KUALA LUMPUR: About 3,000 charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) will be set up by the end of next year nationwide to cater for the rising interest in EVs.
BMW Group head of product management Dr Alexander Kotouc said BMW Malaysia aims to leverage on plans by Green Technology Malaysia Corporation (Green Technology) and Tenaga Nasional Bhd Energy Services (TNB ES) to set up about 1,000 charging stations by the end of this year alone.
“Under the initiative between Green Technology and TNBES, it is expected Malaysia will see 1,000 charging stations at various locations nationwide by the end of this year.
“To date, there are about 400 stations but there is a strong target of setting up 3,000 stations by the end of 2019 and they are looking at automotive partners that have the technology and 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 in a press briefing after his earlier keynote session titled “Future Utility and Sustainable Development”.
With new business model opportunity opening up in tandem with the rising interest in electric vehicles, BMW Group Malaysia plans to leverage on the charging stations business disruption in Malaysia.
In October last year, Petronas Daganagan Bhd, GreenTech Malaysia and TNB ES entered into a tripartite agreement to install 100 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, ChargEV, by 2018.
Due to overwhelming response from vehicle owners and automakers alike, the number of stations has risen and TNB ES has increased its target to 1,000 this year.
The working partnership, Kotouc said, is timely and suitable that an energy company and a government agency is taking the lead in implementing the charging solutions in driving the green energy growth initiatives.
“Malaysia is definitely a key market for our electric vehicle and we see the numbers going up. We foresee about 56 per cent plug in hybrid sales for next year as well,” he added.
The ChargEV charging stations is currently free for electric vehicles nationwide.