According to a report by The Malaysian Reserve, the Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech Malaysia) is in the midst of drafting a proposal on local electric vehicle (EV) initiatives, which could potentially lead to an all-electric national car.
Company CEO Mohd Azman Zainul Abidin revealed the EV proposal is currently being worked on, to be presented at the ministry level. If approved, it will then be forwarded to prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The premiere had previously voiced his desire for a new national car project as well as joint development of an ASEAN car with Indonesia – the former being faced with rejection from the public.
The proposal, once completed, will reportedly include recommendations for a small percentage of the government’s fleet to be converted to EVs. “If the government commits to convert a small portion of its total fleet to electric or plug-in hybrid, it would create major awareness and demand for the manufacturers to come in. The demand will allow the manufacturer to invest both in vehicle and charging stations,” Mohd Azman explained.
Other means of encouraging demand for EVs that are being suggested include tax breaks and incentives for manufacturing EVs in Malaysia. GreenTech Malaysia has formed a special purpose vehicle with Tenaga Nasional (TNB) to invest and construct EV charging stations nationwide.
As of now, there are 234 charging stations, with 150 of them located in the Klang Valley region. Mohd Azman says the joint venture with TNB will result in up to 10,000 charging stations nationwide in the next five to 10 years.
“In France and Canada, the governments’ intervention is high to encourage demand and supply in the electric mobility vehicle segment. Malaysia, under the new government and minister, is seen to be proactive in the issue of climate change and care to preserve the environment,” he said.
The idea of a local electric car isn’t entirely new, as national carmaker Proton had previously revealed an Iriz EV at the 2015 International Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia (IGEM).
The prototype featured an electric motor rated at 116 kW (155 hp) and 360 Nm of torque. The motor is powered by an LG-developed 39.6 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery, allowing for a 0-100 km/h time of less than nine seconds and a top speed of 150 km/h.
That’s not the only ‘green’ vehicle that Proton has developed either, as there was the Preve REEV (range extender electric vehicle), Saga EV and Exora REEV a few years ago. All these vehicles largely existed as functioning prototypes but were never sold in Malaysia.
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What GreenTech can do, buy TESLA at zero tax then start new business TESLA car renting company to malaysia…? Bcoz normal citizen buy TESLA tax kawkaw tax 100%-300%, tongkat GreenTech got tax exemption… Pity 30millions malaysian.
Proton future looking up again!! Whole range of Local electric cars >> Iriz EV, Preve REEV, Saga EV, Exora REEV.
Malaysia still tido. All other car manufacturers are now looking at how to increase battery mileage with their EV
Malaysia, even Hybrid also don’t have. And that is 10 year old technology. Whatmore EV and PHEV?
Proton got no money also but they will spend billions to develop prototypes
Preve REEV (range extender electric vehicle), Saga EV and Exora REEV…..apa jadi? Billions wasted.
How Huawei within 10yrs time able to become world 3rd biggest market share after Apple Samsung. Oppo Vivo Xiaomi ZTE all going into Top-10 world market shares. Do Chinese govt TAX 200% make Huawei Oppo Vivo Xiaomi ZTE succesful…????? Only strong in RnD selling cheaper than competitor will penatrade market shares… Sohai betul PH still same car tax as BN…
Malaysia is waiting for the more stable version of the EV Technology. Then we will spend taxpayers money to purchase the company and spend on “R&D” – basically to understand how its built. Then government will invite the Chinese to buy over majority shares in our local Malaysian company and then sell it back to us… The “Proton cycle” continues… and we still continue to pay the taxes like good citizens.
This company decided to rent their Teslas to Government departments for about RM20k per month. Just normal usage and not for research purposes.
I don’t know why Government departments need Tesla cars as official cars. All their cars are now rented at about RM20k per month each.
Guess who is paying the rental of these expensive cars by the Government? You and Me
Greentech is not related to PROTON or PERODUA any other National cars. Get your facts straight.
Is this the company that bought about 100 Tesla’s for about RM1 million each with tax payer’s money and said they were going to do research about coming out with EV cars?
This was like 7 years ago. Malaysians are still waiting.
Ironically, Tesla gives their blueprints and knowhow on EV technology for FREE to any car maker wanting to build an EV car. No need to buy a single Tesla to get these blueprints.
‘Free’ is not free, understand?
Hidup PH!
Uk, France, Netherlands and many European countries already confirmed by 2040, no more petrol or petrol cars will be sold. Everything 100% EV
That is only 21 years more
London already said by 2030 all cars will be only EV.
That is only 11 years more
Malaysia? We are still in deep slumber.
so shameful, China company Geely now going to give us EV technology.
What happened to all the money we spent on EV?
China EV tech. worst copy cat not proven for Malaysia. Chinese themselves buy and use the best from Europe and USA and dump their inferior tech to us. seriulsy who will buy China EV? we saw what happened to all the so called high tech Chinese EVs. all dead.
@ Yazid. That WAS well spend !! Now we start fresh again with taxpayers money and Chinese technology !! :( :(
EV Project is not new in Msia. It was started by Proton under the EV Pilot Program with Fleet Test Vehicles given to few ministries many years ago. But the only question now is why must go through Greentech Malaysia instead of automakers whether it is Proton or Perodua or 3rd National Car company or even Nissan, Renault or Mitsubishi?? What does Greentech knew about car making?? Shouldn’t it will be best just let the automakers proceed with EV by themselves?
Somebody got to make money. What you gave was the perfect solution. Greentech was to set up to waste tax payers money. Simple as ABC
Close down Greentech & MAI. Nuffsaid
Ini greentech mai seriously dunno what function & contribution to malaysia auto industry, greentech get the fund do tesla car renting company, mai get the fund doing some spm level power point presentation slide. Malu betul…
Do whatever you want to do. Just don’t distort the car price of other make. Nowadays people are revengeful, if they are not happy, they will kick out out just like what happened to Proton.
Malaysia EV greatness beckoned.
https://paultan.org/2017/04/12/malaysia-aims-to-be-marketing-hub-for-evs-targets-100k-electric-cars-125k-chargers-on-the-road-by-2030/
Pipu buy P2 coz it is cheap not because it is good
Finally we are moving in the right direction. Give contracts based on pure meritocracy and we will have something concrete in two years…
Fyi, Greentech is not a car dealer company. They exist to promote and push green tech for Malaysia (no pun intended). What they currently do is deploying charging stations around the country though they mostly saturated in Klang Valley which I think are kinda pointless if they want to push the idea of EV as a mass transportation. Charging stations should be deployed on the PLUS highway and RnR for long distance travel first, then deploy to rural cities and town once the reception is good.
I think in Malaysia, for EV to succeed, the awareness and knowledge of EV tech is essential. We all care so much of car prices. This being somewhat very new to many Malaysian, the initial takeaways are EV are generally more expensive because they mostly treated as premium cars and fully imported.
What Greentech is trying to do is creating the knowledge and awareness among the policymakers first, then to the public.
If the public is well versed in EV and how the ecosystem works, then the market can start rolling with EV sales along with charging infrastructures to suit.
Before that happens, the government need to address few things; EV/eco car tax breaks, the archaic road tax system, pricing of EV or PHEV to cater all income levels and the regulation for EV safety (crash test, first responder/bomba). Greentech should also focus on charging infrastructure that best work for Malaysian driving situations.
And no, Tesla will not sell cars here unless the country is actively promoting clean technology for the masses and the public is well aware of the need for EV. Besides, Tesla cars are not like your typical BMW Mercedes thing. Even with grey import ones, some aspect of Tesla will not work, like Autopilot and navigation. They need to have official presence here to enable those function. And they only do so on their own without local distributor because that is how Tesla works. Their business model is similar to a tech company like Apple.
One would wonder Tesla has some sort of geofencing whereby their autopilot only works in areas they permit. If that’s the case the Tesla cars we have here are close to useless.
Point for you to ponder:
1) EV is mainly designed for city-driving where the traffic is heavy so that energy usage is more efficient and not wasted especially when caught in the traffic-jammed. Besides that being a city, EV can reduce tail-gate emission & this is very crucial for city environment. EV is not really designed for rural or long-distance travel even though it can do the job as well.
2) Awareness & knowledge on EV. Greentech is already in existence for many2x year. Even the ministry also have a dedicated division on greentechnology and transportation is one of the priority sector. Tons of money has been spend on awareness program. In fact, many Malaysian already knew what is EV and how it works. The only thing lacking is the ACTION and not just proposal after a proposal.
3) Greentech focus on Infrastructure? I would prefer to just leave it to private business entity to do this and not this so called govt-funded entity. Only business people know how to do business efficiently.
4) Things that govt need to address such as tav-breaks, road-tax system, bomba etc are already done. Maybe you need to refer to EV Infra Roadmap & EV Blueprint that were available since many years back. Things have been addressed..
5) All and all, peoples just want an ACTION and not just a proposal after a proposal..
In summary, Greentech Msia, please wake-up.. leave the EV business to car manufacturers. They knew much better than you. Not a proposal after a proposal.. but no ACTION.
Don’t want to jump the gun… let’s see the proposal first wether it is viable or feasible.
And why does it have to be a national ev car project? Why not just create the electric propulsion unit or battery or any complete tech n just sell it or joint venture with any car manufacturer? Why must invent the whole wheel again?
Don’t use government to create demand. Not sustainable. Facilitate yes but not direct industry driver
In most cases, financial models will be short term. Hence vehicle is expensive, charging station is expensive, charging is expensive. Charging from household is not an option to the model.
The focus should be on component manufacturing that are more than good enough for the world market. The complete system is only to operationalise the electric vehicles as a test bed. Can go to the complete vehicle later on when major components are already world standard.
Should not be stand alone but complement the transport infrastructure in the country for cost sharing
If its from a private venture where no tax money is involved (only incentives) than i dont see why not.
Everything has to start somewhere. This project from GreenTech could lay the foundation for a larger independent EV-only national car company in the future.
I understand that GreenTech has been trying to boost local EV viability for the past few years. But knowing that GreenTech is pursuing a government-driven approach (as opposed to market-driven like Tesla), I’m worried they may run into the same kind of problems Proton faced with their EV projects in the past. But to be fair to GreenTech, the global EV industry is still primarily government-driven anyway, mostly by means of tax rebates (for the public) and R&D incentives (for companies).
I want to share another story with you guys. Did you know that Malaysia already tried to develop a ‘national EV car company’ in the late 1990s ? And yes, it too was the brainchild of Dr. M. The company was called ‘Perusahaan Otomobil Elektrik Malaysia (POEM)’. Founded in late 1997, it was a joint venture between Tenaga Nasional and British-based Fraser-Nash.
If the name ‘Fraser-Nash’ sounds familiar, it’s not because they’re related to F&N, the beverage company. Fraser-Nash were the ones who built the REEV Proton models some 8 years back, which participated in the RAC 2011 Brighton to London challenge.
Coming back to POEM; like many of Dr. M’s industrial projects at the time, POEM was similarly corrupted by cronyism. Although TNB held 50% of POEM, and Fraser-Nash held 40%, DS Nadzmi Mohd Salleh (from Proton) and the late TS Basir Ismail (from Malaysia Airports) each held a 5% stake. Also, Frazer-Nash’s owner itself, one Kamal Siddiqi (non-Malaysian) was supposedly very close to Dr. M.
Cronyism aside, POEM genuinely did produce fully-working electric vehicles which they called ‘Eleksuria’. They cost RM40k per unit. POEM built many units in anticipation of the 1998 Commonwealth Games, including fully-electric golf buggies and airport buggies. POEM claimed to have sold nearly 3,000 units by late 2000. Some were supposedly exported to Europe and America.
All of POEM’s models looked odd … remember the G-Whiz which Jeremy Clarkson hates ? Yeah, the Eleksuria was a lot like that, but somehow… worse still. Nonetheless, the concept of an electric vehicle was quite advanced at the time (although electric-only cars already existed well before World War II). It’s said that the Eleksuria had a respectable 100km range (probably, because it was very lightweight). It was very, VERY barebones, I don’t think it even had air conditioning. A Kancil 660 would’ve looked like a Mercedes-Benz in comparison to the Eleksuria ! There are some pictures of the various POEM models online, feel free to Google.
Despite the promising outlook, POEM didn’t take off like Proton and Perodua did. Maybe the 1998 financial crisis is to blame, or the fact that POEM relied almost exclusively on fleet sales. Only those in the loop will know what really happened.
POEM tried to get Proton to ‘carry’ their failed project. Proton instead went to Fraser-Nash directly, and also LG Korea for their own EV projects. POEM didn’t survive long into the 21st century. It joined the ranks of Dr. M’s other less fortunate industrial projects like Perwaja.
The name ‘Perusahaan Otomobil Elektrik Malaysia’ has since faded into obscurity. Few Malaysians are aware it even existed (I only found out about POEM’s existence last year). POEM was an interesting concept, perhaps, one that was somewhat ahead of its time. But sadly, POEM was just too corrupted with cronyism and the products were still too niche to justify large scale mass production.
Anyway, I just wanted to share this story here in light of news of a potential new local EV car company. I hope that any party who embarks on an EV project will learn from the mistakes of POEM, TNB, Fraser-Nash and also Proton’s pre-Geely EV projects. Don’t let history repeat itself. Thank you for reading.
Pipu hope that any party who embarks on an EV project will learn from the mistakes of GreenTech too.
Legislation is in place in the UK and France and other countries to outlaw the use of fossil fuel engines on the roads by specific dates so it is only a matter of time in the forseable future when EV’s would be the near exclusive mode of propulsion.
malaysia going EV? sure bor? EV car launch, all complaint battery price expensive, case in point, Malaysian complaint hybrid cars battery expensive and poor RV.
all want Tesla, all want EV, but who really buys? all scare battery price. even the simple macro hybrid battery Malaysians also complain, what more EV battery.
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA.
Indeed.. HAHAHAHHA. GreenTech… brainchild of previous PM. all want Tesla, all want EV
EV car manufacturers need to open up their battery replacement policy. Allow other brands to compete producing the battery just like current combustion engine batteries. The Auto industry won’t be what it’s today if each manufacturer only allow to use it’s own brand of battery & only to use it’s own brand of fuel.
EV? Selling at 40k?
First. Petronas will complaint. dropping sales of petrol.
Second. Proton will complaint of losing car sales. This time perodua may join too.
Greentech is not smart enough in setting up all the charging points. Electric Vehicles meant no petrol/diesel needed and they go and build most of the charging station at Petronas Station, don’t u look stupid? What can a driver do, by charging at Petronas gas station for 2-3hrs? Come on! Build at R&R, Shopping Malls, Car Parks….places where ppl go and will park their cars for few hours! And subsidies must be given to the EV owners whom is using the charger. What is the logic if the driver charge their vehicle at KLCC, where parking is RM 7/hr for 3 hrs? The parking costs already RM21 compared to saving on petrol for a full charging only worth about RM5? Stupid again isn’t it?
Never ever cooperate with Indonesia. They are religious crooks that are backwards and outdated unlike our forward thinking bros here in Malaysia. If anything, join hands with Thailand instead.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. This phrase could easily be adapted into the green technology wild goose chase in Malaysia vis-a-vis Green Tech, a company set up to introduce and lead the way for Malaysia to reduce its share of carbon emissions. After almost a decade, it has fallen short of its objectives in more ways than this comment box permits. Minister Yeo needs to review and overhaul this utterly useless agency if she is serious about reducing our carbon footprint.
So you are saying Tesla and other electric cars won’t be coming to Malaysia, to protect this newbie Proton? And the duty/tax exemption on hybrids will be lifted?
We are coming back to the same old brand new cycle here.
for this to materialise, govt should push Geely to inject cash & revamp proton’s existing R&D which doesn’t have the capacity to develop EV tech & autonomous driving. No way the govt should use money to start a new auto company from scratch.
Heard from Proton insider, that Geely is more interested in injecting cash on its new upcoming factory (purely for Geely models) while not sufficiently upgrading the old ones (that manufactures current model line up) in PTMSB (p1 tg malin plant).
We should not go for the standard 4 wheeler Every road will be jammed with the 4 wheel vehicles. We should opt for the future 3 wheelers, half the width of the standard cars 3 seaters with smaller batteries and electric traction encased in an egg shaped driver and passenger compartment for safety. For this region they should be lightning g protected. We would not want fried drivers or passenger !
“Tax breaks” not brakes
EV cars in Malaysia are for rich ppl…..not so much for environmental reasons, or financially concious ppl….
Just look at the price of Tesla in Malaysia…..
EV is the way to go for the future. Most OECD countries has plans to ban ICE vehicles by 2040/50 in cities. The reasons -Climate change CO2 emission, health problems (PM2.5 & NOx)
Hybrid, EV or even H2/fuel cells will be the future. EV has its problem – high cost & may have raw material shortage (litium & cobalt etc) or infrastructure issues.
But in the interim what do we do with ICE vehicles?
Many countries are driving LNG/CNG as an interium – reduce CO2 emission & cleaner emission for cities
China & Korea is leading in deployment H-CNG a 20% hydrogen & 80% CNG which can meet stringent emission std. Korea has come up with a H-CHG vehicle that claim to meet even EURO 7 emission std. Other countries are also making progress in this.
Malaysia has a CNG program but limited to taxi only. Petronas is the only supplier – its not promoted becauae its highly subsidised. Malaysia has LNG thus the prmotion of H-CNG could be consider as a possible interim. Most exsisting ICE vehicles can be converted to use CNG or better H-CNG. Malaysia has lots of gas & infrastructure to import LNG now. Plenty of LNG is available form Australia too.
While meeting climate change is important, health Malaysian living in cities is also important.
The promotion of H-CNG could also enable the palm oil mills which has lots of biogas capacity but no value at the moment to reduce CH4 emission, help Malaysias commitment for climate change. Malaysia has more than 450 palm oil mills. Thia could create transforming the palm oil industry compliance to environmental compliance or RSPO, transforming the logistic infrastructure (ICE convert to HCNG) – palm oil need(FFB to mills, CPO/PKO to refineries or export, EFB/PKS to plantaion for mulching, fibre processing, as fuel etc)
These will create new business, introduce technology – biogas upgrading to bio-methane, employment upgrading in palm oil mills.
Malaysia will have to go EV or H2/FC one day. We can used the resources available now & develop our palm oil industry to create higher income earners.
Greentech will bring another useles crony like Fraser and Nash that sucked Proton blood for years and gave them nothing and failed them with exora and saga EV projects . Only KPI matters for them
I agreed > Close down Greentech & MAI.
i still dont understand why does everybody hating the move from the Gov to produce local brand. sampai bila Malaysia nk jadi consumer semata-mata. our country has to produced something of course, barulah boleh jadi negara pengeluar. duit luar bnyk masuk, ekonomi negara makin kukuh. klau nk start something new pastu terus berjaya, tak payah berangan la nk jdi negara pengeluar. mentaliti most people at Malaysia still terkebelakang, no vision. so sad.