CSH Alliance, which has entered into a partnership with BYD Malaysia to distribute and market BYD commercial electric vehicles in the country, has announced plans to acquire land for its CKD assembly plant, The Star reports.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the investment holding company said it has proposed to acquire three adjoining plots of industrial land totalling 55.3186 acres in Tanjung Malim, Perak for RM12 million in cash. CSH Alliance said that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Alliance EV (AEV), had entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Medium Visa and Harapan Iringan for the proposed acquisition.
The land will be utilised for the setting up of an assembly plant in preparation for CKD production of the BYD T3 fully-electric commercial vehicle, which is aimed at logistics and transportation industries. “The land acquisition is part of AEV’s strategic efforts in meeting MITI requirements to have a CBU (completely built-up), CKD and local assembly plant in the car manufacturing sector. We are preparing this requirement in advance,” executive director Peter Yap said in a statement.
It added that the land acquisition would enable the commencement and growth of its EV business and complement the group’s financial services business. AEV will be tasked with distributing and supplying the BYD T3 as well as after-sales service aspects together with the spare parts and warranty packages. One of the clients for the T3 is expected to be Line Clear Express and Logistics, a logistics and courier company in which CSH Alliance owns a 15% equity interest.
The BYD T3 is a compact electric van measuring in at 4,460 mm long, 1,720 mm wide and 1,875 mm tall, with a cargo volume of 3,800 litres. It’s powered by an AC permanent magnet synchronous motor offering 134 hp (100 kW) and 180 Nm, and performance figures include a 100 km/h top speed.
Juicing the motor is a proprietary BYD lithium-ion NCM battery with a capacity of 50.3 kWh, which offers the van a travel range of up to 300 km on a single charge. Charging via AC at 6.6 kW takes 7.6 hours to get from 0-100% state-of-charge, while DC charging at 40 kW takes 1.3 hours to fully charge the battery.
if its good enough for singaporean electricity thieves, its good enough for us
Can also make it into an affordable 7 seats Windows Van (sort of electric MPV) for general public
DRB Automotive Hub for Tg Malim so fast taking shape after only a few short months of being launched. Well done our hardworking DRB abams. World recognised by Wolfsburg, Stuttgart and also Jepun, soon China as well. Well done!
#BetterDRB
#BetterProton
#BetterNation
I am wondering whether these vans are right hand drive, and, if so, whether the assembly plant will have capacity to produce enough for exporting to Australia, where, due to a shortage of supply (only 50 vans were made available for a country with a population of about 25-30million), 8% of these vans are being sold new, by dealers, at a markup of over 40% above the advertised new vehicle price.
Also, as these vans are available in Singapore, as five seater T3 vans, and, the 7 seater, named the M3, the question arises as to whether this assembly plant will produce also, the five and seven seater versions of the van, especially, for export to Australia, where only 50 two seat vans were made available.