Pahang has the aspiration to become the assembly and production hub for electric vehicles in Malaysia. This was revealed by the state’s Investment, Industry, Science, Technology, and Innovation Exco, Mohamad Nizar Mohamad Najib during a recent State Legislative Assembly session.
Nizar stated that the significant increase in EV adoption marks a clear shift within the Malaysian automotive market. The exco referred to the statistics that were revealed back in July in which the number of EVs registered in Malaysia within the 1H 2024 has surpassed 1H 2023 by more than two-fold.
We have seen states in the West Coast region such as Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Melaka being chosen by EV manufacturers as the location for their assembly plants due to the logistical factor.
We want to see Pahang as the EV assembly and production hub for the East Coast region. If logistics is the main criterion, we will strengthen the promotion of the ECRL’s industry and logistic network that connects Port Klang and Kuantan Port. – Investment, Industry, Science, Technology, and Innovation Exco, Mohamad Nizar Mohamad Najib.
EV assembly is already happening in Pahang
Truth be told, Pahang is already involved in the EV assembly. Back in 2023, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia kicked off the local assembly of the Mercedes-Benz EQS 500 4MATIC in Pekan.
At that time, the Pekan plant was the third overseas assembly facility that was involved in EQS assembly after Pune in India and Samut Prakan in Thailand. Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz’s Pekan plant is one of the very few automotive facilities in Malaysia that assemble battery-powered EVs.
Other EV assembly plants in Malaysia include Volvo Shah Alam and Inokom Kulim. The list will grow very soon with the inclusion of NexV Manufacturing Rembau, EPMB Melaka, and Perodua’s upcoming EV facility.
State-wide EV charging station deployment is now in progress
Aside from EV manufacturing, Nizar has also discussed the state’s EV charging infrastructure during his speech. Specifically, the recent collaboration with Volt Industries which involved an investment of around RM250 million.
Expected to be completed within the next 2 to 3 years, 50 charging stations will be built throughout Pahang under this collaboration. The first rollout is taking place in Bentong with 12 charging bays and is expected to be completed by the middle of next year.
Just like EV assembly, EV charging infrastructure is slowly growing in Pahang. For example, Gentari already deployed several DC chargers including in both Gambang R&R areas on the East Coast Expressway (LPT1) and Pahang Technology Park. LPT1 users are also able to utilise Shell Recharge HPC at Temerloh R&R.
Several CPOs have also deployed DC chargers in Kuantan including ChargeEV, ChargeSini, and BLH Ecoenergy. The state capital is also the only Tesla Supercharger spot in the East Coast region at the moment.
The new collaboration with Volt Industries should be able to help the EV infrastructure in Pahang grow further. As more areas become accessible to EV owners, this may lead to a variety of positive impacts, especially in terms of tourism and the local economy.
