Malaysia’s 2023 EV Uptake And Infrastructure Growth Overview

As 2023 draws to a close and the new adventure beckons in 2024, let us look back on how far the Malaysian electric vehicle (EV) scene developed over the previous year.

2023 proved an extremely positive year for both vehicle sales and EV charging infrastructure growth. The nation started the year off with roughly just 2,093 EVs being sold in 2022, but an initial report from Finch Solution predicted 2023 would see an EV sales totalling 4,449 units.

However, based on an announcement by Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry (MITI) Tengku Zafrul, his ministry estimates that over 9,000 new EVs have registered thus far, indicating the positive response in EV adoption as this is double that of Finch Solution’s initial prediction mentioned.

Collectively to date, there are roughly over 12,000 EVs registered in Malaysia since 2011.

Why the sudden high uptake of EVs in 2023, you might ask? Well, this is thanks largely to the continued road tax (LKM), excise tax and sales tax exemptions for localised (CKD) EVs, as well as the extended duty exemptions for fully imported (CBU) ones until Dec 2025. This enabled new brands such as Tesla and smart to set-up shop here.

At the same time, existing brands like Hyundai and BMW were also afforded greater opportunities through which to introduce more EV offerings for local consumption at prices far lesser than their ICE equivalent - and counterparts.

Another reason for said growth in EV sales is due to the simple fact that consumers, especially in major cities, are able to see the rapid growth in the supporting infrastructure - especially charging stations for both DC and AC.

The government has set a target of having 10,000 EV chargers (1,000 of which would be DCFC) operational nationwide by 2025. However, take note here that besides setting a goal and getting regulatory approvals in place, all EV chargers development are done by private entities and charge point operators (CPO) such as Gentari, ChargEV, Jomcharge, DC Handal and ChargeSini.

Throughout the year, CariCarz.com has covered that even independent CPO face issues moving at speed. This stems from the underlining government agencies and their lack of haste in providing necessary licences and approvals.

We entered 2023 with around 700 charging points or electric vehicle charging bays (EVCB), and things have grown to 1,434 EVCB by year’s end. This consists of 317 DCFC and 1,117 AC chargers altogether.

Now, if the 10,000 EVCB goal is to be realised by Jan 2025, there needs to be 713 EVCB established monthly from Jan 2024 onwards. If this goal is moved to Dec 2025, 357 EVCB will need to be established monthly instead.

We are quite doubtful if this four-fold growth is even remotely possible, but it surely would not mean EV adoption will slow down, especially in major cities. However, travel during festive periods could be a hassle as there will be more EVs hitting the roads then, but charging networks on major highways aren’t growing rapidly in tandem.

In a bid to show transparency and inform the public, the government also introduced two (2) platforms - MEVnet by PLANMalaysia that’s supposed to keeping track of all the EVCB in the county, along with data.gov.my/dashboard/car-popularity that  tracks vehicle sales numbers.

However, based on our understanding both these platforms aren’t painting the real picture yet simply due to either the data being not updated, and listing of EVCBs that are no longer open or operational.

So how’s the outlook for 2024? For starters, there would be alot more new EV models and brands set to launch, notably with the likes of the BYD Seal, MG 4, MG Cyberster, as well as the Chery Omoda E5. Adding to which is the planned commencement of Tesla Model Y deliveries starting Jan 2024.

The introduction of the luxury tax, as well as the yet-to-be-announced new EV road tax rate, would be minor deterrents to EV sales. The luxury tax is set to go into effect in January 2024, and it will levy additional taxes ranging from 5% to 10% on EVs priced RM200,000 and above. Meanwhile, many EV buyers are still on the fence about purchasing an EV due to the fear of high road tax rates once the EV road tax holiday expires in 2025.

Furthermore, the EV floor price of RM100,000 (to help P1 and P2) does not boost EV adoption growth as brands like Neta, which could possibly sell the Neta V for as low as RM70,000, are forced to price their offerings uncompetitively at RM100,000 until 2025.

Now having said all this, we at CariCarz.com are pretty sure 2024 would be a busy year set to dwarf the achievements of 2023. What else do you think can be done to accelerate this initiative? Cancellation of fuel subsidies perhaps? Well that is a topic for another day.