Porsche Asia Pacific and Shell jointly announced the implementation of Southeast Asia’s first cross-border high-performance charging (HPC) network on Wednesday.
The network will feature 12 charge points at six Shell stations strategically located along Malaysia’s North-South highway. It offers electric vehicle (EV) drivers the ability to travel from Singapore to Penang without having to worry about their vehicles running out of power.
Singapore and Malaysia handle one of the world’s busiest international land border crossings at the Sultan Iskandar Building and Woodlands Checkpoint.
“While the question of future electric mobility is a global one, Southeast Asia amply demonstrates the complexity and diversity of both the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead,” said Amr Adel, Shell senior vice president of mobility East.
“As more customers adopt EVs and governments look to meet their climate goals, the partnership between Porsche and Shell is one of many examples of how industry players must come together to play a vital role to help the transportation sector decarbonize and pave the way for cleaner mobility solutions for customers,” he added.
The sites will be integrated into the existing Shell charging networks, comprising 18 Shell Recharge 50kW fast-charge points at Shell stations and 87 Greenlots public charge points in Singapore. There are currently 18 “Reserve + Shell Recharge” charge points in Malaysia.
Called Shell Recharge, charging points will be equipped with 180 kW DC chargers, offering the highest charging capacity across both countries. The chargers will come with two CCS Type 2 connectors, which allow a single EV to be charged up to 180 kW, or two separate EVs to charge to 90 kW each.
In a joint statement, the two companies said the offering will be rolled out in stages with four stations to be ready in the second half of 2021 and two additional stations by the first half of 2022.
Once launched, the chargers will be available for all EVs that utilize the CCS Type 2 charging connector, which is widely used across both countries. Porsche customers will enjoy special rates at Shell Recharge.
Targeting The Problem Of Range Anxiety
Range anxiety is a problem that many EV drivers face, and it refers to the fear of an EV running out of battery mid-drive. This is especially a problem when traveling long distances, such as between Singapore and Malaysia.
This development is likely to boost the EV uptake rate in Singapore. Since cross-border road traffic between Singapore and Malaysia is very high, many Singaporeans have concern that switching to an EV will hinder these trips.
With the implementation of the new EV chargers, drivers can reliably use them for cross-country journeys without the dread of range anxiety, knowing that they can never really go far enough from the next fast charging point.
“Customers are at the heart of everything we do. We have been investing in building EV charging infrastructure to reduce range anxiety for our customers and this initiative is one of many examples of Shell providing solutions catered to our customers’ need for cleaner energy solutions,” said Shairan Huzani Husain, Shell cluster managing director of mobility in Malaysia and Singapore.
This article was originally published by Vulcan Post.