SUPERSPAR leads charge in electric deliveries

South Africa’s first-ever electrically powered delivery Caddy has been unveiled right here in the city and will be used by Crossing SUPERSPAR to deliver all its online orders to customers across town.

EVPA’s Steve Blatherwick, who converted the Caddy, said he approached the store with the idea two years ago when the country was hit with its first lockdown.

“The idea all started when SUPERPSPAR set up its online store during the first national lockdown due to Covid. We wanted something eco-friendly and cost-effective to go along with the online store for deliveries,” said SUPERSPAR’s John Tilly.  And now, two years later, the electric vehicle is ready to make deliveries.

It runs completely on electricity and therefore does not emit any noxious gases or need fuel. As well as being very quiet to drive, the Caddy is surprisingly fast with a maximum speed of 150km/h.

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“It is more cost-effective than other delivery vehicles. Fuel prices are no longer a factor and it is environmentally friendly. The Caddy is completely off the grid,” said Blatherwick.

He said the vehicle is charged by solar panels and takes about two hours to charge. He said the vehicle could run for 100 kilometres before needing to be charged by a 22kw/h battery pack.

Blatherwick said the Caddy has a smaller battery pack as it is only going to be used for delivering items ordered from SUPERSPAR’s online store, but that vehicles with bigger batteries are able to travel all the way from Mbombela to Johannesburg on just R50’s worth of electricity.

Blatherwick and Crossing SUPERSPAR are also looking at building a man-made baobab tree with solar panel “leaves” and that will be used as a charging station for SUPERSPAR’s electric vehicle and any other vehicles running on electricity.

The new Caddy also means that petrol prices will not be factored into delivery costs and using the services of a vehicle that is eco-friendly.

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“It took about two years to develop and there was a lot of design work to do, but it has been done and it is the very first electric delivery caddy in the country, right here in Mbombela,” said Blatherwick.

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