The company’s substantial shareholder Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd yesterday unveiled its concept electric vehicle (EV) at the Tokyo Motor Show 2017.
According to Perodua Auto Corp Sdn Bhd vice-president Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad, Malaysia does not have “sufficient infrastructure” to enable Perodua to manufacture such electric vehicles (EVs).
“Both hybrid cars and EVs will require sufficient infrastructure in terms of charging facilities and the range of lithium ion batteries which are not fully available in Malaysia currently,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the Tokyo Motor Show 2017.
Zainal pointed out that a study on the impact of producing EVs and the market requirement in Malaysia will be carried out given Perodua’s confidence in the EVs once sufficient infrastructure is being put in place.
There's still a lot of life left in conventional engines as represented by the Bezza.
“The EV is a totally different powertrain. We haven’t done any studies or come out with any ideas on what we want to do for the future generation power train,” added Zainal.
Moving forward, he said Perodua would continue to focus on boosting the efficiency of its internal combustion engine capabilities via improvement in technology. The company is currently undertaking a study on how to improve the fuel consumption of its engines.
Zainal noted that: “I would rather focus on our bread and butter, which is the internal combustion engine capabilities that is energy efficient, maximising the efficiency of fuel consumption by enhancing technology.
Perodua’s Bezza, the first energy efficient vehicle’s fuel consumption reaches up to 22.8km per litre for its manual transmission, while its automatic transmission can travel up 21.3 km per litre.
A Li-ion battery for a car.
For Malaysia to produce EVs, Malaysia Automative Institute chief executive officer Datuk Madani Sahari said it is important to own the technology of producing its own lithium ion batteries as “this component could incur cost up to 40% of an electric vehicle”.
Currently, the automotive sector in Malaysia is moving towards the commercialisation of the lithium ion battery. The commercialisation is expected to start in the first quarter of 2018.
Another key infrastructure needed to produce EVs in the country is the charging stations for electric cars.
By 2020, Malaysia is targeting to have a total of 100,000 electric cars. For the national carmakers to produce EVs, Madani said that cost competitiveness of the lithium ion batteries is vital. He also predicted that the prices of EVs will mature in the next 10 years in Malaysia.
“The national carmakers will start to produce EV cars when their business plans make sense in terms of cost competitiveness and wide availability of the charging stations.”
“It’s a chicken and egg situation, the government is taking the initiatives under the two pronged strategies (producing lithium ion battery and EV charging stations), so we can enable the introduction of EVs,” he added.
