Hanoi (VNA) – Malaysia saw a year-on-year surge of 141.85% in electric vehicle (EV) registrations so far this year to 10,663 units, according to the Road Transportation Department.
In June, auto maker BYD took the top two spots with the BYD Seal having 343 units registered followed by the Atto 3 with 290 units registered. They were followed by the Tesla Model Y and Model 3 in the third and fourth places with 289 and 148 units registered, respectively.
For the first six months of the year, BYD and Tesla continued to dominate the top five models with the likes of the BYD Seal, Tesla Model Y, BYD Atto 3, Tesla Model 3 and BYD Dolphin. The other Chinese or Chinese-backed EVs such as the Omoda E5, Smart #1, GWM Ora and MG4 are also gaining traction with each brand having registered over 200 units this year so far.
BYD remains the most popular EV brand with a total of 4,368 units registered in the first half of 2024, followed by Tesla with 3,079 units and BMW with 807 units. Despite having just one model in a single variant, Chery has registered 406 units, followed by Smart with 282 units and GWM Ora with 277 units.
With the ongoing talks of rationalising the RON95 fuel subsidy, it appears that consumers are gravitating slightly towards EVs rather than hybrids. In the past two months, there have been more registrations for battery electric vehicles than petrol hybrids but the gap seems to be smaller in June with 1,899 Hybrids and 1,912 EVs registered.
In June alone, a total of 3.12% of vehicles registered are EVs, while 3.10% are petrol hybrids. Petrol vehicles are still the most popular vehicle type at 86.61%, followed by green diesel at 6.70%.
Currently, the Malaysian government continues to provide tax breaks for fully imported EVs and road tax waivers until the end of 2025. However, affordable fully imported EV options are still limited.
Automakers Proton and Perodua were tasked to introduce affordable locally assembled EVs by 2025./.
