Wholly-owned subsidiary of Sime Darby Group, Sime Darby Holdings has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ecoride, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) joint venture between Perisind Samudra, the lead green programme developer, and GreenTech Malaysia, enabler for Malaysia’s Green Technology Master Plan 2017 – 2030.
The aim of the MoU is to explore opportunities for collaboration between the parties involved, such as to procure electric vehicle (EV) fleets and provide aftersales services to complement the country’s goal of migrating from internal combustion-engined vehicles to EVs, Sime Darby said in its statement.
Ecoride aims to “champion the nation’s migration from ICE to EV in line with these aims, specifically the government’s commitment to the Low Carbon Mobliity Blueprint which runs until 2030,” it said. Details on the “Services” tab of the Ecoride website currently only lists a trio of EVs, which could be indicative of what will comprise the fleet; namely the BYD e6, the Hyundai Kona Electric and the Tesla Model 3 Long Range.
Sime Darby is aiming to be a leading player in support of Malaysia’s aspiration towards low-carbon emissions mobility through offering a wide range of products and services as well as capabilities across the group’s automotive value chain, the group said.
The group’s recent focus on the rolling out of electric vehicles from brands it represents in Malaysia is in alignment with its commitment to a sustainable future, said group chief executive officer Datuk Jeffri Salim Davidson.
“Moving forward, our portfolio will feature a balance of both internal combustion engine models and EV models to position us for the future. In line with our sustainability blueprint which has been developed as an overarching framework to drive our sustainability efforts, we target to have a more energy-efficient product portfolio by 2025,” the CEO said.
There are several battery-electric vehicles currently in the portfolios of brands represented by Sime Darby. From BMW, the iX was launched in August in two versions starting from RM419,630 OTR without insurance, which attracted more than 100 orders in Malaysia within a month. Earlier this year, BMW Group brand MINI launched the Cooper SE facelift, priced at RM213,461 OTR without insurance.
Joining the battery-electric line-up in Malaysia is the BMW iX3, which was launched locally last month. As for upcoming zero tailpipe emissions models from the Sime Darby group, Jaguar Land Rover Malaysia announced last month that the I-Pace SUV is due to arrive in Malaysia soon, while coming even sooner than that is the facelifted Hyundai Kona Electric that has been confirmed for a November 18 launch.
At the upper end of the Sime Darby EV hierarchy is the Porsche Taycan which arrived in Malaysia last September, whose owners can take advantage of a 175 kW at each Porsche Centre in the country that can yield a full charge in 36 minutes.
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