The recent paultan.org Electric Vehicle Expo (EVx) 2022 highlighted the inroads being made by electrification in Malaysia, and though things are still very much at a nascent stage for the new format, there’s no denying that it’s gaining traction at a very good rate.
Dissemination of the tech is happening at a fast pace, with proponents usually pointing to the many benefits to battery EVs, using the zero emissions or ‘saving the planet’ angle, drawing on the lack of exhaust fumes and noise. Performance aspects are also cited with regularity, as is usability in terms of mileage and movement. While running costs are also touted, the mentions aren’t always specifically detailed.
Tenaga Nasional (TNB) has chosen to offer a take on that aspect. The National utility company, which is at the heart of the electrification movement (quite literally, given that it is the provider of the most important element that binds everything together), has revealed the findings of a study it conducted comparing the costs of EV charging vs petrol use in conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
The data was presented in a couple of infographics shown on an electronic display at its booth in EVx. In these, TNB compares the running costs of ICE vehicles vs full electrics, purely from a fuel perspective, without adding in elements such as servicing and maintenance.
The study puts an average distance travelled per year by a vehicle at 28,188 km (or 2,349 km a month), with the comparison sampling six car segments (B-segment hatchback and SUV, C-segment hatchback, compact executive sedan and SUV, and executive sedan sedan).
Both RON 95 and RON 97 petrol grades were used to help establish ICE running costs, although the latter’s price, which is quoted at RM3 per litre, suggests that the study was undertaken a while back, before it hit record-breaking levels.
Meanwhile, the focus on charging is made from a domestic angle, with the cost of home charging quoting a rate of 0.571 sen per kWh, which is the highest tier in a residential electric bill, for kWh used beyond 901 kWh. It is assumed that with an EV present, electricity use for a household is likely to go right into the tier five rate every month, unless you don’t happen to own a fridge and television or run an air-conditioner at all.
Even then, you won’t be in the lowest tier (under 200 kWh of use) with an EV, unless you charge the car only once a month and your travel distance is just a couple of hundred kilometres every month. Although the calculations are centred around home charging, the infographic also gives a rate of 0.79 sen per kWh for public chargers and a conservative RM1 per kWh for Level 3 rapid charging.
Other factors, including cost-related elements, are also included. As there is some energy loss during the charging process, TNB has put EV charging efficiency at 88%, 12% being counted as that loss. Also listed is the cost to own a home charger, which is put at RM900 a year.
The price above would fall very much in line with the cost of an externally sourced 11/22 kW charger over a five-year timeframe, with payment spread equally over the period. Presently, some chargers are hovering around the RM2k zone, and installation costs can be anywhere from RM2-2.5k, which is the total if you look at the RM900 yearly cost split over a period of five years.
Of course, going the external third-party route means you’ll have to fork out the total sum upfront, with the savings gained over the long term. Right now, most of the EVs on sale offer a Wallbox/charger bundled along with the car, and that cost would be included into the monthly repayment for the vehicle.
The cost breakdown as calculated by TNB works out to this: the average annual fuel cost (over the yearly 28.8k distance travelled) for an ICE vehicle using RON 95 petrol works out to RM5,335 (or RM445 a month), while that for an ICE vehicle running RON 97 is put at RM7,808 (or RM650 a month). Bear in mind that for the latter, the calculations were made with the fuel at RM3 per litre, so it will be much higher at the present rate of RM4.65 per litre.
Conversely, it would cost an average of RM4,725 (or RM394 a month) in terms of electricity – as well as the RM900 yearly price of the charger – to operate a battery electric vehicle over the same distance.
Remove the annual cost of the charger and this drops to RM3,825 a year (or RM318.75 a month), but it is worth remembering that there is no free lunch here, since the cost for a home charger has already been factored in (to the monthly loan repayment). You’re still paying for it one way or another.
The utility company also breaks down the price comparison per vehicle segment, and though not stated, is projecting its cost findings based on the rated/claimed mileage listed for models in both ICE and EV segments. Although it doesn’t provide any details on which ICE models were chosen for the sampling, it does list some specific BEV models being offered in the particular segments.
The short of it is that according to TNB, running an EV is infinely cheaper, as it would cost users anywhere from 11.4% to 28.3% less each year to drive a BEV compared to an ICE vehicle using RON 95 fuel. The savings are amplified when ICE vehicles using RON 97 are benchmarked – savings of between 39.5% to 51% are quoted, and this is at the old RM3 per litre rate, so the percentages will be higher if the calculations are made with the current price.
The study isn’t definitive or the be-all and end-all of the topic, but it does provide a good indicator of how EVs shape up in terms of “fuel” consumption costs, in relation to ICE. Of course, the thing to note is that right now, the entry cost for a full electric vehicle remains on the high side, but all this will become pertinent down the road when sub-RM100k offerings become commonplace.
What’s your take on the TNB price comparison study? Share your thoughts on the matter with us in the comments section.
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Thats true untill they revise the tariff but lets see
IF your car using RON97
No point shifting to EV
For RON95 users, wait until Zafrul
completing the “targeted subsidy” test
Then only decide to switch EV
What U smoking dude? YES
Start-up cost for EV is high
Battery performance will drop overtime
Battery replacement about 50% car value
Range is limited and inconvenient to do hway
If U can ACCEPT and AFFORD the above
Is infinitely cheaper than fuel for sure
I mean cheaper than FUEL ONLY
Wake Up.. OLD Battery from JAPANESE cars are “Ancient tech”. Those Batteries are a REAL JOKE compared to current generations. Do check out the BYD .”Blade Battery” on Youtube and reviews. In SHORT … 1,500,000km ( Gurantee that it would NOT degrade more than 70% ).. YES 1.5 MILLION KM !!!! Besides that after 10 years after scraping the EV, you can SELL your EV batteries.
You mean petrol price that Tengku Zafrul mentioned the other day?
Lets Government enforce EV for all commercial/diesel powered vehicles first.
Does not include battery pack replacement yet…
Yes
The biggest cost of an EV is when it is time to replace the battery.
When EVs come under 100k then only talk.
EVs won’t benefit lower income folks even if they where to become cheaper. There simply isn’t any charging infrastructure in your lower end condo or PPR.
So whatever discussion now is just amusing. Whatever savings just benefits the already well off only.
Lower end condo? My hse is a RM2 mil condo unit, my condo property lowest price starting frm 1.4 mil. Still, No parking charger or any charge infrastructure. They plan to install but cost too high so nothing happen. So, future condo might have it but not condo in our near era. No matter the high end or low end. I have anither unit in Pavilion condo, Rm1.5 mil, too lack of charging point. For landed hse la EV.
For the first time, we have a ICE-BEV operating cost comparison in Malaysia. For my retirement (final purchase) car, I’ve been contemplating going electric. Range anxiety is no longer a concern, with more public charging facilities being put in place. The hold-back is what will happen after 2025 when the free road tax period ends? Unless I see a more reasonable road tax structure, I might go PHEV instead.
Govt should revise update its archaic motor vehicle law that prohibit old vehicle being converted into EV electric car.
By allowing petrol car converted into EV car, it will definitely a game-changer in entire auto industry from new module training for automotive skills students, EV car parts supply chains, existing car workshops have new income from EV conversion works etc.
There are many cheaper options for EV car conversion with short range battery (100km-150km) suitable for urban driving such as Transition One (France) for Euro 5000-8000 and many other firms as shown in media youtube etc.
For automotive sites like Paul Tan etc, they should recap back previous articles on such topic and bring it to govt’s attention that old car EV conversion also a way forward for mass public EV car adoption alongside the new EV car market so that every segment of society and business can have wider choice of new or old car (EV version) and giving new lease of life to many old/existing cars as EV car.
It’s not they don’t want to allow conversion. Need to work on licensing that only selected few can do the conversion.
What tnb rate were they using in the comparison?
If you read the article properly, it’s RM0.571 tier, which is the highest for residential tariff
1 aspect that been miss out – Cost of Car ownership; EV vs ICE
What an ideal time to issue the report… LOL
But on a serious note, yes, I think for the medium term, it will be cost effective. But let’s not merely go electric based on costs alone. The impact of EV to noise pollution and to a degree, city air quality must be top of the list of reasons to adopt electric cars.
200,000 watt public DC Charging should be the minimum,
But unfortunately at home, unable simply installing this DC Charger.
But back at home, using slow charging AC,
Yet it also requiring 7000watt – 22,000 watt AC charging.
It’s about 8no.to 30no. Of 1hp Aircon running at the same time @ home.
Cheapest ICE car that is reasonable enough : Axia, 35k MYR
Cheapest EV that is reasonable enough (this is questionable though, as it is certainly not worth consideration by many Axia-class drivers) : Wuling Air, 70k MYR
Vehicle cost : EV is 2 times of ICE
What about interest? EV is also twice of ICE. Wuling Air is 14k MYR, Axia is 7k MYR. (3% per year, 7 year loan)
You need to drive 28k km a year to give a 1.5k MYR difference in energy cost. How many people drive that far a year? I drive only 3.6k km a year, so the annual difference in energy cost may be 0.19k MYR. Over 16 years (the lifespan of the car), the total difference in energy cost is 3k MYR, not even 10% of the difference in vehicle price.
This report at this time does not really benefit to the public, ev at the time of writing is till the rich’s toy, or gadget, which you prefer.
Oh yeah and going ev is also only one of the many solutions to reduce greenhouse has emissions. We can always start from greenier car such as hybrids and improve our public transport.
#fueltax!
Euro, clean energy: hydro, solar, nuclear etc. Greener, probably yes.
Malaysia, generating most of electricity using fossil fuel (everytime crude price up tnb asks for tarrif up, remember?) , then covert into electricity, 1st conversion lost, then grid to charger, 2nd conversion lost.
Greener,?
More CO2?
Tapi Ev, means asap satu kali keluar sahaja. Dekat power plant sana..
Doesn’t offset the high road taxes for ev
man…the price of the EV car alone wayyyyyy expensive…let alone wanted to install the charger at home…need to rake more money where we don’t even have…and how to own an EV car right with the rising cost living and our wages that haven’t been revised since how many century…huhu…so what to do…if nothing’s gonna change in the near future…so us Malaysian have no choice to stick to ICE car then…
this is an absolutely moronic argument spewed by vested parties that are out to pull wool over the eyes of the public.
ownership of a vehicle is looked at thru all the monetary outflows in purchasing, operating and maintaining the vehicle for the period of ownership of the said vehicle. ie the proverbial “holistic” view of owning a car.
take for example the hyundai kona and its ev version, the price differential is like 45k for the loaded version. ie, the ev version of the hyundai kona is 45k more expensive than the ice version. how much petrol can one pump for 45k? 10k gallon even at today’s prices.
that would give the ice kona at least 300k miles to go on with that price differential.
and these fools that r talking about ev is “cheaper” to refuel????
one paid a huge premium to drive an ev upfront. thats a huge part of car ownership. one needs to take that into calculation as to whether its “cheaper” to own an ice or an ev.
the maintenance cost differential part of it is debatable. evs requires more frequent tire replacements than ices. evs also requires regular maintenance (for tesla, its lubricating brake calipers every 12 months). ices needs oil and other fulid changes. overall, the cost differential in maintaining an ev and an ice vehicle would be minimal.
add on the lower rv of evs vs ices and the potential need for an expensive battery replacement at the end of the battery warranty period brings the reality of the total cost of ownership into a very different light as opposed to what is being hyped by these morons out to push ev ownership.
it is disingenuous to portray evs as “cheaper” to own via a one line statement that its “cheaper” to fuel up. in real life, the numbers when looked at holistically shows that
evs r NOT cheaper to own vs ices. breakeven of ev ownership is around 5 to 6 years vs day 1 of owning an ice vehicle. pretty similar to installing a solar panel setup at any location.
Do you know that there are EVs currently in CHina that only cost US$8,000/ Rm 35K ??? Even those like BYD Atto3 cost RM 80 to 110K. Which is better than the KONA ? We HAVE NO COMPETITION and ALL EV needs to have AP and AGENTS(Aliba#@) which drives up the cost of imported EVs. Simple reason.
EV car now easily 50% more expensive to buy
‘cheaper’, from which aspect actually?
The article already said, purely on fuel aspect. Maintenance cost, car price and etc. are not taking into account.
A good study should also include hybrid cars
What about the cost of battery replacement for EV? How much more to buy an EV versus an equivalent petrol vehicle? And tnb changes in tariff? One can only be cautious with such biassed reports
Do read up the LATEST about EV batteries. Japanese and BMw, Merc, Kona, etc are using old battery tech. But they are switching to new Batteries with better performance, durability and charging.Discharging, etc. Battery Management are also NOW high tech. Check out Latest LFP battery from BYD…1,500,000km …Guarantee ( Yes !! 1.5 milliom Km ). And you can sell your EV battery after you scrap your EV.
How long does it takes to charge from empty to full versus filling up from empty to full? What happened in an emergency (shtf situation)? Any idea how EV could benefit those living in the rural especially the farmers?
Should look at total ownership cost – car price (monthly cost for loan repayment), fuel, and service/repair. If calculate total like this, EV will lose out due to high price for the EV. Unless price is comparable with ICE then can talk la
With this comparison meaning that a normal diesel car like a bmw 520d, 320d , x3 20d all will be cheaper running cost compare to a electric car.
My calculations as follow:
I’m driving Passat B7. My petrol cost is about RM0.20/KM (RM130 full tank can drive around 650km), Ron 95 of course. If follow 28,800km a year as per stated by TNB, it turns out RM5,760 per annum.
My the other car BMW 330e, battery usage is about 18kWh/100km, factor in the 12% charging efficiency, it turns out 20kWh/100km. With the maximum tier RM0.571/kWh, 20kWh = RM11.40, RM11.40 / 100km = 11.5 sen per KM.
That’s 8.5 Sen cheaper compare to ICE (I know Passat vs 330e is not fair, but it’s just for indicative purposes). Which is 42.5% cheaper overall.
They’re not taking into account hybrid cars…if u add hybrid in the comparison, then hybrid becomes the cheaper option not to mention the more affordable and convenient option too.
Overall ownership cost of EV still more than ICE.
Cheapest around 160k for mid size car.
How much is financing cost?
How much is maintenance over 8 years?
After much hoo haa, do you still need a second car?
Spare parts main stream?
How much residual value at end of life?
Put simply, if you can afford EV. Cost of ron95 not an issue
Assuming lower m40 household living in landed prop.
Why not just buy a sub 80k car with mainstream parts and toss it after 6-8 years. Or keep it for school runs or pass to children. Mid ownership, you get involved in accident. How long is the lead time for spare parts?
At end of life, the cost to replace batteries is more than the residual value of the car.
Overall ownership cost of EV still more than ICE.
Cheapest around 160k for mid size car.
How much is financing cost?
How much is the insurance?
How much is the road tax?
How much is maintenance over 8 years?
After much hoo haa, do you still need a second car?
Spare parts main stream?
How much residual value at end of life?
Put simply, if you can afford EV. Cost of ron95 not an issue
Assuming lower m40 household living in landed prop.
Why not just buy a sub 80k car with mainstream parts and toss it after 6-8 years. Or keep it for school runs or pass to children. Mid ownership, you get involved in accident. How long is the lead time for spare parts?
At end of life, the cost to replace batteries is more than the residual value of the car.
the question is, can b40/m40 afford an ev? talk about electrification and the saving but do we afford an ev car? never heard any ev sold below 50k in this bolehland.
even if condo management were to install ev charger for condo, the question is how many they can install? one or two charger for each unit?.