Eskom has spent decades keeping South Africa’s lights on, mostly by burning coal. Now, it wants to help keep the country’s electric cars moving, too.

What happened? The state-owned electricity company has opened its first public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at the Gateway Theatre of Shopping in Umhlanga and The Pavilion Shopping Centre in Durban, South Africa. Eskom’s two new charging stations each have two fast direct-current (DC) charging ports capable of delivering up to 120 kilowatts (kW), plus one alternating-current (AC) port offering up to 22kW. 

Explain like I’m new here: Eskom may be best known for generating electricity, but charging electric cars can be a natural extension of that business, using its operating experience with electricity infrastructure to support the growth of electric transport. E.ON, one of Europe’s largest investor-owned electric utility service providers, operates a network of public and home electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across Europe and the UK. 

Eskom has been trying its hand at clean business for a while. In August 2024, the company, in partnership with GridCars, a South African charging-network operator, launched a pilot with 10 charging stations across five of its properties, but kept it closed to the general public. In September 2025, it introduced 20 electric vehicles (EVs) and said it wanted to transition its entire fleet to electric by 2035. It also announced plans to roll out 55 public charging stations over two years. Eskom also signed an agreement with BYD, the Chinese car-maker, to support electric mobility and expand public charging infrastructure in South Africa.

From generating power to selling a charge: Eskom is entering the EV charging business, giving it an advantage because it already runs South Africa’s electricity system. Charging operators make money by selling power to drivers, but they also pay for equipment, maintenance, grid connections and demand fees.

Some industry players have raised concerns that Eskom may have offered certain sites lower demand charges, which could let them price charging more cheaply than rivals. Eskom says its pilot pricing follows existing tariffs and regulations.

What does this mean for drivers? Eskom’s new DC chargers cost R5.88 ($0.045) per kilowatt-hour (kWh), compared with R7.35 ($0.057) at GridCars’ public stations, making Eskom’s rates 20% cheaper. For a driver buying 50 kWh of electricity, that means paying R294 ($2.27) at an Eskom station instead of R367.5 ($2.83) at GridCars, the country’s largest EV charging station operator, helping them save about R73.50 ($0.57) on a single charge. Eskom’s lower prices offer drivers a cheaper alternative to existing charging networks, although its ability to compete with established operators will depend on how widely it expands its public charging stations. 

South Africa recorded sales of over 16,000 new-energy vehicles in 2025, but expanding its public charging network remains important to making electric driving more practical, especially for drivers who cannot charge at home or travel frequently between cities.