Sterling Bank’s Qore Sparks Nigerian EV Revolution To Life
LAGOS – Sterling Bank has changed the course of Nigeria’s energy and transportation sectors with the launch of Qore; its suite of renewable energy-powered transportation solutions.
Qore will offer the purchase and financing of electric vehicles (EVs), EV charging stations, conversion of fossil-fuel-powered engines to EV engines, battery swapping services for modular EVs, and more.
Abubakar Suleiman, CEO of Sterling Bank, while speaking at the launch of Nigeria’s first publicly available EV charging station in Lagos, said that the launch of Qore is a significant milestone in the bank’s journey towards powering Nigeria’s transportation sector with renewable energy.
According to Suleiman, “Qore will revolutionise the very idea of how we power movement by providing clean, sustainable and cost-effective options for individuals and businesses, while impacting positively on the sector’s environmental footprint.“
Olabanjo Alimi, Group Head for Renewable Energy and Transportation at Sterling, also speaking at the launch, further explained that Qore focuses on improving mobility services in Nigeria by providing affordable and cleaner transportation alternatives to petrol and diesel powered vehicles.
He described Qore as a “mobility project” that will offer a range of products, including the manufacture and sale of EVs, financing for the purchase and distribution of EVs, and mobility-as-a-service options to cater to first-and last-mile transportation.
Alimi said: “Qore will deliver innovative solutions through partnerships that provide sustainable energy options for vehicles through stations such as this. This will accelerate the adoption of clean mobility solutions that allow interested customers to buy EVs directly, or even convert their existing petrol- or diesel-powered vehicles to run on electricity.”
“Along with the readily available technology to convert petrol or diesel powered vehicles, Qore will drive EV adoption in the Nigerian market by providing charging infrastructure and battery swapping services to quicken the turnaround time of restoring power to EVs.”
He continued by saying that Qore had pioneered, along with the first publicly available charging station in the country, a proprietary payment solution that will allow for direct interaction with the battery management system of vehicles that charge up at the station.
The Group Head concluded by highlighting that this is a watershed moment for the Nigerian EV market, emphasizing Qore’s openness to partnerships and collaborations to increase the creation of EV infrastructure and adoption in the country.
The adoption of Qore’s suite of solutions is already increasing with the acquisition of 100 electric tricycles to power transportation in the Kano metropolis, as well as the conversion of diesel-engine ferries to electric power to improve the commute of individuals and businesses on Lagos’ waterways.
The newly launched charging station adds another layer to the robust offerings.
Sterling has set itself apart as the first corporate organisation on the African continent to fully power up its offices with a renewable energy source by installing over 3000 Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) panels, generating 1 megawatt (1 MW) of electricity.
This move will make the structure one of the largest on the continent, primarily powered by renewable energy, demonstrating the bank’s commitment to the growth and development of renewable energy in Nigeria.
Furthermore, the bank recently launched Imperium; an alternative energy solution, to power Nigerian homes and businesses through solar and renewable energy services tailored specifically for Nigeria’s peculiar energy needs.
Renowned for its now famous HEART of Sterling strategy; which focuses major investments in the Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Transportation sectors of the Nigerian economy, its irreverent brand voice and enviable talent management practices, the bank recently completed a major milestone towards the completion of its transformation into a financial holdings company with the relisting of its shares on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).
The bank has maintained and increased momentum in 2023 with her citation as Africa’s Most Valuable Commercial Bank Brand for 2023 by the African Brand Magazine , in a poll conducted by GeoPoll and Kantar; two of the world’s leading brand research firms, a top three employer in Nigeria by LinkedIn in the social network’s annual Top 25 List, and most recently, one of the top 100 fastest growing companies in Africa by the prestigious Financial Times.
Remember Mustapha Gajibo, the guy that runs commercial electric vehicle service in Maiduguri?
Qore by Sterling Bank + Phoenix Renewables by Mustapha Gajibo.
Mustapha Gajibo started out by installing electric motors on minibuses (korope) and thereby converting them to electric vehicles. He has a large solar panel farm that powers his charging stations. He rents out buses to drivers in Maiduguri and they run commercial bus services in the city. Drivers and passengers prefer the electric buses because they are cheaper, quieter and as one passenger said, the drivers don't waste their time by queuing at petrol stations.
He also revealed (in a Deutchewelle interview some years ago) that he is building his own electric vehicle, the Kaande. He has now completed a few units of the Kaande.
Sterling Bank hired Mustapha Gajibo to build a solar-powered charging station on Victoria Island. They have now helped him to bring some units of the Kaande to Lagos.
Qore by Sterling Bank is also considering bringing in foreign made electric vehicles and assembling them in Nigeria. They are also building battery swapping stations and helping people convert their old petrol powered vehicles to electric vehicles.
This is not Sterling Bank's first foray into the renewable energy area. They completely covered their headquarters with solar panels a few years ago.
naptu2: Oh yeah! That post about the diagram is linked (by a building) to another pending post.
There are always alternatives, choices and options in everything and the government needs to allow Nigerians to have choices, alternatives and options in everything. Free and fair competition usually drives down prices.
Remember that there was a time that regular crude oil was cheap, then it became expensive and the fact that it was expensive made mining of shale oil profitable and then the Saudis had to over supply the market in order to wipe out the shale producers. (Just think of what Globacom did in 2003).
There are also many alternatives in the electricity sector. We can create a 4th tier in the electricity market (retailing) that will encourage competition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_retailing). We can encourage generation companies to conduct RD into other sources of electricity (yeah, I know that we have an advantage in gas, but there's no harm in trying to improve what we have). We can. . .no, we need to further explore the willing buyer, willing seller option (eg Magodo GRA) as a means of raising funds. And we can also explore off grid options, like the one below.
Now, my second pending posts is about how Lagos has changed.
If someone had come to you in 1983 and told you that Gerard Road in Ikoyi would be a dual carriageway that was plagued with high volume of traffic in the mornings and evenings, you would have said that the person was mad, but that's the situation right now.
I can no longer recognise any of the places on Alexander Avenue and Gerard Road that I used to go to everyday between 1983 and 1985. It's like the present Gerard Road came from another planet.
I knew Ikoyi like the back of my hand in the 1980s, but now almost everything is different.
I remember when we were driving down that Bourdillon-Alexander-Gerard stretch in 2010 and we almost got lost! Everything is different
I haven't really been to Yaba in a while, but something tells me that Yaba is about to be the same. I'm not even going to risk driving in that area. I'm sure that I won't know where to go because of the new rules, flyovers and diversions (because of the rail projects).
And this. This phenomenon is also gradually affecting Marina. They basically remodelled Kontagora House (I spent long periods of the 1980s monitoring the construction of that building) but I can barely recognise it now.
I also watched as NAL Merchant Bank's headquarters was being built at Marina in the 1980s. I know exactly how that building looked, but it's totally different now. They have covered the entire building with solar panels. They are going off grid and they are going to generate their own electricity from the sun.
Pictures 1 and 2) This is what the building previously looked like (it had big blue letters that spelled NAL in the 1980s).
