ISTRIBUTOR of electrical products and accessories ACO Group Bhd is firming up its green technology presence by tapping opportunities in the electric vehicle (EV) industry.
This comes in the form of the company’s involvement in the development of EV charging infrastructure via its strategic investment in EV Connection Sdn Bhd, a leading EV charging specialist to install a direct-current (DC) fast-charging station at the group’s new headquarters in Johor Bahru.
To capitalise on the rising growth prospects in the EV space, ACO has proposed to acquire a 10% stake in EV Connection for RM1 mil cash.
With a capacity of 180-kilowatts (kW), the ACO-EV Connection charging station is set to be one of the fastest charging speed stations in Malaysia and the very first in Johor. Such facility will only require about 30 minutes to charge a car as compared to alternating current (AC) charging points which takes about six to 10 hours for a full charge.
“We are thrilled to embark on this project and play our part in narrowing the gap for EV charging infrastructure in Malaysia,” commented ACO’s group managing director Tang Pee Tee @ Tan Chang Kim.
“Malaysia’s EV industry holds tremendous opportunities for us and we intend to expand our involvement in the development of EV charging infrastructure via our strategic investment into EV Connection.”
For the record, EV Connection is also the authorised service provider and EV charging station installer of many auto makers such as Mercedes Benz, Volvo and Hyundai as well as to oil & gas (O&G) companies.
Having supplied and installed more than 800 EV chargers to date, the green technology specialist also owns and operates 20 EV chargers throughout Malaysia. It has the largest network of DC fast charging stations in Malaysia.
Moreover, EV Connection is also a provider of solar engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) solutions and has built solar panels at petrol stations to power EV charging stations.
“Together with EV Connection, we aim to participate in the scaling up of the EV charging network in Malaysia to pave way for greater EV adoption and support the push for driving decarbonisation,” enthused Tang.
“We will leverage our respective strengths with ACO’s vast product offerings and footprint in Malaysia while EV Connection focuses on its strong technical know-how in EV infrastructure to accelerate the deployment of EV charging station across Malaysia.”
At 3.04pm, ACO was down 7 sen or 18.18% to 31.5 sen with 43.72 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM109 mil. – Oct 18, 2021
