The sad story of thwarted innovation has been told, but what happened to the cars?
The pair formed Optimal Energy in 2005 with another SALT engineer, Gerhard Swart, and former helicopter test pilot Mike Lombard. “The South African EV market was limited,” Swiegers explained, “so we had to aim at the budding European market. I think the timing was perfect.” In design terms, the Joule was a swan among ducklings and created a media buzz, but didn’t attract the hoped-for funding, according to Helfet. It didn’t help that it coincided with a global economic crisisThe Joule was an EV with a Jaguar-style interior.
The government was unwilling to provide the billions needed for mass production. Without government support, the Joule was dead and Optimal closed its doors in 2012.At the time there was a show “shell” and four working Joules. Concerted online digging produced a photograph of three perky, colourful Joules which had been taken at NMMU; then a downer: a photo of burned-out garages. In a student demonstration, the Joules had been torched.Joules before they were burnt at NMMU.