Puma Energy plans to partner with car dealerships in Namibia to provide charging points for Electric Vehicles (EV) in the country.
Puma General Manager Adell Samuelson told The Brief the company is anticipating establishing at least more than two service stations equipped with charging points for electric cars by October.
“For now, the target is South Africa-Noordoewer-Windhoek-Swakopmund routes. Watch the space in the next two years, more charging stations will be visible across the country,” she said.
“We are engaging with dealerships, who are now faced with a dilemma of how they are going to operate the vehicles in the absence of a working charging system. Thus, this is compromising the import of EV, hence the need to collaborate and provide service for this special need.”
Samuelson stated that Puma is trying to test the system, and it has proved to have a charge speed of 20-25 minutes.
“That is how long it will take one to charge their vehicle, and then you are gone. So, our plan is to improve our retail services, by providing better shop experience, shade nets and standard ablutions. By the time you are done exploring and relaxing, that would compound to the charging time frame,” she stated.
Meanwhile studies show that on average it takes the slowest level 1 equipment, charging through a common residential 120-volt (120V) AC outlet about 40-50 hours to charge a battery electric vehicle (BEV) from empty and 5-6 hours to charge a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) from empty.
Level 2 equipment offers charging through 240V and can charge a BEV from empty in 4-10 hours and a PHEV from empty in 1-2 hours. While the fastest which a Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC) can charge a BEV to 80 percent in just 20 minutes to 1 hour.
When fully charged, the average travelling range is between 400km (250mi) to 800km (500mi).
Before implementation of the venture, Samuelson said the energy company was still interrogating the mode of payment to be used, including the billing system.
“The Bank of Namibia and Banks will be consulted to guide us how the payments can be done,” she said.
“Puma is engaging with big brands who are in car dealerships and sees the future of electric vehicles, and since we want to go solo in advancing renewable energy, it is an opportunity that we are exploring to partner with them. We not only want to provide fuel but also this shows our resoluteness to transition to alternative energy. We therefore want to cater for that market. so we are very excited about that,” added Samuelson.
Puma is pushing ahead with the going-green initiative, having already solarised 25 retail stations, depots and terminals in Namibia, with a combined capacity of 781KWp, and an annual power generation of 1,337MWh. This, according to Samuelson, is estimated to reduce CO2 emission by 1,044 per annum.
