Smart mobility is here and has already been adopted by major cities globally. The time has arrived for emerging markets to invest in their transportation infrastructure. It has been proven that smart cities are a catalyst for social and economic development where technology has been used to deliver quality service that does not cause harm to the environment culminating ultimately to a better quality of life.

The World Bank reports that “a country’s growth of measured gross domestic product is directly reduced by poor public transport infrastructure.” Emerging markets are now required to rethink their transportation systems and investigate new ways of planning and providing transport systems.

As a pioneer in the automotive innovation space, Nissan joins other original equipment manufacturers (OEM) at the summit. Nissan was the first OEM to introduce an electric vehicle into South Africa- the Nissan LEAF in 2010. The latest version of this electric vehicle supports Vehicle-to-Grid technology (V2G). Nissan Energy is an innovative and flexible solution which combines second life Nissan LEAF batteries and solar panels to generate sustainable power.

“Nissan is committed to its sustainable development goals. We have worked with Filadelfia School in the community of Soshanguve to improve its access to reliable electricity and increase its use of renewable energy,” says Kabelo Rabotho, Marketing Director Nissan South Africa. The event brings together mobility thought leaders from business and governments to discuss how the transition to electric and smart mobility can be accelerated.

This is just one way that Nissan is contributing to the Electric Vehicle Ecosystem. In the coming decades, it won’t be a question of if the public will adopt EV, but when. The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) noted that 2015 saw the adoption of 1.5 million electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids worldwide, about 0.1% of cars on the roads globally. By 2040, this number will skyrocket to 35% of all cars on the road. Africa is urbanising faster than any other continent, at a rate of 4% every year, compared to the global average of 2%. Its rapidly growing urban population continues to strain existing infrastructure - transport and energy.

“To accelerate the adoption of smarter mobility across the continent, we are launching the inaugural Smarter Mobility Africa summit at the Sun Arena at Time Square on 1 and 2 October 2019,” says Ben Pullen, Co-founder and CEO of Generation.e.

Not only is this the first Smarter Mobility Summit but Generation.e will also be launching the Electric Vehicle Road Trip Africa (EVRT Africa) which will see 12 state of the art vehicles set out on an unprecedented road trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town over eight days to demonstrate that it is in fact possible to adopt intelligent mobility.