The government will be switching its vehicle fleet to electric vehicles (EVs) beginning from 2023, says Environment and Water (KASA) Minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.
“Starting next year, all vehicle procurement by the government will consist of electric cars,” he was quoted as saying by Malaysia Gazette.
However, Tuan Ibrahim said that the specific details of the matter are yet to be finalised by the government as there weren’t a lot of choices offered in the market. He added that the cost of EVs is also high.
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— Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (@titm_official) August 10, 2022
“The main issue here is the lack of charging stations available throughout the country, adding that the government is looking to address the issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, he also revealed that the government has plans to make certain locations such as Langkawi and Putrajaya as starting points to drive electrification forward.
“For example, in Langkawi, we could give 100 electric motorcycles to residents in exchange for their old bikes or upgrade their vehicles. Our intention is to use such resort islands as a pilot project,” he said.
He explained that by utilising islands such as Langkawi, the ministry can develop a model because the implementation is much easier in terms of infrastructure and support. As for Putrajaya, Tuan Ibrahim said that the government was looking at making it a carbon-free city, so it would increase the usage of EVs there.
Tuan Ibrahim said the government’s EV adoption follows the Low Carbon Mobility Blueprint (LCMB) that was published by the Malaysian Green Technology And Climate Change Centre (MGTC) last year.
The study details the adoption of EVs for use in government and GLC fleets as a means to encourage wider adoption, with the government leading by example. The plan starts by establishing EV procurement for the government fleet by open tender.
Within the first year, the plan was to replace 10% of the government fleet with EVs, and increasing to 20% over the following 2 years.
The process will also be adopted for GLC fleets, with tax incentives being provided until 2030, with 20% of new vehicles for the GLC fleets to be made up of EVs in the next three-plus years.
There are currently not many choices of EVs that are available in the country too. According to AutoBuzz, EVs that have been launched in Malaysia until now include Hyundai Kona Electric, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, BMW iX, BMW i4, Mercedes-Benz EQA, Mercedes-Benz EQS, Porsche Taycan, and the MINI Cooper SE.
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