In this episode, Yanesh speaks with Gerhard Swart about the Joule, a South African electric vehicle project developed at Optimal Energy. Gerhard walks through how the team moved from early EV concepts to a public reveal in 2008, why the market and timing mattered, and what it took to build credibility with investors and partners. He covers the practical realities of EV development, including the focus on batteries, motors and software, the decisions behind the vehicle architecture, and how the team approached testing and early validation. The conversation also unpacks the scale-up challenge, why industrialisation funding became the key constraint, what changed when funding support weakened, and what the shutdown process looked like in real operational terms.
