The national uYilo eMobility Programme was established in 2013 as an initiative of the Technology Innovation Agency (Act 26 of 2008) to enable, facilitate and mobilise electric mobility in South Africa.
As a multi-stakeholder programme, the uYilo Programme has various activities that include government lobbying, industry engagement, pilot projects, capacity development, enterprise development and thought leadership.
Supporting expertise and facilities extends across national accredited battery testing, material testing, vehicle systems, and a smart grid ecosystem that serves as a live testing environment for interoperability of the various system components of the smart-grid.
The technology landscape extends across renewable energy generation, second-life electric vehicle batteries integrated as stationary storage, Vehicle-to-Grid of ancillary grid services from electric vehicles, and an autonomous energy management system providing resilient charging infrastructure for electric vehicles aligned to international smart grid protocols.
Hosted by the Nelson Mandela University, the programme seeks to ready South Africa for introduction of electric mobility technologies.
The name of uYilo is derived from the local Xhosa language which means "to create”, along the motive of creating this new industry in South Africa.
For more information on this programme please visit, uyilo.org.za.