BMW to set up 3,000 charging stations for vehicles
KUALA LUMPUR: About 3,000 charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) will be set up by the end of next year to cater for the rising interest in EVs.
BMW Group head of product management Dr Alexander Kotouc said BMW Malaysia aimed to leverage on plans by Green Technology Malaysia Corporation (Green Technology) and Tenaga Nasional Bhd Energy Services (TNBES) to set up about 1,000 charging stations by the end of this year.
“Under the initiative between Green Technology and TNBES, it is expected Malaysia will see 1,000 charging stations by the end of this year. To date, there are about 400 (charging) stations, but there is a target of setting up 3,000 stations by the end of next year, and they are looking at automotive partners that have the technology and are interested to introduce it in Malaysia.
“After the policy was created, BMW was the first carmaker to introduce our fleet of high-performance hybrid cars into Malaysia and sales have gone up since,” he said after his earlier keynote session titled “Future Utility and Sustainable Development”.
With new business model opportunities opening up in tandem with the rising interest in electric vehicles, BMW Group Malaysia planned to leverage on the charging stations business disruption in Malaysia.
In October last year, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, GreenTech Malaysia and TNBES entered into an agreement to instal 100 EV charging stations, ChargEV, by year end.
Due to overwhelming response from vehicle owners and automakers, the number of stations has risen and TNBES has increased its target to 1,000 this year.
The partnership, Kotouc said, was timely and suitable as an energy company and a government agency was taking the lead in implementing the charging solutions in driving the green energy growth initiatives.
“Malaysia is a key market for our electric vehicles and we see the numbers going up. We foresee about 56 per cent plug in hybrid sales for next year as well.”
The ChargEV charging stations are currently free for electric vehicles nationwide.