Chevron (Cambodia) Ltd, the local manager of the Caltex petroleum brand, on April 26 launched the Kingdom’s first publicly-available electric vehicle (EV) charging point, along with the southern Phnom Penh filling station where it is located. The Caltex station – the 50th in Cambodia – is located on Prey Sar Road in Prakar village of Dangkor district’s Prey Sar commune, and comes amid the Kingdom’s increasing adoption of cars and EVs. A spokesman for the Ministry of Public Works and Transport in mid-March affirmed the Kingdom’s commitment to boosting the use of electric cars and buses to 40 per cent, and motorcycle analogues to 70 per cent, by 2050, in accordance with the government’s long-term carbon-neutral development strategy. Chevron Cambodia chairman Pongtorn Tangmanuswong said that April 26’s dual inauguration marked a “new phase of development” in the company’s services in the Kingdom, and that the filling station and singular EV charging point would aid the government in stimulating economic growth now and in the future. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Minister of Public Works and Transport Sun Chanthol revealed that Caltex aims to open 50 additional filling stations “over the next three years”. Chanthol lauded Chevron Cambodia for its investments in the Kingdom, which he said have aided socio-economic development over the past 20 years of doing business in the country. The Ministry of Commerce’s business registry shows that Chevron Cambodia was incorporated on August 3, 1995, and lists an eastern Bangkok address for Pongtorn. Chanthol stressed that Cambodians would be quicker to embrace electric motorcycles, auto-rickshaws and other vehicles as the infrastructure network expands nationwide and the benefits of EVs become better known. “Using EVs wouldn’t pollute the environment, neither in Cambodia nor around the world, and of note, [fuel] costs would be three times cheaper than petrol. In addition, EV adoption is in line with Cambodia’s commitment to reducing CO2 pollution to 27 per cent by 2030 and to zero by 2050,” he said. The minister contended that EV adoption and associated investments in Cambodia would be further fuelled by import prices that he said are “about 50 per cent” of the corresponding rates for petrol vehicles. He noted that 47 EVs were registered nationally in the first quarter of this year, compared to just seven during the same period in 2021. To promote the use of EVs, the public works ministry worked with EnergyLab and Germany’s Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) to set up a display of electric cars and motorcycles at the ministry’s car park, Chanthol said. Additionally, the first EV charging point, provided by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) was inaugurated at the ministry on March 26, he said, adding that the ministry is set to inaugurate a second kiosk in Sihanoukville on April 27 – also provided by the UN agency. US ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy through an interpreter said the launch of the charging point was “a good sign” for the Kingdom to move towards more widespread EV usage. He lauded Cambodia for its “great market and economic growth potential” and sizeable population, particularly of young people, all of which he said have prompted the US and its companies to bring “good quality, good services and standards” to the Kingdom. “Cambodia is a country with a good investment climate that hosts importing companies such as Coca-Cola, Ford – which has a factory in Pursat province – Starbucks and others,” Murphy said, according to the interpreter. “All of these represent progress.”