Malaysia seeking EV investments of up to RM40bil
Published on: Tuesday, February 14, 2023
By:
Thamini Vijeyasingam, FMT
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Malaysia hopes to see as much as RM40 billion invested in the EV sector by 2035 and is looking to industry players to meet the target. (Rawpixel pic)
The EV sector saw approved investments of up to RM14 billion from 2018 to September 2022, according to Lim Bee Vian, deputy CEO for investment development at the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida).
Lim said discussions are already under way with potential investors, some of which have “big plans”.
To achieve its target, she said, Mida would need the cooperation of other government agencies and industry partners.
She said Mida was already collaborating with industry players to provide technical and vocational education and training (TVET) for Malaysian students.
Lim was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference focusing on Malaysia’s effort to gear up for the EV revolution here today. The conference was jointly hosted by Mida and the Malaysia Automotive Robotics and IoT Institute.
To make EVs more affordable, the government is looking to local car manufacturers Proton and Perodua to introduce a model that would appeal to the mass market, according to Hanafi Sakri, the senior director of industry development at Miti.
He said this was part of a plan to bring prices down to a more affordable level.
On the rollout of charging stations, Hanafi said the ultimate plan is to have up to 10,000 such stations. Out of these, he said, there will be 9,000 slow-charging AC (alternating current) stations and the remaining 1,000 will be DC (direct current) stations.
The government expects to roll out between 3,000 and 4,000 stations this year.
