Minister of Investment, Trade & Industry (MITI) Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz recently quoted Mordor Intelligence, stating that the ASEAN Electric Vehicle (EV) market was valued at nearly USD500 million in 2021 and is projected to reach USD2.7 billion by 2027, with a compounded annual growth rate of approximately 33% during the period from 2022 to 2027.
He said Malaysia has the manufacturing capabilities and supportive government policies necessary to emerge as a frontrunner in the ASEAN EV market.
“We have the potential to establish our nation as a regional hub for EV production and exports, and to harness the economic prospects this growing industry presents,” said Zafrul.
Zafrul reiterates that the New Industrial Master Plan to push for net zero, has identified EV as one of the catalysts in the new green growth areas which strengthen industry linkages between the automotive sector and other sectors, mainly electrical and electronics.
The strategy to catalyse EV as a key growth driver is aligned with the rollout of a National EV Task Force (NEVTF) that was established in November 2020.
Recently, the government has also elevated this into the National EV Steering Committee (NEVSC) to enhance the governance structure of EV development in Malaysia, and to address arising cross-cutting issues under the purview of many interrelated ministries which may need a wider collective resolution.
Both NEVTF and NEVSC are led by MITI. The difference is the members of NEVSC are ministers from the related ministries to ensure the issue related to the minister’s power can be addressed more effectively to achieve faster resolutions.
“To this end, the government is committed to achieve an ambitious target of having over 15% of total industry volume of vehicles in the country to be electrified vehicles by 2030 and 38% by 2040. Apart from that, the government is also committed to provide convenient access of 10,000 charging facilities across the nation by 2025 for EV users. Additionally, we are exploring collaborations with renewable energy providers to promote the use of clean energy sources for charging EVs,” said Zafrul.
