The government should consider including charging stations as national grid assets to support the proliferation of EVs in Malaysia, Puchong MP Yeo Bee Yin has said, according to Bernama.
Deeming the relationship between EVs and charging stations a “chicken and egg situation”, she said if there were not enough charging stations, people would not buy EVs, and conversely, if there were not many EVs on the road, no company would want to install charging stations.
While debating the 2025 Supply Bill yesterday in parliament, Yeo suggested that the cost of installing charging stations be borne by Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) using its capital expenditure (capex) for the upcoming fourth regulatory period (RP4) of the Incentive-Based Regulation (IBR), spanning 2025-2027.
“By putting charging station installation under IBR, TNB will be the main executor and will therefore be able to plan and install public charging stations quickly and efficiently. Also, the cost-per-unit will be lower due to the economies of scale,” she said.
All capex for the national grid infrastructure is included under the IBR framework and is among the components used to set the base electricity tariff for Peninsular Malaysia, Yeo added.
She said that if RP4’s capex equalled RP3’s at RM20 billion, the cost of setting up charging stations would only be 2.9% of the total capex spent by TNB for the 2025-2027 period.
“Based on my rough calculations, to reach the 10,000 charging station target, we need about 7,500 more. Let’s say 20% of these are DC chargers, which cost around RM250,000 each, and 80% are AC chargers, which cost about RM35,000 each, the total cost would be RM585 million. The question now is, is it worth investing? I think it’s a big yes. This is because the impact is huge and positive,” Yeo said.
Meanwhile, Yeo also urged the government to speed up the tabling of the ‘lemon law‘, citing South Korea, the United States, Australia, Canada, Singapore and the Philippines as nations that have already implemented it.
“The lemon law gives the buyer the right to seek a refund or replacement if his/her vehicle continues to be seriously problematic after several repair attempts,” Yeo explained, adding that 70% of Malaysians own at least one car and that the lemon law will improve the quality of vehicles sold in the market as well as after-sales service.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
One of the biggest hurdles to DC fast chargers with multiple stalls like Tesla super chargers is trying to get TNB to tarik an 11kV cable from the their PPU (which if it is 10s of KM away or no juice in your area, good luck), get them to accept your sub-station built to TNB spec, pay contribution to TNB coz they need to funds for the upstream infra etc.
That’s why most Tesla superchargers in Malaysia are at offices and malls which already have either an 11kV or 33kV TNB intake with space in their MSB to spare. 250kW is very big demand where only a chiller uses that much in a commercial building.
This will create monopoly like electricity and fiber. When no competition, only consumer loses out.
I thought the different way. If i m the EV charging station company, I will set price closely following RON95.
If that is the case, EV push from gov will go down the drain.
This comment comes from property developers’ view. They definitely want to maximize profit. Everyone else must provide to them as a welfare.
80kw dual gun costs around RM20k only, from China.
7kw AC charger, could be as low as RM1k. Idk why this Yeo can quote a RM35k.
Of course exclude installation, but total is not that expensive.
In beijing, service charge for DC charger is ~0.4-0.8 RMB/kwh. Assume 0.8 RMB/kwh, that is still less than RM1.1/kwh, for a DC charging.
A decent idea to achieve the target, however I am skeptical if TNB owns most of the chargers because they would then control the pricing, and it would become another monopoly. Today, consumers have the choice to choose the cheaper CPO.
YB Yeo ‘s suggestion is timely and practical.
The Madani germen should not outsource chargers to private sectors where the ROI may take years.
TNB is a GLC,half a billion Rm is national service to rakyat.
Now,most EV buyers treat their EV as their second or third cars until the charging infra is complete nationwide.
PMX,the savings from diesel rationalisation should be pumped back for rakyat’s benefit ,if you aim to stay another term.
IBR is basically reflected in the tariff which is paid by the citizens. Is it fair for normal citizens to pay for these EV charging stations? That is why it’s a private initiative similarly to other countries.
will ev charge station require larger space? will it incur more hidden cost to upgrade grid delivery system? how about electricity peak usage period? will ev burden the grid? how about apartment dweller car charging? a few hundred charger inside carpark? fast charging is good but why so expensive? i dont think ev below 100k can support fast charging? how.about festive season traffic jam?do you ready a lot of helicopter/drone to deliver spare electricity pack for 0% battery ev stuck in the highway?
YB Yep, sorry I disagree with your proposal for TNB to get into building EV charger. I think it is better to let other parties which is non government to drive ev charger business. EV charger business is very much like petrol filling station nationwide. It doesn’t need gov to drive this business. Instead gov should channel funds on how to reuse or recycle used batteries from EV. Or even develop planning for modular nuclear power station since data centers and EV will eventually demand more power
YB Yeop got her point because for current EV charger installed on public places need approval from local gov, bomba and TNB authority. If TNB themselves build the EV stations there will be less 1 step and also TNB got expert to pull the cable. The cost of TNB building EV charger either DC or AC the cost is definitely cheaper than private body. Only thing is TNB may need to work with charging company app like Jom Charge to make it more convenient to public users.
Debated with TNB mgmt team on this proposal right after government announce tax and duty exemption for EV. They don’t take this well at all when it comes out from other industry players. Let’s see if YB Yeo can make a difference. As the owner of our national grid it makes total sense.
The only national asset or treasure in this country is the majority race. Nuff said