Former CEO of GreenCape, Evan Rice has been appointed as Tesla’s business development manager in South Africa.
Alan Winde, MEC for economic opportunities delighted by the whole idea especially now that one of the province’s own has joined Elon Musk’s team.
The provincial government in 2010 set up GreenCape to aid in the development of the green economy.
Tesla manufactures the Powerwall a home battery charged by solar panels, with South Africa’s Musk building a $5bn mega factory for the production of the batteries in Nevada desert.
It will be one of the world’s tallest buildings on its completion. During a presentation in May last year, Musk said several factories are needed across the globe.
Winde added that Powerwall would be a great solution to people in remote parts of the world where there is no electricity or where electricity is expensive.
Winde’s department together with GreenCape went into action immediately they heard the news.
Winde’s need for involvement prompted quite a number of people in GreenCape to start engaging with Tesla via means of telephone.
“They engaged in some teleconferences and a delegation went to visit on site af6erwards,” Winde said.
He noted that during the discussions with Tesla, Rice impressed the executives who were prompted to poach him.
“Rice called me to say he is leaving GreenCape but was not certain if the appointment was good news or bad news. It was definitely good news on my end when he told me where he was headed.”
“A gigafactory here would be a very significant move and if we can get that right, nuclear energy will be made obsolete,” he added.
Efforts to reach Rice for comment were futile but sources quoted him saying his job was to expand the market for the powerwall since the deliveries of the product began late last year.
