Socar is a local car-sharing service that just partnered with Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) to boost electric vehicle (EV) adoption in Malaysia. They plan to do this by setting up 50 EV zones in Malaysia by the end of 2022.
These Socar zones will be set up “nearby or right next to EV charging stations”, according to Socar Mobility Malaysia CEO Leon Foong. They will also be suited to fit the location they are in. For example, cars in Cyberjaya were found to have a higher average mileage than cars from the city centre, so Cyberjaya zones will have a DC charger and vehicles that fit the higher mileage.
The goal for this project is to convince the public that EVs are both fun and viable for Malaysia. Socar plans to get rid of the ‘range anxiety’ by setting up adequate zones and charging stations to support the use of EVs.
Socar also believes that the cost of owning an EV is lower than owning an internal combustion-engined vehicle, and they plan to prove it by running this operation and observing the data.
“For the people investing in vehicle charging infrastructure – can they actually generate returns on investment from the capital expenditure they have laid out? These are the two key goals in our partnership with Tenaga Nasional, and 2022 will be a big year in finding the answers to these questions,” Foong explained.
After 2022, Socar also plans to expand their number of EV zones in 2023 and 2024, and will use the initial 50 zones as a learning process for future additions.
If you want to try Socar out, you can download it on the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
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