If you read our Stellenbosch founders piece last week, you'll recognise CHARGE. Co-founder Andries Malherbe raised R102 million from the Development Bank of Southern Africa to build a national network of off-grid EV charging stations powered entirely by solar. The model bypasses the grid, installs ultra-fast chargers every 150km along national roads, and gives rural landowners a revenue share from the electricity sold.

This week, CHARGE announced the first commercial freight partnership on that infrastructure. And the partner, Zimi, is a company we've featured twice on our podcast, including a conversation with founder Michael Maas about building partnerships as a venture. Those conversations now have a concrete outcome.

Two new CHARGE stations are opening along the N3 in May 2026: CHARGE N3 Tugela in KwaZulu-Natal and CHARGE N3 Roadside in the Free State. Both are off-grid and solar-powered.

Under the three-year agreement, Zimi-operated electric vehicles get reserved charging capacity of up to 500 kWh per station per day. Each site supports peak charging of over 300 kW with six fast-charging connectors capable of delivering up to 600 amps. That's enough to keep commercial electric delivery fleets running on a fixed corridor schedule without worrying about charger availability.

The N3 is one of South Africa's most critical trade routes — it's the main freight artery connecting the port of Durban to Johannesburg and Gauteng's industrial base. Electrifying it is a different proposition from putting chargers at suburban shopping centres.

Zimi is a logistics aggregator that works with commercial fleet operators to deploy electric vehicles on fixed routes. The model bundles vehicles, energy, and software into a single lease — removing the complexity of electrification for fleet operators who don't want to figure out charging infrastructure, vehicle procurement, and route planning separately.

The value proposition for fleet operators: hit sustainability targets while capturing cost-per-kilometre savings, with predictable energy costs that aren't tied to Eskom tariffs or volatile fuel prices.

Michael Maas, Zimi's CEO, said reliable charging infrastructure is the prerequisite for fleet electrification at scale. "Working with CHARGE allows us to deploy electric delivery vehicles on one of the country's busiest freight routes while ensuring predictable charging access and operational uptime."

This deal connects two pieces of infrastructure that SA's electric freight future needs: charging stations that don't depend on the grid, and a logistics layer that aggregates demand from fleet operators to make those stations commercially viable.

That second part is the detail worth paying attention to. CHARGE's challenge has always been the chicken-and-egg problem: you need chargers to attract EVs, but you need EV demand to make the chargers financially sustainable. Zimi solves one side of that equation by guaranteeing commercial demand — reserved capacity from fleet operators running fixed routes. Malherbe acknowledged this directly, noting that working with Zimi's logistics partners ensures the charging infrastructure is supported by consistent commercial demand alongside the growing passenger EV market.

The N3 rollout is part of CHARGE's broader national deployment strategy, with Zimi and CHARGE confirming they'll continue collaborating as the network expands beyond this corridor.

This news first appeared in our 19 March ‘26 newsletter on MyPetFriends pet-sitter finder.

See our full map of Stellenbosch founders who raised R100M+ — CHARGE's Andries Malherbe is on the list. Watch our podcast interview with Zimi founder Michael Maas on building an EV logistics business in SA. And read how solar is changing SA's energy landscape in Soluno solar management.

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