TNB Wants To Dominate Highway EV Charging Infrastructure

More electric vehicle charging stations are set to pop up along the North-South Expressway (NSE) thanks to a recently inked collaboration between highway concessionnaire PLUS Malaysia and TNB.

This could be seen as a continuation of a joint statement made earlier this year by both parties to reduce carbon emissions along the country’s major highways through sustainable initiatives such as the installation of solar panels to power rest areas and the commercial activities therein, using more energy efficient monitoring systems, and the addition of the aforementioned EV charging stations.

TNB investing RM90 Million to support EV ecosystem 

Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s CEO Datuk Baharin Din revealed that the energy provider will be investing some RM90 million to support the growth of the EV ecosystem and charging infrastructure over the coming 3 years.

At a media briefing yesterday, he said: “TNB aims to accelerate the battery electric vehicle (BEV) adoption to capture the RM1.3 billion market value by 2030, and welcomes collaboration with strategic partners to stimulate the growth of the BEV ecosystem.”

It was revealed that TNB is also planning to provide EV-centric training, up-skilling, and re-skilling courses to ensure the incoming infrastructure is properly implemented and maintained. Their own fleet of 4,200 vehicles is also set to be electrified, if not fully electric.

Baharin also added that TNB is also in talks with multiple other highway concessionnaires and seeking similar collaborations to that of this newest one with PLUS, saying that the EV market is predicted to rise to 33,350 vehicles by 2025, leading to an annual electricity revenue of RM80 million.

TNB to be key player along PLUS highway for public charging infrastructure

Within those 3 years, a projected 3,300 publicly available charging stations will have had to be set up, but their forecast sees that swelling to 18,000 charging stations to cater to the predicted 520,000 EVs on the road, bringing annual electricity revenue to some RM1.25 billion by the end of the decade.

“By 2030, we forecast […] 2.3 TWh of electricity charging requirements, valued at RM1.26 billion. This also means 4.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions reduction by taking internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles off the road,” he added.