
Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia has so far recorded more than 100,000 registeredelectric vehicles (EV) and is expected to witness potential growth in EV salesthrough end-2023, according to Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.
Talking toCNBC TV channel on January 11, the minister said that over 9,000 new EVs had been registered locally in 2023 alone.
The official said he believed that EVs would be the catalyst for the growth of Malaysia’smanufacturing industry exports.
Accordingto him, electrical and electronics products (E&E), which is a major supplychain to the EV sector, contributes 40% out of 80% of Malaysia’s exports fromthe manufacturing sector. Therefore, there is a lot of potential in the newgeneration of vehicles. For example, a hybrid car will have around 1,500 chips(needed) in one car and in EV cars, it can go up to at least 3,000 chips in one car and these chips come from the E&E sector, he said.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the country remains an attractive destinationfor EV investors. Between 2018 and June 2023, the Malaysian InvestmentDevelopment Authority (MIDA) approved 59 projects worth 26.2 billion RM (5.63billion USD) in the EV sector and its related ecosystems encompassing vehicleassembly, manufacturing parts and charging components.
TheMinistry of Investment, Trade and Industry has a set a target, whereby EVs will account for 20% of Malaysia’s annual new car sales by2030, 50% by 2040 and 80 % by 2050.
Last year, theUS electric car maker Tesla Inc set up its regional headquarters in Malaysia, andthis Southeast Asian nation also plans to attract many other large EV companiesto the country to establish assembling factories here./.