Charge+ to Install 3000-Mile Charging Highway Across Southeast Asia
We’ve covered voluminous ways to solve “range anxiety” – everything from greater battery density to quick charging stations, battery swap stations, and more. But sometimes, the simplest explanation is the right one – that being massively expanded infrastructure to support our electrified future.
Singapore-based Charge+ apparently chose the latter option with their plans for a 5,000-km (3,107 mile) EV charging highway across five Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
Charge+ already sports 1,000 charging points throughout Southeast Asia, which is interesting because that spot – especially China – is the only area where a competitor to fast charging (battery-swapping) has enjoyed a modicum of success.
In any case, their new project is shooting for 45 fast-charging hubs – with DC fast charging stations – that’ll be an average of 120 km (75 miles) apart. The hubs will either be on the highway, itself, or within a short distance of an exit.
The first 18 hubs – which Charge+ plans to invest in, own, and operate – should be ready by 2024, including spots in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi. The remainder will be completed a year later.
And the company is specifically positioning the charging highway as an antidote to range anxiety.
“In Southeast Asia, EVs suffer from the persistent perception that they are inconvenient for long-distance and cross-border travel…this 5,000km EV charging highway project…will revolutionize societal perception of EVs in this region and provide EV drivers with the much-needed confidence.”
For those who haven’t heard of them, Charge+ is immersed in a number of different markets across Singapore, including 100 charging points in public housing estates, 200 charging points installed or being implemented in condominiums, and they provide charging solutions for local fleet operators, including DHL, EVFY, Primech, PUB, SingPost, and UPS.
And while this new highway is obviously much better news for Southeast Asia than the U.S., you’d hope that Charge+ could inspire similar efforts here in America.
