Which Southeast Asian country has an electric vehicle growth rate of more than 140%?

According to the latest data from the Malaysian Road Transport Department (JPJ), the number of new electric vehicle (EV) registrations in the country continues to increase sharply. In the first 6 months of this year, a total of 10,663 electric vehicles were registered in Malaysia.

This figure marks a 141.85% increase over the same period last year with 4,409 registrations. Meanwhile, a total of 13,301 electric vehicles were delivered to customers in 2023.

In June 2024, electric car company BYD, which has just entered the Vietnamese automobile market, took the top two positions with sales of the BYD Seal and Atto 3 models with sales of 343 and 290 vehicles respectively in Malaysia. Next, Tesla Model Y and Model 3 ranked third and fourth with 289 and 148 vehicles registered respectively.

Notably, the affordable BYD Dolphin continued to occupy the fifth position with 127 units sold in June. The Chery Omoda E5 moved up in position last month with 82 units registered, surpassing the MG4 with 71 units registered.

In the first 6 months of this year, BYD and Tesla continued to dominate the top 5 products with EV models such as BYD Seal, Tesla Model Y, BYD Atto 3, Tesla Model 3 and BYD Dolphin. Other electric vehicles originating from China such as Omoda E5, Smart #1, GWM Ora and MG4 are also attracting attention with each brand registering more than 200 units this year.

BYD is the leading brand of electric cars in Malaysia. Photo: Tran Dinh.

BYD remained the most popular EV brand with a total of 4,368 units registered in the first half of 2024, followed by Tesla (3,079) and BMW (807). Despite having only one EV model, the Omoda 5, Chery sold 406 units, followed by Smart with 282 and GWM Ora with 277.

With the rise of low-cost Chinese EV brands, the Malaysian market is witnessing a decline in sales from established brands. In terms of EV sales, Mercedes-Benz, Malaysia’s No. 3 EV brand with 363 registrations in the first half of 2023, has dropped to No. 7 with just 232 registrations this year. Volvo, which was No. 4 a year ago with 284 units, has dropped to No. 8 in the first half of 2024 with 219 units.

Electric cars outsell hybrids for second consecutive month

With the Malaysian government cutting subsidies on RON 95 fuel, it seems that Malaysian consumers are increasingly favoring electric vehicles over hybrids (which combine an internal combustion engine and an electric motor). In the past two months, more battery electric vehicles have been registered than gasoline hybrids. For example, in June, 1,899 hybrids were sold, compared to 1,912 electric vehicles.

In terms of market share, in the first June of the year, the proportion of people buying electric cars and gasoline hybrid cars was 3.12% and 3.10%, respectively. Gasoline cars were still the most popular type of vehicle with 86.61%, followed by diesel cars with 6.70%.

What has helped EVs gain popularity in the Malaysian market is the government’s continued policy of tax reductions on imported EVs and exemption from road tax until the end of 2025. However, fully imported EV options at affordable prices are still limited.

The number of low-cost electric car models in Malaysia is still limited. Photo: Tran Dinh.

Therefore, two Malaysian carmakers including Proton and Perodua are tasked with introducing locally assembled electric cars at affordable prices by 2025.

Proton recently announced that its first electric car will be launched in December this year. The product is called the Proton e.Mas 7, expected to cost over RM100,000 (over VND540 million). This is a version that is said to be based on the Geely Galaxy E5 platform. Meanwhile, Perodua is expected to release its first electric car only in 2025.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/quoc-gia-dong-nam-a-nao-co-toc-do-tang-truong-xe-dien-hon-140-332505.html