Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Friday unveiled a first locally assembled full electric cars in Nigeria.
The electric car, Hyundai KONA car, which is been assembled in Nigeria by Stallion Group, is 100 per cent electric and comes with zero emission, 482 kilometre driving range, and can be charged both at home and workplace.
Sanwo-Olu speaking at the unveiling at Stallion Group Automobile Factory at Km 16, Automobile Nigeria Limited premises, Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Ojo, said, “The electric car is technology in displace. 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 an innovation of Hyundai Kona, we do not need to put the pressure on what is the pump price of fuel again, what is the pump price of petroleum again.
“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.
“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, so that they can create a lot more jobs, so that they can pay our youths a lot more money, knowing fully well that the future belongs to them and the future is here.”
According to him, the state government will be partnering with Ibile Oil and Gas and other private organisations to create different charging points in the city, to avial people the opportunity of various options and places to charge the cars.
Sanwo-Olu further stated: “For us we see a renowned hope, for us we see a tomorrow coming today, for us we see and believe in the Stallion dream.”
The governor commended the group for believing in the Lagos and Nigeria dream and revamping the moribund asset located along Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
The Managing Director the Stallion Group, Rohtagi Manish, stated that the innovation was a step towards an eco-friendly green Lagos.
According to Manish, Kona, he said, is one way to dealing with the global weather challenges, so as to achieve greener environment.
Vashisht said the cost of the vehicle was placed at 24 million while explaining its features, he said, “Its power packed performance will provide a thrilling driving experience with high acceleration over long distances. Driving range for Kona Electric is 482 km with an acceleration of (0-100kms) in 9.7 secs.
“The ease of charging is unmatched, one can even plug it in at home or at work and charge it for 9.35 hrs for a full battery capacity. Hyundai KONA comes with a 5 years of battery warranty and 5 years of vehicle warranty. KONA Electric will change the way people think about going electric. It would make history as first EV to in Nigeria with local manufacturing”.
