An electric car named the Joule,made in Cape Town,South Africa

The Joule electric car was first on show at the Paris Motor Show,October 2008.





We have seen a number yachts use electric engines in boats recently,this idea is growing fast and I do believe the next five years will brainstorm the idea and for some,electric will be all that is acceptable,imagine,no more smelly diesel in your boat,no super expensive new parts,no servicing,just clean and fresh silent power!even now many yachts are AC free but have full electronics,lights and a fridge,powered by either soler panels or windchargers,yachts are the perfect candidate for electric propulsion right now.


What a jewel: South Africa's electric car

Optimal Energy, a privately-owned South African company based in Cape Town, has unveiled Africa's first all-electric vehicle. Appropriately named Joule, the zero emission car is a six-seater multi-purpose vehicle.

Designed by Optimal Energy in association with legendary South African born automotive designer, Keith Helfet, the ultra sleek Joule is scheduled to make its global debut at the Paris Motor Show this month.

"The world's finite energy sources are being used inefficiently and urban transport plays a major role in energy wastage and climate changing pollution," says CEO of Optimal Energy Kobus Meiring.

Comment on the subject from my good friend Captain Notty in England.
Hi Roy,

As a percentage of population, South Africa produces more talent than most other countries.
I think it has something to do with the mix and the quality of the population that settled there over the years and the fact that once they were settled, the lifestyle, sunshine and sheer opportunities to think and expand personal horizons was the perfect breeding ground for genius?

Anyway, it's fantastic that a country in Africa has produced an electric car at all when you think that when the first arrived there not that long ago, Africa hadn't even discovered the wheel.
It will be interesting to learn how much it will sell for and if it will be able to compete with the new Smart Car which now boasts a diesel engine capable of doing 100-mph and managing an economical 85-mpg?

All electric cars are a temporary measure until they get serious about producing hydrogen powered cars. Honda are the first in the world to produce a hydrogen fuelled electric fuel-cell car that has a range of about 250-miles on a tank full of hydrogen.

On the other hand, Mercedes are the first to have produced a standard V12 internal combustion engined car that runs on pure hydrogen instead of petrol, both proving that it's possible.

All that is required now is to find a cheap way of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen its two elements and we will have a fuel that will last until there is no more water left on the planet.

It's quite odd that water is made up of two of the most explosive gasses found in nature yet water can be used as a fire extinguishing liquid. Once the two gasses are recombined as in an explosion, the only bi-product released back into the atmosphere is water, so it has to be the fuel of the future.

Food for though? Get inventing Mr. Mac.

Notty