Years of working in the field have taught me that nobody gives a shit what I think is OK or not.

With that said, I have nothing against solar. I have panels on my house in Europe. If I were going to move back to Africa, I would totally want a solar + battery setup at home, because generators are annoying; however, I am aware that $15,000 worth of solar panels, inverter, and batteries are a luxury compared to a $500 generator.

So then, why is SA pushing more gas cars in the first place? That’s already what’s there - and given that many of these ICE cars are older imports with worse fuel economy, why try to replace them with newer ICE cars that might have to meet tighter emissions regulations and ultimately burn less fuel?

International politics are against Africans getting used cars. See, for example, the UN Project of Safer and Cleaner Used Vehicles for Africa, which aims to prevent the import of vehicles more than 5 years old to Africa.

If you’re from a rich country, it’s easy to forget that most of the world is poor. It’s tricky to find the stats, but best data I can find suggests that the worldwide median income is less than USD $3000 per year. I suspect that most of /r/cars would consider someone very poor if he only earns that much in a month, but half of the world earns less than that in a whole year. I spent over a decade of my life working for NGOs trying to improve life in the poorer parts of the world, and I think it’s great if the Saudis are working to improve the availability of energy that’s cheap to buy and easy to store, distribute, and put to work. More energy means more development.

I wish them all success. I hope that a decade from now African cities will be buzzing with cheap and cheerful locally produced cars.

This is an interesting topic. I like the Pontiac 301 Turbo– 200 HP out of a turbocharged 4.9L V8.