Six units of i chargers were installed in the basement parking lot of the shopping centre in an affluent neighbourhood and were unveiled to the media on Tuesday. Charging is free.
While the i chargers, also known as i wallboxes, look nice, it would have been better for its 5-m long cable to be retractable within the charger housing.
This follows the introduction ofnew similar chargers at Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Melaka, The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat in Ipoh, the Iconic Hotel in Penang as well as at WEIL Hotel in Ipoh last year.
Sales of plug-in hybrids or electrified cars now form over 57% of total BMW vehicles sold in Malaysia. With BMW set to sell even more of such cars, it is helping to strengthen the local infrastructure by expanding its network of i chargers nationwide.
The emergence of parking bays for electric car charging has, however, given rise to some people hogging the bays after charging their cars, depriving others from using the facilities. A BMW spokesman said it is expected to roll out a campaign soon to educate the public on hybrid charging etiquette.
BMW charted another year of record-breaking business performances for the eighth consecutive year with 14,338 vehicles delivered, a segment-leading growth of 13%.
Over 7,500 plug-in hybrid variants of BMW and MINI vehicles were sold, making up 57% of deliveries. The 330e plug-in hybrid was the most popular BMW sold in 2018, with 2,149 units delivered to customers.
“As the country’s leading provider of premium electrified vehicles, we are constantly driving initiatives for innovation, local assembly capabilities, awareness on new and clean technology for the automotive industry as well as helping develop the infrastructure for electrified premium vehicles in the country," said BMW Group Malaysia managing director Harald Hoelzl.
"We began working on these initiatives with the Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech Malaysia) as early as 2015 and we have also developed projects on our own with our network of dealerships across the country.”
BMW's electrified cars or iPerformance vehicles are supported by the ChargEV platform through its partnership with GreenTech Malaysia. The BMW ChargeNow service, which is offered as part of the BMW 360° ELECTRIC programme provides straightforward access to partner charging facilities like ChargEV, where customers can enjoy 24/7 support and access to all charging locations in ChargEV’s network nationwide.
