Sashi (left) demonstrates how the BMW i Wallbox functions to Assistant Minister of Coastal Roads, Datuk Julaihi Narawai (second left) who represented Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah in officiating the new charging station’s launch ceremony yesterday. Also seen is Tay (right) and Long (second right). — Picture by Muhamad Rais Sanusi
KUCHING: The push to adopt the use electric cars state-wide continues with Sarawak’s first BMW i Wallbox charging stations at Cityone Megamall, Kuching.
Introduced by a partnership between Cityone Megamall’s property owners and developer Kenbest Sdn Bhd (Kenbest) and authorised BMW dealer Regas Premium Auto Sdn Bhd (Regas), the two new charging stations are part of an initiative to promote the use of electric cars within Sarawak.
Speaking during the BMW i Wallbox launching at Cityone Megamall’s premium drop off car park yesterday, David Tay chief executive officer (CEO) of Regas said the partnership with Kenbest was a proactive approach to participating in environmental contribution by both promoting the usage of electric cars in the state.
“There are over 100 public charging stations in Malaysia, but none in the State of Sarawak.
“This is why this relationship with Kenbest is a proactive beginning to setting up a dedicated BMW i Wall charging station, and to participate in this environmental contribution project in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.”
Adding to this, Kenbest’s director Jonathan Long said this endeavour was also a move to accommodate current electric car users in Kuching.
“We felt that there is a need for electric vehicle charging stations in public areas because it is necessary to provide electric car owners the opportunity to charge their cars outside as well while they’re out running their errands.
“This is one of the reasons why we added this feature to our mall as we wanted to promote the use of electric cars in Kuching, but felt that the infrastructure needed to ready before electric cars are viable to be used extensively on a day to day basis.”
Currently, Regas has delivered over 100 units of BMW Hybrid vehicles with eDrive technology in Sarawak.
This number is set to increase rapidly as Tay guided that over 33 per cent of their 2017 year to date sales have been automobiles within the hybrid category.
Besides promoting and accommodating for electric cars, Sashi Ambi head of corporate communications of BMW Group (Malaysia) said the charging stations would be the first step to making fully electric cars such as the BMW i3 viable on Sarawakian roads.
“The thing about plug in hybrid cars like the BMW i8, is that they do not completely rely on electric charging points because they do still have a combustion engine.
“The BMW i3 on the other hand, is a fully electric car and while it can go 300km on one charge, it still needs around 6 hours to fully charge itself.
“Taking this into consideration, you do need a lot of these charging stations around the city centres for convenience as they are the first step we need to take before going into a completely electric vehicle,” he explained.
Sashi guided that BMW Group (Malaysia) is still actively attempting to speak with private property owners of condominiums and shopping malls and promote the integration of charging stations in them – either the BMW wall i Box or the ChargeEV stations.
“We have a long-term partnership with Green Technology Corp (GreenTech Malaysia) who is currently embarking on a project to put ChargeEV stations in Petronas stations nationwide,” Sashi explained.
The two new BMW Wall i Box charging stations are located at Cityone Megamall’s premium drop off car park and are free to use for the general public with electric cars.
While the charging stations were designed specifically for BMW i3 and i8 cars, it is also compatible with other makes of electric cars that are equipped with a European Type 2 standard connector.