KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — The introduction of targeted subsidies is able to drive the interest of electric vehicle (EV) ownership in the country, said National Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.
He said the EV sector in China expanded rapidly when users have to pay the real cost of fuel.
“Under targeted subsidies, the big thing is related to petrol. When there is targeted subsidy based on household income, users have to pay the real cost (of fuel) and most probably, many of them will switch to EV.
“This is also one of the important factors (as to why) countries like China sees (the EV sector) expanding vary fast,” he said during the Ministers’ Question Time session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Nik Nazmi was replying to a supplementary question from Wong Chen (PKR-Subang) regarding the need to increase the number of EV target compared with 1.5 million by 2040 and the introduction of incentives such as those applied in China.
He agreed with the recommendations made by Wong that there is a need to review the target set earlier so as to be more aggressive to ensure the country achieves a more meaningful objective.
“Many things have changed, maybe we should (set) a higher target,” said Nik Nazmi.
According to Wong, there are 23 million active vehicles in the country and the 1.5 million EV target is only 7.0 per cent of that figure.
Hence, he wanted to know if the government sees the need to increase the EV target to 20 per cent or 30 per cent by 2040 .
