E2. I spent two weeks with it and have important figures for you: it starts at R340k, cost me R106 to charge the 39.4kWh battery at home using my Eskom rates, I averaged 300km of range from the 325km, and insurance could cost you R690pm (I checked on the Naked app as I’m a customer).
When I stopped at a DC charger, it took me from 9-100% in 50 minutes at R263 because public chargers are priced by speed, while home charging is per kWh. I have a more in-depth read on my Living Electric series if you’re considering this car either as a primary or secondary one.
Speaking of reviews, I recently tested the SanDisk Extreme Fit USB-C drive that super tiny but packs a punch. It’s great if you need extra storage on a laptop or tablet, and want to transfer content from your smartphone. As you may know, price of memory shot up in the last year due to the demands of AI data centres, which has impacted consumers. So expect to pay R1 645 for 256GB - and yes, all smartphone prices will be going up! It is written in an easy bullet style review:
On the topic of smartphones, Xiaomi recently launched its 17T in South Africa, with triple rear 50MP Leica cameras, 512GB of storage, AI features, and a large 6500mAh battery. More on Recharged.co.za.
A bit of a travel update: LIFT has announced it will be the first South African airline to accept Apple Pay, Google Pay and cryptocurrency via Ozow across its digital platforms. Earlier this year, Safair announced Apple Pay and Google Pay support on its mobile app. I love it when consumers get options but I do wonder how many locals use crypto for transactions?
If you’re planning a trip to Japan, heads-up, the visa costs just went up by 400% as of 1 July. Instead of paying R300 for a single-entry visa, expect to pay ¥15 000 (R1500+ depending on the exchange rate).
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Reads you may want to catch up on:
Till next time,
Nafisa
The electric car thing sounds wonderful on the surface, but long-term, I'm not so sure. I recently considered a hybrid, but opted against it because I suspect the long-term maintenance costs are going to hit harder, and the fuel savings might not have been worth it considering the model I tried and most of my driving patterns (where up to 60 km/h is on petrol and the battery only kicks in after that).