Electric vehicle promoter visits Sarawak

Aisah (third from left) and Sarawak Energy Event Management and Protocol senior manager Azahari Aliman (second from left) taking a closer look at Wakker’s (left) electric vehicle.

KUCHING: Sarawak Energy, in its effort to raise awareness and increase usage of green vehicles in the region, has partnered with Wiebe Wakker of the Plug Me In project to showcase sustainable mobility through electric vehicles (EV).

Wakker, from the Netherlands, attended a sharing session with Sarawak Energy’s EV Team and other employees interested to learn from his experience on the performance of EV for long distance travel.

Driving his EV across the globe to his final destination in Australia, the Dutchman arrived in the state early last week, having shipped his car from Port Klang to Kota Kinabalu and making the trip down south to Kuching.

Sarawak Energy was first in the state to introduce e-mobility to its fleet in 2014 as an initiative towards sustainability.

“As a state-owned energy development company and power utility, we need to take proactive steps to reduce our carbon footprint and to move towards energy efficient vehicles in order to promote sustainability.

“Sarawak is an ideal place to use electrical vehicles.

“Electricity supply in Sarawak is predominantly provided from hydropower, which is renewable, reliable and affordable,” said Sarawak Energy executive vice-president for Corporate Services, Aisah Eden at the talk at Menara Sarawak Energy last Friday.

Wakker embarked on a solo journey in an EV from his home country in March 2016.

Largely crowd-sourced, his journey has so far spanned almost 30 countries covering over 50,000km.

The intrepid traveller also worked part-time to meet his costs, and relies on the generosity of his social media followers along the route for accommodation and electricity to charge his car.

“Plug Me In is my way of promoting sustainability through e-mobility.

“I make it a point to visit organisations, events and initiatives that promote sustainability and lead green initiatives,” Wakker said when asked about what he was looking to achieve out of his journey.

“I found it fascinating that Sarawak Energy has such a strong focus on sustainability.

“I am very excited to be part of their journey through this partnership,” he added.

Sarawak Energy has introduced four Nissan Leaf EVs and 10 Eclimo Electric Scooters into their corporate fleet.

Through the EV Volunteer Pilot Program, employees are assigned EVs for daily use, as an opportunity for them to operate and understand the advancement in EV technologies.

This initiative also promotes awareness of the importance of environmental conservation as well as to encourage the employees to look into environmentally friendly modes of transportation.