KUALA LUMPUR: The government wants to make it mandatory for the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem to be certified by Sirim Bhd before entering the market for safety reasons.
The move will include EV batteries and charging stations.
Malaysia currently has over 10,000 battery EVs on the road.
The Sirim certification for all EV-related facilities could be compulsory within one or two years, said SIRIM Bhd president and group chief executive officer Datuk Dr Ahmad Sabirin Arshad.
"It is not mandatory now. The government is giving companies time to keep the industry growing.
"There are some companies that already have their certifications as they have sent their products to be tested by Sirim, but many have yet to do so," he said during a visit to Balai Berita in Bangsar, yesterday.
Sabirin said the certification body played an important role in testing, approving and certifying the technology in the EV ecosystem, especially batteries.
He said the approval and certification would involve a patent design approval by the National Metrology Institute Malaysia, an agency under Sirim.
Sirim, he added, would then test and certify the products.
"In the EV ecosystem, SIRIM provides blanket approval for all EV infrastructure entering Malaysia. This includes ensuring the safety of the batteries used inside the EV.
"We have a testing centre for the batteries in Kulim, Kedah. We also want to ensure EV charging ports in Malaysia are uniform and comply with international standards to ensure road users can safely use their EVs.
"We want to ensure that people have access to charging stations that are standardised and can be used by all cars — from Singapore to all of Asean — so people can drive their cars anywhere."
He said Sirim had also shortened the testing process from six to two months to support the growing industry.
Up to December last year, Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said Malaysia had recorded more than 100,000 registered EVs.
He also said the ministry was still maintaining its target of 10,000 EV charging stations operating in the country by next year.
To date, there are 2,020 EV charging stations nationwide.
He said the government was also providing various initiatives for EV industry players by expediting approvals and giving out tax incentives.
According to a report titled Annual Update on the Global Transition to Electric Vehicles: 2022, by the International Council on Clean Transportation, Asean as a single market recorded sales of 39,000 EVs last year, up 165 per cent year-on-year.
Research by Counterpoint's Global Passenger Electric Vehicle Model Sales Tracker revealed that Thailand accounted for 58 per cent of the passenger EV sales in Southeast Asia last year, followed by Indonesia (19.5 per cent), Vietnam (15.8 per cent) and Malaysia (2.6 per cent).
Malaysia is targeting to have 15 per cent of total industry volume (TIV) contributed by electrified vehicles — EV and hybrid — by 2030, and 38 per cent by 2040.