KUALA LUMPUR: The Zero Emission Vehicle Association (ZEVA) has urged the government to provide incentives focusing on electric vehicles’ (EVs) charging infrastructure in the revised 2023 Budget.
The aim is to increase the current number of around 2,000 EVs on the road to 700,000 by 2030.
ZEVA, in a statement today, said EV charging infrastructure incentives should be offered to cater for city infrastructure, highway charging areas and high-rise buildings.
For city infrastructure, the association said “starting-up cost for any interested local and city councils to set up public charging in any particular city” should be offered, and “funding of RM500,000 for each rest area catering for six DC (direct current) chargers per rest area” for highway charging areas should be provided.
Additionally, for high-rise buildings, it said grants should be given to non-landed property managers for EV charger installation at RM10,000 each.
Nonetheless, ZEVA said the incentives should not cover the entire cost of the charger, but rather cover the costs associated with setting up charging facilities.
“The government’s assistance is needed as the first movers’ assets will only be utilising a fraction of the full capacity of these facilities.
“ZEVA believes that the subsequent companies that intend to deploy their chargers nearby will be able to leverage these existing facilities easily, thus encouraging more to invest.”
The association said other incentives to consider included matching grants for research and development in the EV industry, specially catered for the automotive industry, cash rebates for trade-ins of petrol or diesel-fuelled vehicles to EVs, and cash incentives for EV new purchases.
“This small incentive will be useful to inspire some, if not all, of the high-end new vehicle buyers annually.”
The revised 2023 Budget will be tabled in Parliament on Friday. — Bernama