To further advance Malaysia’s electric vehicle (EV) industry, the ministry of international trade and industry (MITI) is encouraging the introduction of more affordable EVs, Bernama reports.
According to MITI deputy secretary general Datuk Seri Norazman Ayub, EV models priced from as low as RM120,000 will be coming to Malaysia in the second quarter of this year. At present, the most affordable EV on sale is the base 400 Pro variant of the Ora Good Cat from Great Wall Motors (GWM), which is priced at RM139,800 on-the-road without insurance. Another EV that falls below the RM150,000 price point is the Standard Range variant of the BYD Atto 3 at RM149,800.
“We have now encouraged the importation of more EVs, particularly from China, because we want to have more EVs which are affordable for the rakyat,” said Norazman, who also reiterated the government’s goal of providing at least 10,000 EV charging stations in the country by 2025.
“We will be working with highway concessionaires such as PLUS Expressways for the charging stations. We want to invite any particular investor to invest in charging stations to be part of the development of the EV ecosystem,” Norazman added.
Previously, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, minister of natural resources, environment and climate change, made a similar statement on affordable EVs, although the target price mentioned at the time was under RM100,000.
“Most EVs in our market cost RM100,000 or more, hence the need to shift our attention to a larger market with EVs costing RM100,000 or less. The government is exploring avenues to introduce more affordable EVs in Malaysia and will be observing Proton as to when they will introduce a Geely-based electric vehicle here,” the minister said then.
Meanwhile, MITI minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said last December that the government strongly supported the EV agenda. Several targets were laid out too, including having electrified vehicles account for 15% of total industry volume (TIV) by 2030 and 38% of TIV by 2040.
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