Jordaan turns over new Leaf with green vehicle

[caption id="attachment_96240" align="alignright" width="300"] PETROL-FREE MOTORING: Mandela Baymayor Danny Jordaan and councillor Rory Riordan go for a spin around Vuyisile Mini Square in the electric car they will drive for the next three days. Picture: EUGENE COETZEE[/caption]

CURRENT affairs – of the electrical kind – are likely to be at the forefront of Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Danny Jordaan’s mind over the next three days as he leads the charge towards a cleaner and greener environment.

However, it was not load-shedding or the proposed nuclear power stations that amped him up at the Port Elizabeth City Hall yesterday, but rather a battery-powered vehicle which is expected to put a little more spark into mayoral motoring.

Jordaan, along with councillor Rory Riordan, made the switch from petrolheads to electroheads when they took receipt of what is considered the future of emissionfree motoring – a battery-powered passenger car in the form of a Nissan Leaf.

The initiative, which should see the two motoring around the metro silently without producing a whiff of smoke, is part of an awareness campaign driven by NMMU’s uYilo Technology E-Mobility Innovation Programme.

UYilo was established by the Technology Innovation Agency to fast-track development and commercialisation of key technologies to support a South African electric vehicle (EV) industry. A clearly delighted Jordaan, who took a quick spin around Vuyisile Mini Square in the vehicle yesterday, welcomed the initiative, saying the municipality lauded the innovations and technological advances coming from the university.

-Shaun Gillham