More affordable EVs to arrive later this year - RM120k okay or not?

The rise of EVs here in Malaysia will see a lot more affordable models entering the market this year.

Norazman Ayub, Deputy Secretary General of MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry), stated that the ministry is 'encouraging' more car companies to bring in more affordable EV models into the country, and that will be made available later this year.

EVs priced from RM120,000 to come later this year

A statement from Norazman as reported by The Daily Express mentioned that the importation of cheaper EVs particularly from China is highly encouraged to further push the adoption of electrification by the majority of Malaysian folks.

For now, there are a number of more affordable EVs such as the BYD Atto 3 (from RM150k) and GWM's Ora Good Cat (from RM140k) to name a few, but in order to get more folks to jump onto the EV bandwagon, the price range has to be a lot more affordable. While the suggested starting price of RM120,000 is more interesting, the biggest possible adoption might happen if any of these car brands can come below the RM100,000 mark.

10,000 public EV charging stations by 2025

The Malaysian government will also push on expanding the EV charging infrastructure network to at least 10,000 charging stations by 2025. They are looking at getting around RM20 billion worth of investments to strengthen the Malaysia EV ecosystem by 2025 and RM40 billion by the year 2030.

The national target for EVs in the total industry volume (TIV) is set at 15% by 2030. Not a bad starting point, in our opinion, but this can only be done with more affordable EVs. You can see the huge attraction for models like the BYD Atto 3, but their next upcoming model like the BYD Dolphin which is said to come in under RM100k might help turn the tide when it comes to a much bigger scale of EV adoption.