The Straits Times | Updated May 18, 2023, 2:49 PM SGT
SINGAPORE – By end-2024, electric vehicle (EV) users can potentially travel some 5,000km across five countries in South-east Asia by accessing a network of charging stations using a single smartphone app.
Singapore-based company Charge+ has announced its plan for 45 high-speed charging stations connecting Singapore to Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. These will be located along highways and in cities.
The first 18 locations, which will be owned and operated by Charge+, will be in service by end-2024. These will be sited in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The remaining 27 locations, which will be a mix of those owned by Charge+ and its partners, will be ready by end-2025.
Drivers can use the stations in all five countries through the Charge+ smartphone app to pay for the EV charging service. The app will be able to handle the various currencies of different countries and will be fully functional to serve the first wave of charging stations when they are opened.
The company announced its plans for the extensive EV charging network at the three-day annual Future Mobility Asia summit, which began on Wednesday in Bangkok.
Charging on the network will be fast. While the majority of the chargers will be rated at 120 kilowatts, some will be even faster, at nearly 300kW.
Plugging a Tesla Model 3 EV to a 120kW fast-charging station for 30 minutes is expected to add between 250km and 300km of operating range.
Mr Ong Tze Boon, chairman of Charge+, described the latest plan to connect the five countries with its EV chargers as “another strategic milestone in the journey of Charge+ to be a truly impactful EV charging player for this region”.
The new network features four different legs. The first 700km consists of stations in Singapore, Yong Peng, Ayer Keroh, Simpang Ampat, Bangi and Kuala Lumpur.
The second leg is 1,500km long and connects Penang to Bangkok with stations in Juru, Phuket, Thap Sakae and Bangkok.
The Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City Link is the third leg. Spanning 1,100km, it has stations in Pattaya, Rayong, Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City.
The final leg, the Vietnam North-South Coastal Expressway, is 1,700km long and has stations in Phan Thiet, Da Nang and Hanoi.
Charge+ plans for the distance between two consecutive charging stations to be approximately 120km.
Other EV charging service providers have made moves to provide EV charging for cross-border networks between Singapore and Malaysia.
In April 2022, Singapore piped town gas provider City Energy launched Go, a cross-border EV charging service between Singapore and Malaysia using a single smartphone app. The service now has 118 charging points across more than 50 locations in Malaysia.
In March 2023, through a partnership between Malaysian company Yinson Green Technologies and a subsidiary of Singapore real-estate management services group LHN, EV drivers could use a single smartphone app to access more than 300 charging points in both countries.