Madani Sahari, CEO of the Malaysia Automotive, Robotics & IoT Institute (MARii), believes that EVs are now more just a lifestyle choice and not a replacement for traditional engines.
He told FMT that producing EVs was vastly different from producing a traditional vehicle.
“While the experience and talent present in the Malaysia ecosystem is still relevant to the development of the EVs, they require a new business expansion into a separate line of products and services to cater to the EV market,” he said.
He said incentivising business expansion through vehicle assembly, component manufacturing or after sales activities was vital to spur the growth of the EV market.
He was commenting on an article by veteran automotive journalist Yamin Vong, who said the EV industry gives Malaysia an opportunity to become an automotive hub for Asean countries.
Yamin said Malaysia should not miss the EV opportunity, which heavily relies on semiconductors and software, two things Malaysia is already popular for.
Shahrol Halmi, president of the Malaysian Electric Vehicles Owners Club (MyEVOC), also told FMT that while electric vehicles can be a viable replacement for normal cars, the economic factor from consumers needs to be taken into consideration.
“Buying an EV needs to make sense, it can’t be more expensive to buy, run and maintain than a petrol or diesel car,” he said.
He said that while EVs are more expensive than normal cars in terms of manufacturing and battery costs, the government should give more tax breaks and subsidies to incentivise people to switch.
He also suggested that the government be more transparent with industry data, similar to Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) that publishes monthly information on vehicles registered in the republic, including fuel type, model and brand.
“Better data reduces business risk, and reducing business risk increases attractiveness to investors,” he said.
Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) president Aishah Ahmad said the government needs to develop the infrastructure for EVs, like easily available charging stations, besides making them affordable to make Malaysia an EV automotive hub,
“For Malaysia to be an Asean EV hub, the government should continue to provide tax incentives and have fair EV policies for all manufacturers in order to attract potential investors to Malaysia,” she told FMT.
She also said that long term EV incentives that are comparable or better than other Asean countries can help attract investors to make Malaysia an EV hub.
“There must also be a sizable sales volume of EVs to make it viable for investors,” she said.