KUALA LUMPUR: Proposals to increase the number of hybrid and electric vehicles (EV) as government vehicle fleets are currently being scrutinised, says Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Liew Chin Tong.
He said the Finance Ministry is currently fine-tuning several matters in regards to increasing the number of EVs in government fleets.
“The proposal to include the number of hybrid and EVs as official vehicles in departments and (certain) positions is currently being fine-tuned by the Finance Ministry.
“Meanwhile, land public transport vehicles are also encouraged to make the switch to EV,” said Liew.
Liew also said the ministry suggested more incentives to promote EV sales to be included in Budget 2023, such as personal income tax breaks, the subscription and installation of EV charging systems, among others.
“Those were proposed in Budget 2023,” added Liew.
Liew also said there are 21,659 existing EV and hybrid vehicles on the road, as well as 902 EV charging points.
“Agreed policies will be announced during the tabling of Budget 2023,” added Liew.
Budget 2023 will be tabled in Parliament this Friday (Feb 24).
At the same time, Liew said there has been a rise in demand for EV vehicles, as there was an increase of average sales of 3,400 units last year compared with 300 units in the previous years.
Liew added more EV charging points are being built.
“Efforts to attract investors to build ‘charging points’ were also effective, where the amount of charging systems increased to a rate of 51% in 2022 compared with previous years.
“This makes the amount of charging systems to be more than 900,” added Liew.
Liew was responding to Jimmy Puah (PH-Tebrau), who asked about the ministry’s policies to encourage EV usage and increasing charging points across the country.
