EV charging rates to rise faster than petrol prices in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: In Malaysia, petrol and diesel prices are controlled by the government with huge subsidies in place to provide lower cost of transportation for all sectors, be it private vehicles and also commercial vehicle transportation.

This is partly why we have been late in introducing higher quality diesel and petrol for many years.

It is a well-known fact that our ‘neighbors’, Thailand and Singapore have had higher quality fuel on sale years before we started selling better quality fuel. Both Singapore and Thailand do not have high subsidies on fuel sold and so, car manufacturers together with truck and bus manufacturers have the option of introducing modern diesel engines to ensure cleaner air quality and better fuel consumption for owners.

Now comes electric mobility. Malaysia again is a little late to introduce incentives to spur the ownership of electric vehicles, but better late than really late.

Last year the Malaysian government finally recognized the need to promote electric mobility in a big way and so they removed all import duties on electric cars. As you probably already know, Malaysia has one of the highest import duties on cars, be it fully imported or locally assembled.

By removing these duties, the electric car selling prices have dropped by a huge margin and the luxury car brands, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche have been seeing brisk orders and mid-segment brands like Hyundai and Mini are selling out their electric vehicles (EV) as fast as they are being unloaded from the container ships.

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This move has spurred the business of providing EV charging stations. The car manufacturers selling EV’s are forming partnerships with fuel stations to provide FAST changing points for their premium customers (for now only rich Malaysians can afford EV’s on sale) as they are not going to be patient and wait at a wallbox to charge their luxury EV.

They want fast charging, under 30 minutes where possible and they are proud to declare the savings made on their shiny new electric car.

So, we have fast-charging stations being built and commissioned every month along our many west coast highways and there will be the same happening in our east coast highways in the coming months. Soon range anxiety for the inter-state EV driver will be a thing of the past in Malaysia and the arrival of lower-priced EV’s will flood the Malaysian market.

EV’s like the recently announced SMART EV from Geely which will be sold under Proton Edar and Great Wall Motors ORA Punk Cat which arrived in Malaysia a year ago and are awaiting government approval for its selling price.

This will create more opportunities for private individuals to start providing EV charging stations in smaller towns and along state roads as middle-class Malaysians start buying EV’s with the intention to take local holidays and visit relatives in small towns.

The change is coming and business opportunities are being created for a whole new sector and some Malaysians can take advantage of this electrified mobility and be rewarded.

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