Hiccups are to be expected at the start of any scheme or initiative, and this is very much the case with electric vehicles (EVs) in Malaysia, although no one could have seen the latest snag coming.
The year was supposed to have started with EVs on sale in the country being completely exempt from import duty, excise duty and sales tax, in line with the announcement made in Budget 2022. Under the initiative, EVs were also supposed to benefit from 100% road tax exemption, while buyers are set to enjoy income tax relief of up to RM2,500 for EV charging, whether through individual purchase of a home charger or through subscription to a plan. All this for CBU imported EVs, until December 31, 2023.
Nothing untoward at first, aside from car companies taking a while to announce revised pricing. Then, as reworked prices started to emerge, contention about the disparity in new 2022 Peninsular prices for EVs in relation to duty-free Langkawi cropped up. As it turns out, the tax reliefs don’t include sales tax, which is payable for CBU EVs.
Never mind, small thing, pay the SST and move on, yes? Unfortunately, another stumbling block has come about, with EV buyers complaining that they can’t get their vehicles registered with the road transport department (JPJ), not if they want to benefit from the 100% road tax exemption.
Sounds comical, but word is that there’s a backlog of EV registrations, supposedly due to the department not having been given instructions yet to completely waive the road tax fee for new EVs. That the bottleneck exists has been verified, confirmed by a number of industry players we spoke to, although one source says this is due to the JPJ having to update its systems and processes, and not because of a lack of directive on the matter.
Other sources say that JPJ is trying to resolve the issue, hopefully by this quarter, but that for now, registration of an EV remains possible if a customer is willing to pay for the road tax and not wait for the exemption. One of the sources added that no one is sure if the road tax paid will be refunded when the waiver is finally in place.
With EV road tax being calculated based on their motor kilowatt output instead of the traditional engine cc displacement for regular ICE vehicles, some buyers will be looking to wait, while some might not feel the need to. That perspective will vary.
For example, a Kona Electric e-Max 64 kWh buyer might well find the RM463 he/she has to pay based on the vehicle’s 150 kW output a small niggle. A new Porsche Taycan 4S buyer, on the other hand, might consider the 390 kW vehicle’s road tax of RM7,504 a bit hard to swallow, even if the reality is that the sum shouldn’t even be a bother for someone buying such a car (if it’s there, the adherence to free should always be the intent, you see).
In any case, the Taycan owner wouldn’t pay that price at this juncture, because as we understand it, the 50% road tax reduction for electric and hybrid cars announced by the PH government in 2019 is still in place (until it’s superseded by the new 100% exemption).
As such, the Taycan 4S’s road tax would be RM3,752 right now, surely a snip given that one has already saved RM105,000 from import and excise duty exemptions. But no matter, it’s the principle of it where buyers are concerned. Free should be free, if stated as such.
We’ve reached out to the relevant authorities to get further clarity on the issue, and will update on this as we get further information. Find out how EV road tax is calculated in Malaysia, here.
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Sound like cerita cartoon
Right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing & vice versa.
Gomen should not kamching too much that left hand knows what right hand doing or else there will be conflict of interest.
Are u sure gomen shouldn’t be kamching too much? When every gomen ministry, department, agency work closely together to achieve good governance, how would there be conflict of interest?
There will always be conflict of interest coz every civil servant & every department in the Govt will have their own interpretation of what is good governance and everyone of them fights to be right hence why conflict of interest will arise as each will know what the other will do to rise ahead and undermine the other. Better than infighting the Govt are kept unaware, much like a unified ant colony all working towards a common goal.
Don’t BS lah, Amran. Good governance cannot be achieved if conflict of interest continues to try undermining every part of the gomen. And what must the gomen be kept unaware of? It is governing a nation of people, not an ant colony.
EVs are for the rich, it is prudent for Gomen to let them wait a bit longer. They can afford it.
Jealous Kah?
When you read these kind of scary news;
https://paultan.org/2022/01/25/daihatsu-rocky-e-smart-hybrid-recalled-for-ecu-fault/
https://paultan.org/2022/01/03/tesla-recalls-almost-500k-cars-in-us/
it is lucky not that many EV cars are on the road yet. JPJ saved us on this one.
https://paultan.org/2016/02/16/proton-recalls-suprima-s-preve-exora-cfe-powered-variants-equipped-with-faulty-oil-cooler-hoses/
JPJ couldn’t ‘save’ everybody…
https://paultan.org/2021/08/17/tesla-probed-by-nhtsa-for-autopilot-crashes-into-first-responder-vehicles-765000-cars-could-be-affected/
Neither can USA NHTSA which is the strictest road safety enforcement agency in the world, yet, you know, they all try their best but they are human after all. Kudos to JPJ for thinking SAFETY FIRST!
So now you’re now an expert on automotive manufacturing defects as much as road accidents. Even JPJ would not be able to save the manufacturers from defects because they don’t work on the production line.
Aye. Even us, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, cannot ‘save’ everybody whatmore mere mortals like JPJ staff. But they try their best and as humans that is more than enough.
So which issue of your comic book depicts JPJ as a superhero outfit in your comic book universe?
JPJ are one of the unsung frontline real life heroes.
When it comes to stopping illegal modifications or checking for overloaded lorries, JPJ’s the frontliners, but when somebody needs to be saved or rescued, they have to step aside for other frontliners, like the bomba.
JPJ’s job is not to save ppl. That is the job of bomba & pertahanan awam.
Is it? Then what is road safety awareness for? To make you feel good that others are thinking of safety but you don’t have to?
If you get trapped after a road accident or after a road collapse, would your prefer JPJ staff or the properly trained people from bomba or pertahanan awam to save you?
Bro, JPJ is doing registration & road tax of motor vehicles and driver/motorcyclist licence. JKJR & MIROS are the ones doing road safety awareness & research, bro.
If you’d listen to JPJ officers awareness briefing during driving school and heed their advice, you wouldn’t be in such situations that will need such help. In safety thinking, prevention is better than cure and JPJ help save lives by preventing from happening.
Accidents are not only caused by road users who didn’t follow advice from JPJ, PDRM, JKJR, MIROS or even the MoT, but also other factors like poor road maintenance, bad traffic signs, defective traffic lights, improperly drawn lines on the roads, and even vehicle manufacturing defects. So there is still a chance of a mishap which are not caused by people who did not heed advice from government agencies, and when rescuing people needs to be done, it’s the job for the bomba or the civil defence, as somebody has already mentioned here.
@Bro. Sure kah? You never been to driver’s training lesson where the first taklimat is given by the JPJ officer whom stresses on ensuring road safety, or did you fell asleep during class?
You guys have gone off course already. The actual topic is that JPJ can’t go further with EV registration because of unclear guidelines on EV tax exemption, not because of EVs being unsafe due to recalls or manufacturing defects. Safe driving awareness as a preventive measure against accidents, is based on the assumption that the vehicle meets the safety standards and is free of any manufacturing defects, and that the construction of road transport infrastructure had been properly done. JPJ safety awareness briefing would not be much of preventive measure against an accident for the safest driver, if the vehicle had crashed due to a manufacturing defect, or due to the road collapsing into a sink hole, caused by a soil erosion. When such cases have happened, of course it’ll be the bomba or pertahanan awam going to the rescue of the victims.
@lolwhut, think 1st lah, bro.. Yg contents dlm taklimat on road safety oleh pegawai JPJ tu, do you think he or JPJ composed by themselves ke, bro? U tak percaya yg semua ni dibuat ikut recommendation by JKJR & MIROS ke, bro?
99% of rakyat dun give a fucuk anyways
Is it? I thought they said the birth rate is rising.
What relevance is that? Can babies born today start driving and buying cars tomorrow?
Yes, what is the relevance of 99% rakyat not giving a ‘fucuk’ when more are aware about EVs?
Yeah, Rakyat Malaysia. What’s the relevance with 99% of the population who can’t get it on?
It’s comical indeed! What a snafu this tail-chasing process by our government which appears to take two steps back with every step forward! Apa nak jadi Malaysiaku…?
Copy paste: “99% of rakyat dun give a fucuk anyways”
JPJ should not create unnecessary delays, we simply cannot afford it. For now, JPJ should just ask prospective EV buyers to pay the usual EV road tax, but issue a legally binding document which promises to fully reimburse/refund the road tax amount, payable once JPJ updates their outdated procedures. Sounds simple… but not for our JPJ, it seems.
Come on! Already 2022! Stop telling joke!
Road tax free for how long???
Keke… So candid meh? Not clear then based on existing calculation by cc lor. It doesn’t have combustion engine means 0 cc x what ever rate u like =zero! Aka kosong Tau?
such clowns
As feared, live it to the incompetent imbeciles at the JPJs to messed up everything. Thanks to the degrading culture of today’s government servants….
First of all this is unfair to other road user who needs to pay road tax.
Second, with all these exemptions, we have not seen any of this EV car company bring in their CKD operation here, it doesn’t add value the country. It doesn’t create job.
The intention of giving exemptions is to have deal with EV car manufacturers to bring the CKD operation here thus creating job.
The way I see it, these exemption only benefits those super rich individuals in this country. Very short sighted policy.
Urgh… Of course you’re unsure dear JPH, it’s those stand up comedian running the show after all and all you do is took 28 days to be hopeful of the issue can be resolved by this quarter, yeah right very been sitting down discuss and discuss again after standing Infront of the cameras to sweet talk the rakyat.
SNAFU la, this is boleh land. Happy CNY!
Why gomen u turn not clear policies main-main.please la serious like indo and thailand.Now see thailand and indonesia potong malaysia at car industry coz gomen play play .aiyaaa
Copy paste: “Despite USA average new car transaction price now tops @ usd45k. But new EV market ratio is still less than 5% of vehicle registration.”
May be only 1% of rakyat would give a damn.
Comical indeed. The government wanna encourage the use of more EV yet JPJ is putting up all these red tape.
Easy, calculate based on insurance coverage price.
Wow they bringing stupidity onto a whole new level. Kudos to the federal government.
Why not iron out the hiccups before announcing? Just plain laziness and incompetent.
JPJ = jokers perform jokes
Zahid crony contractor is yet to provide solution. That’s why.
2 years is really nothing. It’ll end in a blink. If they want to being in industries and investments, it should be mast 6-10 years for a meaningful policy. Otherwise it’s just another loss of national income, nothing more
Expected….menteri cakap oku road tax free tahun ni.pegi jpj kena bayar jugak rm2….
Apasal need our rocket Scientists to crack their heads, just tax according to gross weight of vehicles lah. More weight = more damage to the roads. Isn’t it collecting road tax as part of the reason to cover for road repair costs?
The thing is Lesen Kenderaan Motor. Nothing relate to road.
Norway was struggling for years with that same question. I doubt they have found the answers yet.
Kita kena tubuhkan jawatankuasa khas untuk memilih pakar-pakar automotif untuk menjadi ahli. Lepas tu ahli-ahli ini akan membentuk pasukan khas untuk bermesyuarat dan mengemukakan cadangan kepada kerajaan. Lepas tu kabinet69 akan bermesyuarat dan mendengar pembentangan dari Menteri Pengangkutan
That is the way to go, careful deliberation and decision taken after all have been considered but people nowadays are too rushing and careful decisions are considered as slow and laziness. And when rushed decisions turn bad they go and blame it on the Gahmen, stupid isn’t it?
Wasn’t this in the 2022 budget and approved by the Parliament? So WTF isn’t JPJ following the Parliament’s decision?
This is about bureaucracy decisions made in 2021, approved in 2022, for implementation in 2023. Similar to Gahmen Velfires; proposed in 2019, approved in 2020, for mentri use in 2021.
You mean due to bureaucracy decisions, gomen health ministry proposed to buy covid 19 vaccines in 2019, approved in 2020 & received in 2021?
Correct. Didnt PH blasted the Gomen for rushed vaccination buys? Slow and steady is what everyone wants.
@Amran, it was a trick question for Ya Mentri & even your answer is wrong. Covid 19 vaccines only began to exist in 2020 & so how could gomen have proposed to buy them in 2019?
Jealous Kah?
Sounds like hell. Maybe all Menteri now thinking what are the benefit they can take to go directly into their pocket. The result now, HYUNDAI close their factory in Malaysia and build a new factory in Indonesia to produce more PHEV cars. lama2 jahanam negara malaysia ni