The lost Joule EVs will be back for us to admire — but not drive

'Eggbox' formation to create the prototype shell.(Photo: Keith Helfet)

26 Feb 2025

They were the cutest of cars, e-princesses among petrol guzzlers, designed with Jaguar lines and way ahead of their time. But financial constraints pulled the plug and their lineage dropped out of sight. However, there were prototypes, and in 2024 Daily Maverick went hunting for them. This is a story of at least a partial resurrection.

Once hailed as South Africa’s homegrown electric vehicle breakthrough, the Joule electric vehicle (EV) hit a funding wall in 2012 and dropped out of sight. Designed by a Jaguar engineer, it captured attention for its modern aesthetics and forward-thinking technology.

It was lost but not forgotten: In 2024, Daily Maverick heard that some of the prototypes were preserved though non-functioning. We unearthed the EV’s history and located its designer, Jaguar chief designer Keith Helfet.

At Nelson Mandela University (NMU) a small but determined team is now giving the Joule a new lease of life, not as a commercial venture but as a piece of history – refurbished, preserved and back in the spotlight.

The Joule was the brainchild of Optimal Energy, a South African startup that sought to place the country on the global EV map. With financial backing from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the Joule was envisioned as a sleek, eco-friendly alternative to petrol-driven cars.

But reality soon struck. Despite progress in development, securing the second round of funding proved impossible. South Africa lacked a robust EV ecosystem and initiatives to promote electric vehicle adoption never materialised. Without the necessary financial support, production plans stalled and Optimal Energy shut down. The Joule prototypes, which had been developed as pre-production test models, were left in storage.

Read more: The search for South Africa’s lost electric car

NMU found itself in possession of several prototypes, along with other assets from the defunct Optimal Energy project. Initially, the Joules had served as educational tools, helping engineering students understand EV mechanics and technology. But as newer EV developments rendered the prototypes technologically obsolete, their role at the university became uncertain.

Joule A Joule prototype. (Photo: Keith Helfet)

Revival

A turning point came when engineers and scientists based at the university conducted a safety audit. The Joule’s ageing lithium-ion batteries posed a fire hazard, raising concerns about long-term storage. Rather than dismantle and discard them, the university supported an opportunity to preserve these vehicles as historical artifacts.

It launched a refurbishment initiative and Hi-Tech Automotive, which built the prototypes, and Rubicon stepped forward. Under the agreement, Hi-Tech will refurbish two Joules. One will remain at the company’s facility as part of their vehicle museum, while the other will be restored and returned to NMU for display.

Rubicon, an energy solutions company, will refurbish two additional cars. One will be placed in a museum-like setting at their Cape Town headquarters and the other will be repurposed for internal transport within their facilities.

For some, the project carries a deep significance. “This is about recognising the work of the engineers who built the Joule,” said Professor Danie Hattingh, who was responsible for initiating the Joule’s revival. “They were ahead of their time. By preserving these vehicles, we remind ourselves of what’s possible.”

“It’s a piece of our history,” added Dr Andrew de Vires, a team member. “We can’t afford to forget it.”

“The Joules at the university were no longer the centre of attention and securing funding for proper care was no longer a priority,” explained Hattingh. “Despite being stored under cover and routine inspection, it became apparent that the conditions of the Joules will deteriorate rapidly due to corrosion if left as is.

“One must realise that these were pre-production prototypes and the protection against corrosion during the manufacturing of the units was not a priority.” The main focus over the past few years was to ensure that the battery packs were serviced and maintained properly, because not doing this would pose a safety risk.

Joule designer Keith Helfet. (Photo: Keith Helfet)

“The appetite to look after four units within the university would be challenging, requiring money and time. If no plan was implemented it was clear that the units would eventually become obsolete and recycled. Not a good place for engineering history.

“So we decided to find companies to assist with developing a way forward for the remaining four Joules and see whether they could restore and preserve them, because they’re part of automotive history. Hi-Tech Automotive and Rubicon put up their hands.

“One of the Joules we will restore by trying to keep it as original as possible,” said Greg Blandford, the managing director of Sustainable Technology and E-Mobility at Rubicon. “We’ll be keeping the interior as correct as possible, not changing anything interior wise, just fixing anything that’s broken and putting it into our showroom in Cape Town. The other one we’ll restore to functional condition – replacing the battery pack and maybe even the engine if necessary.

“We’re just waiting now for the legal signoff. There’s been a bit of back-and-forth waiting for the university to return the legal agreement to transfer the assets. Once that’s done, it’s literally a case of going and fetching the vehicles on a flatbed, moving them to our warehouse and starting restoration.”

The origins

The vehicle’s creators had a vision ahead of their time. Kobus Meiring was programme manager in the creation of the formidable Rooivalk helicopter gunship, then moved on to manage the SA Large Telescope (SALT) being built in the Karoo.

He asked his former Stellenbosch housemate, Jian Swiegers, to join him and they formed Optimal Energy in 2005 with another SALT engineer, Gerhard Swart, and former helicopter test pilot Mike Lombard. The Industrial Development Corporation provided about R300-million and the Department of Science and Technology’s Innovation Fund added R15-million to build a prototype.

According to Swiegers, they had the good fortune to meet the chief designer for Jaguar, Helfet, who was born in Calvinia, lived in Pinelands and studied at UCT. He had designed the legendary XJ220 Jaguar and other muscle cars.

Read more: The man who designed the Joule, South Africa’s elusive electric car

“He laughed at our initial body design, but said he’d always wanted to do something in South Africa,” Swiegers said.

By October 2008, with a team consisting largely of engineers, they unveiled the Joule in shell form at the Paris Motor Show. “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 it didn’t attract the hoped-for funding, according to Helfet. It didn’t help that it coincided with a global economic crisis flagged as the greatest since the Great Depression in 1930.

The ‘eggbox’ formation used to create the prototype shell. (Photo: Keith Helfet)

Production began at Hi-Tech Automotive (the designers of the legendary AC Cobra) near Port Elizabeth which was tasked with making a car for the forthcoming Geneva International Motor Show and four running prototypes.

At the time, Optimal Energy said full-scale production of the Joule would begin at the end of 2012, with cars in showrooms by mid-2013. It didn’t happen.

The IDC evidently got jittery. It may have been the global financial situation, a change of IDC staff which reallocated funding priorities or the realisation that the cost of setting up production from the prototype could jump from R300-million to about R9-billion.

“You have to understand that you’re not going to make a lot of money early on,” said Swiegers. “You need subsidies, you need support from the government.” 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.

In 2024, Daily Maverick went looking for the prototypes and found some. One was at the James Hall Museum of Transport in Gauteng. Several others were in storage at NMU. Soon they will be back in the public eye, a reminder of the chance South Africa had to be at the forefront of the EV revolution, but lost the race to another South African, Elon Musk, and Tesla. DM

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Revival

The origins