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Good news for owners of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars, and the car companies selling them. The upcoming Budget 2017 that will be tabled by PM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak this Friday will encourage the use of EVs in Malaysia, Bernama reports.

Energy, Green Technology and Water (KeTTHA) minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said there will be a plan to increase the number of charging stations to encourage the use of electric vehicles. “The use of electric vehicles has yet to be expanded as we need to promote infrastructure such as charging stations,” he told reporters in Langkawi.

The initiative will involve the finance, transport and the international trade and industry ministries. “KeTTHA’s role is to reduce the release of carbon dioxide,” said Ongkili.

Across the board duty exemptions saw the likes of Nissan and Mitsubishi bring in CBU imported electric cars (Leaf and i-MiEV respectively) a couple of years ago; in addition to Honda, Toyota and Audi’s CBU hybrids. Today, incentives are given to those who assemble these green cars locally. The Volvo XC90, Mercedes-Benz C350e, BMW X5 xDrive40e and BMW 330e are attractively priced PHEVs that one can plug in to wall chargers. The Tesla Model S is also in Malaysia, but not everyone with the money can buy one.