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Dutch e-Mobility Campaigner Drives Home Renewable Energy Message in Sarawak

KUCHING, 8 DECEMBER 2017, FRIDAY: Sarawak Energy was first to introduce e-mobility to its fleet in 2014 as an initiative towards sustainability.  In an effort to increase the awareness and usage of green vehicles in this part of the world, the organisation had recently partnered with Wiebe Wakker from the Plug Me In project to showcase sustainable mobility through electric vehicles (EV). Wakker drove his EV from Netherlands across the globe towards his final destination in Australia.  He arrived in Sarawak earlier this week, having shipped his car from Port Klang to Kota Kinabalu and making the journey westbound from there.

Wakker attended a sharing session with Sarawak Energy’s EV Team and other employees at Menara Sarawak Energy who were interested to learn from his experience on the performance of EV for long distance travel.  The event was attended by Sarawak Energy’s Executive Vice President for Corporate Services, Aisah Eden.

Speaking at the event, Aisah said, “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.”

Wakker, who is from the Netherlands, embarked on a solo journey in an EV from his home country March 2016. Largely crowd-sourced, his journey has so far spanned almost 30 countries, covering over 50,000km. The intrepid traveller also works 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,” said Wakker 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 continued.

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, to give them the opportunity 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.