Malaysia EV Adoption and Charging
Infrastructure: State of Play 2026

Malaysia's EV market has grown fast by its own historical standards. The Road Transport Department (JPJ) recorded 13,301 units in 2023 and 21,789 in 2024 — a 64% year-on-year jump.[JPJ via Soyacincau] By October 2025, cumulative registrations had already hit 31,273, with the full year widely expected to exceed 35,000.[JPJ via Soyacincau] October 2025 alone saw 4,345 registrations, a 177% year-on-year increase, reflecting a pre-deadline rush as buyers moved before the CBU duty exemptions expired on 31 December 2025.[JPJ via Soyacincau]

The context that changes the picture: the Low Carbon Mobility Blueprint targets 15% EV penetration by 2030, against a projected total industry volume of 1.22 million vehicles per year — implying roughly 183,000 annual EV sales.[MITI via MAA] The current run rate of approximately 35,000–40,000 units is less than a quarter of that. Even with strong compound growth, closing a five-fold gap in five years requires conditions — sustained demand, affordable new models, and reliable charging — that are not yet fully in place. The Malaysian Automotive Association's member data, which excludes non-members like Tesla and some Chinese brands, showed a 91.4% year-on-year jump in H1 2025 to 12,733 units, implying about 3.4% market share among reporting brands.[MAA via paultan.org] The JPJ figure, which captures all registrations, is more comprehensive and gives a truer picture of overall penetration.

BYD held first place with 10,165 units in January–October 2025, driven by three models in the top ten: the Sealion 7 (3,142), Atto 3 (3,129), and M6 (1,349).[JPJ via Soyacincau] Proton came second with 6,954 units — all from a single model, the e.MAS 7, which was the best-selling EV model in the country during that period.[JPJ via Soyacincau] Proton's success is structurally important: the brand is majority-owned by Geely, giving it access to Chinese EV technology while retaining the pricing, dealer network, and brand recognition of a national marque. Tesla placed third with 4,167 units (Model Y: 2,680; Model 3: 1,486), ahead of Zeekr (1,362), BMW (1,294), and XPeng (1,142).[JPJ via Soyacincau]

Perodua — Malaysia's best-selling car brand overall, holding roughly a third of total industry volume — does not appear in EV rankings at all. The national brand has not launched a battery electric vehicle, which means the segment of the market most familiar and trusted by Malaysian mass-market buyers is effectively absent from the EV transition. This is the single most significant structural gap in the competitive landscape. European brands (BMW, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz) are present but collectively account for fewer than 1,800 units in ten months, positioning them as premium-tier participants rather than volume drivers.[JPJ via Soyacincau]

Chinese brands outside the traditional top tier are also gaining ground. Chery sold 952 units in the same period, and Denza — a BYD-Mercedes joint venture — moved 932 units, almost entirely through the D9 MPV.[JPJ via Soyacincau] The pattern is consistent: Chinese or Chinese-partnered vehicles dominate the volume segments, while European brands hold premium niches.

The Malaysian government has structured its EV incentive framework to make local assembly the only commercially viable path for high-volume Chinese brands. BYD has formalised a local manufacturing agreement under which it must export 80% of its Malaysian production while selling 20% locally — with a price floor of RM100,000 (approximately $25,300) for locally assembled units.[The Wire China] Imported CBU EVs effectively face a floor of RM250,000 or above, creating roughly a 2.5× price differential that makes imports uncompetitive at mass-market price points.[The Wire China] This is not a tariff — it is a structural incentive embedded in the exemption framework.

XPeng has partnered with EP Manufacturing Berhad (EPMB) to begin local assembly in Malacca, with production scheduled to start in 2026.[EV Infrastructure News] MG Motor, Zeekr, and XPeng have all announced local assembly plans for 2026.[MCIGROUP] No public data confirms whether Chery or Dongfeng have announced Malaysian assembly operations — their presence in the sales charts suggests import activity under the now-expired CBU exemptions. The consequence of the post-2025 incentive shift is that brands without a local assembly agreement face a sharp price disadvantage. MG, for example, saw some models rise to RM299,000 after the CBU exemption expired on 31 December 2025.[Motorist.my]

The policy mechanism is deliberate. MITI extended CKD (locally assembled) exemptions to 31 December 2027 specifically to anchor Chinese manufacturing investment in Malaysia while protecting the economics of the transition for consumers who buy locally made vehicles.[MITI via Malay Mail] What this does not address is whether sufficient local assembly capacity will come online fast enough — and at the right price points — to sustain the sales momentum built during the CBU exemption window.

Malaysia's EV incentive architecture has undergone its most significant restructuring since the initial tax holiday launched under Budget 2022. Until 31 December 2025, buyers of imported, fully assembled (CBU) EVs benefited from full exemption of import duty, excise duty, and sales and service tax — making premium models from Tesla, BYD, and European brands significantly cheaper than they would otherwise be.[Motorist.my] That window has now closed. From 1 January 2026, newly imported CBU EVs face full duties, which is why some MG models jumped to RM299,000 almost overnight.[Motorist.my]

The exemptions that remain are targeted at locally assembled (CKD) vehicles and run to 31 December 2027, administered by MITI.[MITI via Malay Mail] This creates a two-tier market: locally assembled EVs benefit from full excise and sales tax exemptions, while imported models bear full duties. The road tax exemption for zero-emission vehicles — previously a flat zero for all EVs — also ended on 1 January 2026, replaced by a kilowatt-based structure administered by the Ministry of Transport. The new rates are still substantially lower than equivalent ICE vehicles (the BYD Dolphin pays RM40 per year; a Tesla Model Y pays RM915), described by the government as averaging 85% below ICE equivalents.[Motorist.my / MOT] There are no active national cash rebate programmes or purchase subsidies as of April 2026.

The strongest version of the pro-protection argument draws on UNCTAD analysis: Malaysia's National Automotive Policy 2020 and New Industrial Master Plan 2030 are designed to position the country as a node in the regional EV value chain — not just a sales market for Chinese exports.[UNCTAD] Proton and Perodua together held 66.9% of total vehicle sales in 2023, representing hundreds of thousands of jobs and an industrial base that any policy shift would directly affect.[MAA via UNCTAD] The assembly-first approach, with its CKD exemptions and local content requirements, follows the same model Thailand used to build a genuine manufacturing base — not just volume consumption.

The strongest version of the opposing argument is also grounded in real numbers. An FMT opinion piece published on 7 April 2026 called for reinstating the 100% import duty exemption for EVs priced above RM100,000, explicitly citing the doubling of diesel prices to RM6.02 per litre and the volatility in RON95 petrol as evidence that consumers need affordable EV access now — not after local assembly lines are fully operational.[Free Malaysia Today] The cost arithmetic is uncomfortable: home EV charging works out at roughly RM7.65 per 100km versus RM36.10 for diesel, which means consumers who cannot access affordable EVs are bearing a real economic cost while the industrial policy timeline plays out.[Free Malaysia Today]

What is settled: incentives have demonstrably driven sales. The 177% year-on-year jump in October 2025 registrations — the last full month before the CBU exemption expired — is direct evidence that price sensitivity is the dominant factor in purchase decisions.[JPJ via Soyacincau] What is contested: whether removing import incentives will slow adoption so sharply that Malaysia falls further behind its 2030 targets, or whether the CKD pipeline of locally assembled Chinese vehicles will fill the gap quickly enough. No named academic study or parliamentary record surfaces in the available evidence to resolve this. The debate is currently being conducted through industry commentary, government press releases, and opinion journalism — not peer-reviewed research.

One important caveat: Perodua, which sells more cars in Malaysia than any other brand, has not launched a battery electric vehicle. If the country's highest-volume, most-trusted mass-market brand remains outside the EV market, the 15% penetration target depends entirely on Chinese and premium European brands reaching segments of the population that have historically bought Perodua Myvis and Axias. That gap is not addressed by current policy.

Thailand achieved approximately 70,000 battery electric vehicle registrations in 2024 — roughly seven times its 2021 level — and a 30% overall electrified vehicle (xEV) market share by 2025.[PwC ASEAN-6] The mechanism was Thailand's BOI EV 3.5 policy, which combined direct consumer rebates of THB 100,000 (approximately $2,800) for qualifying battery electric vehicles, a 2% excise tax rate, import duty relief, and a local production mandate: importers who took duty relief must produce two local vehicles for every one imported by 2026, rising to three-to-one by 2027.[PwC ASEAN-6] This is a more sophisticated structure than Malaysia's — it uses consumer demand to pull Chinese manufacturers toward local investment, rather than restricting imports to push them.

Vietnam reached 33% xEV market share and 84% xEV sales growth, the fastest electrification rate in ASEAN-6, driven primarily by VinFast — a domestic brand with state backing.[PwC ASEAN-6] Incentives included purchase price reductions exceeding VND 100 million per unit, 100% registration fee exemptions through 2027, zero ASEAN import duties, and a proposed 3% special consumption tax extension to 2030.[PwC ASEAN-6] The Vietnam case shows that a nationally backed brand can drive volume adoption in a way that Proton is attempting but has not yet achieved at scale. Indonesia, despite holding the world's largest nickel reserves — a critical input for EV batteries — lagged at 18% xEV share, with less direct consumer incentive impact documented.[PwC ASEAN-6]

The common thread in the markets that are ahead: deep consumer-facing incentives maintained consistently over multiple years, combined with a clear local manufacturing mandate. Malaysia had consumer-facing incentives from 2022 to 2025 but has now removed the CBU exemptions before reaching anywhere near the penetration levels Thailand and Vietnam achieved under sustained support. The ASEAN-6 average xEV penetration was 17% by 2025.[PwC ASEAN-6] Malaysia is below that average.

The case for an optimistic trajectory is not implausible. If BYD, XPeng, Zeekr, and MG all get local assembly lines running in 2026 and produce vehicles in the RM100,000–RM150,000 range at volume, the price gap left by the expired CBU exemptions could close faster than critics expect. Proton's e.MAS 7 showed that locally assembled Chinese-technology vehicles can be the best-selling EV in the country. If Perodua enters the market — even with a single affordable model — the mass-market channel opens in a way that no amount of BYD or Tesla marketing can replicate.

The base case, however, is a period of slower growth in 2026 as the CBU exemption expiry bites, followed by a recovery as CKD assembly scales. The 2030 target remains out of reach at current trajectory — reaching 183,000 annual sales requires a sustained compound growth rate the market has not demonstrated without direct consumer incentives propping up demand. Thailand's experience is instructive: when incentives were calibrated carefully with production mandates, volume followed. Malaysia's current structure is more abrupt — the switch from broad CBU exemptions to CKD-only support happened without a clear transition mechanism for buyers in 2026.

The bearish risk is a combination of post-incentive demand collapse and infrastructure stagnation. If public charging does not accelerate toward 10,000 units and beyond, range anxiety remains a real barrier for anyone without reliable home charging. Apartment dwellers — a large and growing segment in Malaysian cities — cannot easily install home chargers, which means the public network quality directly constrains the addressable market.