Two New EVs, Samsung Unpacked & more
Tech Things #63
The EV landscape is moving at speed, with two new entrants launched since my last newsletter went out, aimed at entirely different audiences. The first was trusty Toyota’s first ever EV, the bZ4X. It may sound like an airline booking code, but the bZ stands for Beyond Zero, the company’s new EV sub-brand, while the 4 indicates its mid-size (think RAV4), and the X indicates crossover, or all-wheel drive. Pricing starts at R1 182 800, and I have to say, TikTok was not shy to share their opinions on the pricing on the comments in my video. If you prefer, you can read my article Toyota bZ4X launched in South Africa. What do you think?
The second EV is tied to the relaunch of the GWM Ora brand. Remember when the Ora 3 launched as SA’s cheapest EV in 2023 at R 686 950? The Ora 5 has been introduced with petrol, hybrid, and EV options in a range of fun colours, even pink, and a choice of two trims, Super Luxury and for R50 000 more, Ultra Luxury. I think it offers such good value, especially the EV against competitors, which I’ve highlighted in my post. Pricing is starts at R365 000 for the petrol, R425 000 for the hybrid, and R550 000 for the EV.
While we’re talking all things EV, my Living Electric series has been updated with the BMW iX xDrive60, the Jetour T2 PHEV, and Mini Countryman EV.
I’m also excited to share that I will be on The Outlier’s Out to Lunch EV webinar, tomorrow, 15 July at 1PM. It’s free to register, and you can send questions to the team, if you have anything you want answered during the one hour slot. You can find more information via The Outlier.
In tech news, Samsung has confirmed its next Unpacked event will take place in London where it is expected to announce the Galaxy Z Flip 8, Fold 8, and a new sized foldable, the Z Fold 8 Ultra. Super keen to see how it compares to the Z Fold 7, which I’ve been using as a laptop replacement, enabling me to update articles on Recharged, send newsletters, for in-flight entertainment, etc. We’re also expecting new Galaxy smartwatches, and the highly anticipated Galaxy Glasses that we first saw at Google I/O in May 2026. Who’s excited? Stay tuned to Recharged and my social media for updates.
I recently interviewed a young South African couple for Forbes Africa, Aanisah and Suliman Chothia, who created an educational game using the South Africa CAPS syllabus called Spark. The web app covers Grade 1-4 in six subjects: Mathematics, English, Coding & Robotics, Life Skills, Natural Sciences and Afrikaans, and trials have shown that it turns screen time into productivity time, with kids showing progress. If you have a kid in these grades, I recommend you check out Spark. Also check out my profile piece on them, it’s inspiring.
Reads you may want to catch up on:
Till next time,
Nafisa
I must say, the pricing for Toyota’s first EV certainly caught me by surprise. Sure I wasn't expecting anything close to my BYD Dolphin Surf, but over R1M seemed a little steep. They again the new RAV4 PHEV is also over R1m. Feel like Toyota are repositioning themselves but making is harder to stay in what is arguably one of SA's favourite brands.
I guess so. In my head I was expecting a 800-900k entry option maybe. A tier or so below Volvo offerings for example. I love electric cars. That said I wanted something for the daily commute and in early March this year the numbers for the Dolphin Surf Dynamic made sense for me and I finally pulled the trigger after a few years of looking at used BMW i3s. Loving the car even more than I thought I would. In time it will replace the nearly 20 year old Jazz that is the other run around car, as soon as 500+ km EVs are more viable 😅