KARACHI: Audi in collaboration with Siemens, two leading German companies, has unveiled Pakistan’s first and only ultra-rapid DC charging station equipped with Siemens SiCharge D series chargers, with speeds of up to 160kw, at the Libra CNG station. Also known as Libra Charging. Here on Tuesday in Hub, Sadar.
In his welcome address, Abdul Haseeb Khan, CEO, Libra Energy Solutions, said that his family has been in the oil business for the last 50 years. Then his father Abdul Sami Khan started the first Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) station here in the 1990s. And now he has also come up with an Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station.
He requested the government to give subsidy to make the charging of electric vehicles cheaper. He requested the Pole-Mounted Transformers (PMTs) of Electricity along the highways to install more such charging stations there. “That way you will be able to easily drive your EV from here to Muri,” he said.
Pakistan’s first ultra-rapid EV charging station launched
Siemens-Pakistan chief Markus Strohmayer said he had the greatest respect for Libra Energy’s initiative to step into uncharted territory in the 1990s with CNG and now with a charging hub. “Karachi has shown us that it is at the forefront of integrating technology.”
Providing some details about his particular charging station, he said that it is the first rapid charger in Pakistan that takes just 15 minutes to charge big cars like Audi e-tron and just four or five minutes to charge smaller EVs. will take time
“Your highways really need to be equipped with such charging stations. Seeing cars moving from one city to another would be a small investment,” he said, adding that there is a lot of vacant land along our highways, which can be converted into solar farms.
Speaking on the occasion, Karachi Administrator Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that he is grateful to people like Abdul Sami Khan who thought of CNG 30 years ago and are still adapting to the changing times by converting their CNG station into a charging station. .
“I personally use an EV and want to tell you that the people who have moved to these vehicles have cut all their fuel costs. In 2022, fuel prices are at an all-time high. And these vehicles are also eco-friendly because you always have renewable energy thanks to the sun and wind,” he said.
He then said that as the administrator of Karachi, he could find out about convenient places in the city to set up charging hubs. “KMC is with you and we can persuade other petrol pumps and gas stations to adopt this technology. And I can help in making policy and law for this as well as EV can help in saving the environment. As for setting up charging hubs along the highway, I can talk to the federal government as they look for cost-cutting solutions,” he said.
He said that there are many parks which come under KMC which they can convert into solar parks. “We are already doing this at Kidney Hill and Safari Park to bear the cost of street lights,” he said.
Finally, the Honorable Bernhard Schlaghek, Ambassador of Germany to Pakistan, said that he was particularly pleased to be present at the inauguration of this example of a brand new German innovation.
“The future is electric. We are learning that today more and more in times of climate change and global warming. However, the same infrastructure is required for electro-based mobility. I am glad that there is another in this direction. Steps are being taken here.”
Published in Dawn, June 15, 2022