Governor of Lagos state Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu yesterday unveiled the first electric car in Nigeria with the aim of easing the pressure on use of petrol.
The electric car named Hyundai Kona is a product of Stallion Group. Hyundai Kona is 100 per cent electric and comes with zero emission, 482km driving range and can be charged both at home and workplace.
Speaking at the unveiling of Hyundai Kona at Ojo, Governor Sanwo commended Stallion Group for believing in the Lagos and Nigeria dream. He also hailed the company for revamping the moribund VON asset located along Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
The governor said with the unveiling of the car, Nigerians can now drive electric cars, noting that Lagos remains the hub for the nation’s economy and a pacesetter in industrialisation.
He said: “We are not just launching Hyundai Kona, Nigeria’s first electric car assembled in Lagos, we are indeed empowering and creating youth employment. We are also creating opportunities for teeming youths of this nation.
“The future that we see is the future of technology and this is the technology that we are talking about. This is 21st century technology that has been brought into our country. With hardcore manufacturing companies like Stallion Group Automobile, we can begin to see the need to disemphasise mono product, which is oil.
“With the innovation of Hyundai Kona, we do not need to put the pressure on what the pump price of oil is again, what the pump price of petroleum is. All the issues and fights that we are having about prices of petroleum going up and the rest of it will be a thing of the past. This is a way to go and it is the future that we are seeing now.”
He also assured that Lagos State Government would be partnering through Ibile Oil and Gas and other private organisations to create different charging points in Lagos, so that people will have opportunity of where they will charge the electric cars.
Sanwo-Olu said: “This is the first electric car that we are seeing and we as the government need to partner with them. We need to create an enabling environment for them to do well, so that they can employ a lot more youths and create more jobs and pay our youths a lot more money, knowing full well that the future belongs to you and the future is here.
“And so the state government, working with Ibile Oil and Gas will be creating different charging points in the city, so that people will have an opportunity of where they need to charge the cars.
“For us, we see a renewed hope, for us we see a tomorrow coming today, for us we see and believe in the Stallion dream.”
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of the Stallion Group Automobile, Mr. Rohtagi Manish, said the innovation toward building Nigeria’s first electric car was a step towards an eco-friendly green Lagos.
Manish said that the materials used to assemble Nigeria’s First 100 per cent electric zero emission car was mostly sourced from local resources.
The vehicle, when fully charged for 9 hours, 35 minutes, could go a distance of 482km (a distance of Lagos to Warri), before it requires another charge.
