This month, lady luck appears to be favouring the country’s diesel drivers with the CEF’s predictions pointing to a minor diesel price drop at the beginning of April. Petrol drivers won’t be as fortunate when the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DoE) gets ’round to altering the pumps on the first Wednesday of the new month.

The prices, Mason!

It’s not worth sulking about just yet. The CEF, a state-owned energy company reporting to the DoE, might offer up the most accurate representation of South Africa’s waning or growing petrol and diesel prices, but their word is not law. That responsibility lies with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy at the end of this month.

Until that happens, the CEF’s numbers are the best we’ve got. It arrived at these figures by looking at all the same information the Department does at the end of the month, giving us a running bout of predictions to help us better prepare for the official 3 April 2024 changeover date.

That means keeping an eye on the average price of refined oil globally throughout the month, and the current Rand/US Dollar exchange. South Africa’s economic position is a major factor, with changes to load shedding or falling Rand values massively affecting the price we’ll see in April.

Read More: FNB slashes license disc renewal fee, making it the cheapest option in South Africa

Here are the petrol and diesel price predictions (so far) for April 2024:

• Petrol 93: increase of 8 cents per litre (R0.08)
• Petrol 95: increase of 10 cents per litre (R0.10)
• Diesel 0.05%: decrease of 33 cents per litre (R0.33)
• Diesel 0.005%: decrease of 38 cents per litre (R0.38)
• Illuminating Paraffin: decrease of 46 cents per litre (R0.46)

Reuters reports that the announcement came via Weibo, the Chinese social media service. The company said that nearly 60 stores across 29 cities in China will take orders for the vehicle. A launch event is planned for 28 March, though the Speed Ultra 7 (SU7) has been extensively previewed in terms of specs already.

Xiaomi what you drive

The Chinese company hopes to replicate its smartphone success, which started in 2011 with the Mi 1 handset, with automobiles. Xiaomi head Lei Jun said on Weibo this week, “Xiaomi’s cars are going from zero to one in a very different growth stage and facing very different user expectations compared to when Xiaomi’s smartphones went from zero to one 14 years ago. Xiaomi’s cars need to be different, and the most important aspect is smart technology.”

The SU7 and its subsequent companions are entering a difficult market. Not only are EVs pricey but demand for them seems to be slowing as a result. Some brands, like Mercedes, have tweaked their production plans to continue making internal combustion engines for longer than was expected, suggesting that EVs aren’t a sure bet for everyone.

Xiaomi has faced these sorts of headwinds before, which may be why the company reckons it is on to a good thing with the launch of its own EV. And if you’re wondering how the company has jumped the queue in terms of vehicle production, a notoriously difficult endeavour, that would be because state-owned vehicle manufacturer BAIC is handling the actual production. Xiaomi is mostly sticking its smarts into a vehicle compatible with the smart ecosystem the company has been pushing of late.

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Imagine still visiting the post office or somewhere similar to renew your car’s license when the FNB app exists. It’s possible you weren’t aware of FNB’s abilities to get your license renewal sorted, nor that it only cost R100 for a renewal. That was the headline in November, anyway. Now, FNB has cut that price to R70 per renewal for a “promotional time period”. If you’ve been doing your best impression of a procrastinator, it’s time to move.

Going Postal

Better yet, that R70 includes the delivery fee and allows customers to pay that rate using plain ol’ cash or by pulling from their stash of eBucks. Oh, and if you get a no-obligation insurance quote through FNB insurance, and renew your license through the app, FNB will dole R99 worth of eBucks into your account, free of charge.

“This decision is in line with the bank’s ethos of help and is informed by the economic pressures that consumers are experiencing, such as high interest-rates and inflation,” FNB said in a statement.

Jolandé Duvenage, nav» Chief Imagineer at FNB, says, “This is another way we’re helping our customers navigate life and the tough economic environment by offering affordable, seamless, and secured solutions for their car needs. The service continues to grow in popularity, with over 1 million vehicles uploaded to the platform and 107 000 vehicle license renewals completed over the past 12 months.”

If you’ve got the FNB app installed, all that needs to be done to renew your vehicle’s license is to load your car into the app’s nav»Car platform and use your smartphone to scan the vehicle license disc to complete the renewal.

Read More: FNB ending tap-to-pay smartphone functionality

Even before the bank’s R30 discount, it was the cheapest provider of license renewal services in the country — offering its R100/per renewal fee — tied with the National Traffic Information System (Natis), though this does not include a pricey delivery fee.

“Our commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction continues to drive the solutions we offer our customers to solve for their individual, family, and business needs.  We pride ourselves in being the ultimate destination for our customers not only for their banking needs, but their lifestyle needs,” Duvenage concludes.

We have reached out to FNB South Africa to determine the length of the “promotional time period” and will update the article accordingly if we hear back.

Don’t set those hopes up too high just yet. The country won’t exactly be getting off scot-free by the time April rolls around, but the figures down below are a far cry from the R1.14/l increase that’s been bandied about this week. Hey, we’re willing to take anything as long as it’s less than the increases the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DoE) saddled us with on Wednesday.

(Kinda) Good news for diesel drivers

While the DoE is officially in charge of altering the country’s petrol pumps at the beginning of a new month, the CEF — an energy company reporting to the DoE — is responsible for keeping an eye on the fluctuating price throughout the month. The idea is to give us a rough — and we mean rough — idea of the incoming changes to other prepare celebrations, or as more often happens, commiserations.

The CEF arrives at the numbers below by looking at all the same information the DoE does, just on a more regular basis. Judging by the weakening Rand in comparison to the Dollar, and the rising price of refined oil globally, we’re in for a rough month. Multiple economic factors are constantly influencing these figures, meaning there’s still time for South Africa to turn this tanker around.

Read More: Volvo’s cheapest EV, the EX30, rolls onto South Africa’s streets from R776,000

Here are the petrol and diesel price predictions (so far) for April 2024:

• Petrol 93: increase of 51 cents per litre (R0.51)
• Petrol 95: increase of 52 cents per litre (R0.52)
• Diesel 0.05%: increase of 14 cents per litre (R0.14)
• Diesel 0.005%: increase of 14 cents per litre (R0.14)
• Illuminating Paraffin: increase of 17 cents per litre (R0.17)

Yup. The Department just published March’s official petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin prices and… they’re not pretty. It’s not all bad news, however. The increases promised won’t be coming into effect until midnight on Wednesday, 6 March. This means there’s still plenty of time to get to your nearest petrol station and make the most of the somewhat ‘reasonable’ prices while you still can.

Not South Africa’s best March

If you’re in search of somebody to blame, it won’t be the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, despite them being the country’s official fuel regulators. No, it’ll be the economy at large hearing your grievances, with Eskom’s constantly shifting load shedding schedule doing more bad for the Rand than good. If anyone is to blame, it’s the state-owned power controller that stopped you watching TV last night.

All the Department is responsible for is informing the country of their woes, landing on a price based on the average Rand/US Dollar exchange rate for the past month, and the average price of refined oil internationally. Throughout February, the Rand weakened significantly, leading to the increases you see below, according to the Department.

Fortunately, things weren’t as bad as they could have been. The Department’s announcement mentions that the current Slate levy on petrol and diesel will remain unchanged at R0 — meaning the government isn’t imposing a further increase on residents this month. Still… there’s a R1+ increase to deal with. Let’s get down to it, shall we?

Read More: Volvo’s cheapest EV, the EX30, rolls onto South Africa’s streets from R776,000

From 00:01 on the morning of Wednesday, 6 March, petroleum-based fuels will see the following changes:

• Petrol 93: increase of 121 cents per litre (R1.21)
• Petrol 95: increase of 121 cents per litre (R1.21)
• Diesel 0.05%: increase of 105 cents per litre (R1.05)
• Diesel 0.005%: increase of 118 cents per litre (R1.18)
• Illuminating Paraffin: increase of 85 cents per litre (R0.85)
• LPGAS: increase of 41 cents per kilogram (R0.41)

The EX30 was officially unveiled last week at Johannesburg’s Victoria Yards and is bringing with it a starting price of “just” R776,000 and the “smallest CO2 footprint of any Volvo car to date.” There’s no use denying the price is a steep one, especially when compared to some of SA’s other “budget-friendly” EVs, like GWM’s Ora or the yet-to-be-confirmed BYD Dolphin Mini.

Not so slow, Volvo EX30

Impressive new XC30 electric car from @VolvoCar_SA #VolvoEX30. Not many cars have a sound bar. And it has a frunk. pic.twitter.com/vILYfA5z0i

— Toby Shapshak (@shapshak) February 22, 2024

“We’re excited to launch the new EX30 in South Africa as part of the first wave of this important new model’s global rollout. We believe that the EX30 will become one of our best-selling models as we continue to work towards our local and global sustainability ambitions,” said Greg Maruszewski, Volvo Car SA Managing Director.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth the starting price. We’ll find that out for ourselves soon enough, but from what we’ve seen, Volvo’s blown the budget on making this a compact SUV you won’t want to leave. There are three levels of trim available — Core, Plus and Ultra — with the latter two having the option of a single or twin motor set-up, making for five models altogether.

Here is the list of all variants and their prices:

• EX30 Core (Single Motor) – R776,000
• EX30 Plus (Single Motor Extended Range) – R866,000
• Ex30 Plus (Twin Motor Performance) – R935,000
• EX30 Ultra (Single Motor Extended Range) – R966,000
• EX30 Ultra (Twin Motor Performance) – R996,000

Considering the price, the Core is the most interesting and engaging of the lot — with its one motor on the rear axle managing 200kW of output power and 343Nm of torque — boasting a 5.7-second 0-100km\h speed. And that’s just the slowest of the bunch. Hop into the nearly R1-million car and you’ll be hitting that target in 3.6 seconds, making it the “fastest-accelerating Volvo ever.”

If range is what you’re after, the Core model — stuffed with a lithium-iron-phosphate 51kWh battery — will get you 344km on a single charge (on the WLTP cycle). Picking up the more expensive Single Motor Extended range options in the Plus or Ultra means you’ll be getting a higher-capacity nickel-manganese-cobalt-oxide (NMC) battery and a WLTP range of 476km.

It’d be a bit of a waste if Volvo didn’t jam-pack this thing with as much tech as possible, right? The Ex30 dons a 12.3in Google-fied infotainment system, which handles most of the everyday functionality, such as navigation, mirror adjustments, climate control, and fiddling with what seems to be the car’s best feature — a Harmon Kardon soundbar spanning the length of the dash, allowing for a little more room in the doors for storage. Only available in the Plus and Ultra models, unfortunately. Oh, and it has a frunk.

According to the report, some of the engineers involved have been retasked to work on generative AI for the company. It’s almost a pity, knowing that we’re unlikely to see a self-driving EV from Apple (with a R2 million starting price tag), but given the number of delays to the decade-long speculative project, perhaps it’s not that surprising.

Titan fallen

What’s also unsurprising is Apple’s reallocation of the folks working on Project Titan. Releasing a new car in the States (and everywhere else) is a laborious process at best and when you throw EV capability and self-driving into the mix, you’ve got a recipe for a regulatory headache. Generative AI, on the other hand, is moving too fast for regulators to catch up to it. It’s the perfect thing to develop in 2024.

Titan’s cancellation was relatively recent, according to Bloomberg‘s sources, and the consequences of it have yet to be felt. Many of the project’s software and AI engineers are being moved internally but there are automotive engineers that don’t have a place to go within Apple. Expect Apple to announce at least a few layoffs soon. Perhaps those affected can work for Hyundai, which was totally not helping Apple with its EV ambitions in 2020 and 2021.

Or maybe they can finally get around to making that Apple television set we’ve heard about for almost two decades. Nah, that’s probably a complete pipe dream. Super-intelligent AI and virtual reality goggles it is, then.

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It’s not all bad news, however. The Central Energy Fund (CEF) — the state-owned energy company responsible for keeping an eye on the country’s fuel prices — has blessed us with a fresh batch of data (captured 22 February) that’s predicting a moderately more bearable outcome for the petrol pumps at the beginning of March.

Don’t get us wrong. We aren’t promising you’ll be leaving here happy after seeing the CEF’s predictions. But we can promise it’ll be slightly more uplifting than the R1.50+ price hikes that have been on the cards for a while.

Bad news, everyone!

It’s worth noting that the prices below aren’t the ones we’ll see at the pumps on Wednesday, 6 March. Those have yet to be decided by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy — which it will do at the end of the month. Until then, the CEF’s predictions are all we’ve got to go on. That doesn’t mean they’re not accurate — and a valuable resource.

See, the CEF looks at all the same data that the Department does to arrive at its predictions. That means keeping an eye out for the current Rand/US Dollar exchange rate and the price of oil internationally. The only thing the CEF can’t account for is the Department’s monthly changes to the slate levy and retail margin — which has been known to add a good few cents into the mix.

Read More: BYD’s Dolphin Mini could land in South Africa as the country’s cheapest EV yet

Here are the petrol and diesel price predictions (so far) for March 2024:

• Petrol 93: increase of 112 cents per litre (R1.12)
• Petrol 95: increase of 116 cents per litre (R1.16)
• Diesel 0.05%: increase of 113 cents per litre (R1.13)
• Diesel 0.005%: increase of 128 cents per litre (R1.28)
• Illuminating Paraffin: increase of 69 cents per litre (R0.69)

Gauteng’s got new plates

You might’ve seen eNCA’s interview with Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng’s Premier, where he went a little more in-depth on the government’s recent partnership with Vumacam that’ll see it tap into a massive feed of cameras around the province — all in the name of our safety (and votes). Lesufi mentioned that most of the country’s crimes involve motor vehicles in some way, whether it be heists, kidnapping or murder. Thus, new numberplates were born.

“Our licencing regime was very bad. So, we will launch new number plates in Gauteng from the first of April,” Lesufi said.

We’re not sure exactly how the revamped number plates will be “tamper-proof”, but we’ll find out soon enough. Lesufi said that the new plates will be unveiled on Monday, 19 February. You won’t be able to simply stroll into the nearest licencing department, though. Drivers looking to apply for a new licence disc will also need to get a new registration number simultaneously.

Read More: BYD’s Dolphin Mini could land in South Africa as the country’s cheapest EV yet

“We are starting afresh, all of us. Every person that has a car must re-register and get a new registration number that can’t be copied, can’t be removed and is reliable,” he said.“Everyone must register their vehicle. If you spend 30 consecutive days in Gauteng, it means your car must be registered in Gauteng.”

The idea is to avoid clogging up the country’s departments, and gradually roll out the number plates over the coming years and months. As much as we abhor standing in line for a few more hours than usual, it’s probably the best way to roll something like this out.

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Only, it wouldn’t be dubbed the BYD Seagull. A trademark for the name “BYD Dolphin Mini” was recently spotted floating around on the Companies and Intellectual Properties (CIPC) database, and is currently pending approval. And if CarNewsChina’s report of ‘Dolphin Mini’ being an alternate name for ‘Seagull’ is correct, it seems almost certain BYD has something on the cards for South Africa.

How cheap is cheap, BYD?

The company’s Seagull is currently heralded as the cheapest EV on the market, anywhere. It’ll fetch anywhere between ¥73,800 and ¥89,900 in China, with a direct conversion putting it between R200,000 and R240,000. Until an official launch, there’s no telling what it’ll cost on South Africa’s streets. But if you’ve got ideas of paying R240,000 for an EV here, we’re sorry to burst your bubble.

Looking at BYD’s other car sold in the country, the Atto 3, should give us a good idea of the sort of mark-up we can expect when the Dolphin mini eventually lands. Known as the Yuan Plus in China, it carries with it a ¥140,000 starting price, converting to roughly R374,000. In SA, the Atto 3 goes for R768,000 — more than double its Yuan price.

Apply that logic to the Dolphin Mini, and we could be looking at a starting price of R400,000 and R480,000 for the Dolphin Mini. That’s without all of South Africa’s taxes adding to the cost, possibly bringing that figure up to just over the R500,000 mark. Hey, it’s still a far cry from South Africa’s reigning EV champ, the Ora 03, selling for R680,000.

Read More: Xiaomi’s stunning SU7 is the Chinese tech maker’s first electric vehicle

An EV for ants?

So what does roughly R500,000 get you in an EV? For one thing, a small, five-door, four-seater body that’s concealing the 55kW motor, according to CarNewsChina. It’ll top out at 135Nm of torque and can go from 0-100km/h in about 13 seconds. You’ll be spending most of that time heading to the nearest charger, with the 30.08kWh battery BYD’s stuffed in there that’ll net a range of around 305km at a time.

Fortunately, that’s the cheaper of the two models sold in China. If you’re willing to spend a bit more, BYD will shove a 38.88 kWh LFP battery in there that’ll be good for another 100km or so. You won’t be getting any front motor upgrades, with the higher-end of the two models hitting the same 0-100km/h speeds as its sibling.

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