Electric cars and Malaysia. The hard road to Affordable EV’s for the people

By Samuel Lim

Many consider electric vehicles to be the future of transportation, to some it’s more than a fever dream, with the giant successes of Tesla and the automotive industry shifting their fleets to focus on electric powertrains, making the technology more accessible than ever for the average person, where applicable that is.

For the working class Malaysian however, it seems like the dream of owning an affordable, reliable electric car is still far away, but not for long.

On 31 March, the minds behind “MyKar”, EV Innovations, signed an MoA with Malaysia Automotive Robotics and IoT Institute and Ingress Corporation to develop technologies and manufacture future homegrown electric vehicles.

This is a significant step for the future of Malaysian electric vehicles, especially ones that could be affordable to the masses of Malaysia.

The MyKar electric vehicle prototype. Source: Nextrift

Electric vehicles aren’t strangers to our shores, as some already exist in the wild.

These cars that are here however, are on the higher end of the price spectrum, often considered luxury vehicles.

And just like most luxury items, they aren’t something financially viable for the average blue collar worker. Instead most would rather stick to cheaper and more tried and trusted combustion-powered vehicles.

Really, it would take a black swan to tip electric vehicles into the mainstream of modern, affordable transportation for the masses. Just look to the Proton Saga and the Perodua Myvi for a clearer picture.

MyKar really could have a shot at bringing Malaysians the next evolution in transportation, but price and viability aren’t the only factors holding back electric cars from entering the zeitgeist in Malaysia, it takes a lot more than the cars itself.

Electric cars require a whole network of charging stations and electrical standards that need to be built and met to accommodate the technology. Let’s just say that it’ll be a while before dead dinosaurs become the fuel of the past and replaced by zippy chargers.

Now, would Malaysians want to buy into a whole new ecosystem? After all, combustion-engined vehicles have been around and working well for us, why bother changing?

And also, despite how much electric car companies will try to make their car feel as seamless a transition from going from gas powered to electric drive, there’s the sense that it’ll still be a tough sell to get traditionalists and the people who value good old fashioned reliability, to switch over.

So why then would we want this future? Well Malaysia have ways away to go before we get to first world status, but through adoption of burgeoning technologies and betting on the future, we could get there sooner than later, and electric cars is one such bet for a greener and connected future Malaysia.

So let’s look forward to the future. MyKar with their new partnerships and investors could very well be the next Myvi for modern Malaysia, and with talks of Proton also looking to develop electric vehicles, the electric future Malaysians have been missing out on, can finally be a reality soon.