Govt To Streamline Policies, Incentives To Accelerate EV Ecosystem -- Sim
KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 (Bernama) -- The government is streamlining policies and incentives to accelerate the development of the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem, including expanding charging facilities nationwide, said Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Sim Tze Tzin.
He said the government is working with several stakeholders, particularly Tenaga Nasional Bhd, to build more power substations to ensure sufficient supply to support the development of EV charging facilities.
“The construction of charging facilities requires substations to ensure adequate power supply,” he said during the Oral Answers session at the Dewan Rakyat today.
Sim said the government is also holding discussions to provide incentives to charging facility operators to encourage the construction of more such facilities.
“If there are no substations, no party can build charging facilities as the power supply is insufficient. Hence, this effort requires incentives, appropriate policies and the development of the entire ecosystem.
“It takes time, but the government has taken note of the suggestions put forth and will work to improve implementation,” he said.
He was replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Ku Abd Rahman Ku Ismail (PN-Kubang Pasu) regarding the government’s proactive measures to address the lack of EV charging facilities nationwide in line with the target of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Meanwhile, replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Larry Soon @ Larry Sng Wei Shien (PBM-Julau) on why the minimum value requirement of RM200,000 for cost, insurance and freight (CIF) and minimum power of 180 kilowatts (kW) are only imposed on fully imported EVs (completely built-up/CBU), Sim said the approach to EVs and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles is different as both are at different stages of industrial development.
He said that for ICE vehicles, the policy on importing CBU models has long been based on engine capacity, meaning that only models with a capacity of 1,800 cubic centimetres (cc) and above are allowed to be imported into this country.
“For EVs, the government needs to balance two objectives simultaneously, namely accelerating the use of EVs among the rakyat and developing the local assembly industry, supply chain and the entire EV ecosystem so that Malaysia is not just a consumer market.
“Besides, the tax and incentive structure for EVs is different from ICE vehicles. Currently, the excise duty rate for EVs is only 10 per cent, much lower than for ICE vehicles, whose excise duty rate depends on engine capacity, vehicle type and level of localisation,” he said.
He said the lower excise duty rate makes determining the import value of EVs more critical to ensure the tax calculation basis is accurate and reduces the risk of declaring an import value lower than the actual value.
“Hence, setting a minimum CIF value is one of the policy mechanisms to reduce the scope for under-declaration and ensure that government revenue collection continues to be maintained,” he said.
-- BERNAMA