Currently, the “cheapest” electric vehicle (EV) on the market is the recently launched ORA Good Cat, with the base model costing RM139,800. Despite being the cheapest on the market, it’s still unaffordable for many people. With the world slowly moving towards the adoption of EVs, Malaysia needs to find a way to make EVs accessible to more people.
According to The Edge Markets, Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said that the government is looking at ways to introduce affordable EVs with prices under RM100,000 into the Malaysian market.
He claimed that the majority of EVs currently on the local market are too expensive for most Malaysians to afford.
Proton will bring in Geely vehicles in the near future (but) if we can assemble the vehicles in Malaysia, maybe it will help us to offer EVs (at a) lower cost.
Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.
He also added that the government will ensure that the installation of EV charging stations is secure and controlled and that there are laws and standards that charging facility providers must adhere to. The expansion of electric vehicle use won’t be encouraged, he claimed, if they don’t scale up these charging stations.
According to Nik Nazmi, the government’s efforts to create a low-carbon future include expanding the EV industry in the nation and his ministry would consider how to make Budget 2023 or Budget 2024 better in order to include incentives for owning EVs, as well as forging partnerships with the auto industry to increase the number of reasonably priced EVs on the local market.
