‘Electric vehicles will cut maintenance costs by 70%’

The Group Managing Director of Nedcomoaks Group, Dr Ned Okonkwo, has stated that the adoption of electric vehicles will help reduce maintenance by almost 70 per cent.

He stated this on Tuesday at the agreement signing ceremony for 2,000 EVs by CIG Motors, Nedcomoaks and Fidelity Bank in Lagos.

He noted that the partnership was borne out of the need to reduce carbon footprint in the country and promote a cleaner environment.

“If the government can support the electric vehicle charging stations, and electric vehicle industry, it is a great opportunity for us. Nigerians would be happier because, with an electric vehicle, you will reduce nearly 70 per cent of the maintenance costs of your vehicle,” he declared.
He said he and the chairman of CIG Motors shared the same vision of transforming and making Nigeria better and protecting the environment.

“The need to eradicate carbon footprint and improve green energy were the shared aspirations that brought us to this point.

“I said to her, COVID-19 transformed my organisation. During COVID we realised that the best medicine that God provided to mankind to protect himself against COVID was the home. If the home was in an energy crisis that arose all over the world, how do we solve it? Research has shown that a God-given resource, sunlight, was abundant in Nigeria.
“And we could tap from the power of the sun and transform the energy sector in Nigeria. And that gave birth to our Citadel Utilities, Citadel Real Estate, which gave birth to the first city we developed powered by the sun.

“And we said they were still being affected by noise pollution, environmental pollution that came from petrol-powered vehicles. We said we needed to partner with a firm that is investing heavily in the research and development of EVs. That brought us to CIG Motors to ensure that our customers enjoy the benefit of driving electric vehicles,” he explained.

He added that his firm had vowed that all its estates would be equipped with electric vehicle charging points.

“We are deploying over 10,000 electric vehicle charging points in partnership with a reputable inverter company. We are doing that across Nigeria.

“For every organisation that keys into this vision, we are saying come, let’s save our environment, let’s save our planet and most importantly, let us reduce the burden that we have placed on our people. The costs of petroleum products are very expensive,” he remarked
The Chairman of CIG Motors, Chief Diana Chen, stated that the firm believed that Nigerians should enjoy better energy in the country, which made it enter into a partnership with Nedcomoaks Group on the unveiling of 2,000 EVs.

“The EVs are energy storage devices. We don’t see them as just vehicles. They are beyond the automobile. They are just like iPhones,” she said.
She revealed that CIG Motors recently partnered with the Lagos State Government through Lagride on the unveiling of 5,000 electric vehicles.

Chen added that the firm was working on increasing charging points for EVs across the country and training Nigerian technicians on the maintenance of the EVs.

The Executive Director of CIG Motors, Mr Jubril Arogundade, noted that the firm, having promoted the GAC brand in the last 10 years, had metamorphosed into CIG Mobility.

“We are now CIG Mobility from 2024 to the next future, where we are going to be partnering with amazing business giants like Dr Ned OkonKwo and other people in the society to be able to develop a new wave of mobility in Nigeria. Green mobility is a no-brainer. It is a national project.

“The Federal Government has said we should move away from the dominance of petrol and look for other sources of power to move from point A to point B. The CNG conversation is ongoing, but you and I know that no matter how expensive electricity is, at least it is here,” he expounded.

The Executive Director of Fidelity Bank, Mr Kennedy Opara, noted that the bank fully endorsed the partnership because of its passion for innovation.

“There is so much endorsement from the Fidelity family, essentially because Fidelity is associated with innovation. We have a full-blown division for sustainable banking and of course, we have a partnership with them.
 “And today, we are talking about electric vehicles and CIG is actually causing a disruption.

“And apart from the fact that the vehicles that consume diesel and petrol fuels cause pollution and the impact it creates on the environment, this is a departure from there. If you notice, when those electric vehicles were coming in, we didn’t see any noise. They were calm like somebody playing with a toy,” he stated.