After a long wait, Perodua has officially launched its first EV, the QV-E, at RM80,000. But there’s one major catch: the price does not include the battery.
Instead, buyers must sign a mandatory Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) lease that costs RM275 per month (excluding SST) on a 9-year contract.
This isn’t the affordable sub-RM100,000 EV that many Malaysians had hoped for. The total cost of the Perodua QV-E with battery leasing surpasses RM110,000, putting it in a highly competitive space dominated by the likes of the Proton e.MAS 7 and the BYD Atto 3.
Unsurprisingly, this has turned the QV-E into one of the most hotly debated vehicle launches in Malaysia. The model is meant to be Perodua’s entry into affordable electrification, but the decision to separate the battery from the purchase has sparked questions, criticism, and plenty of memes.
In this week’s episode of Let’s Talk About, Amin and Alex unpack everything behind the controversy.
Why is Perodua selling an EV without the battery? What problem are they trying to solve with the battery leasing programme? Do EV owners actually need to replace their batteries regularly? And ultimately, what were they thinking?
Watch the full video below for the full discussion:
The Perodua QV-E is a compact electric SUV which offers a single motor powering the front wheels with 201hp and 285Nm of torque. It has a 0-100km/h time of 7.5 seconds, up to a top speed of 165km/h.
The provided battery under leasing is a 52.5kWh LFP unit from CATL which a claimed NEDC-rated range of 445km or WLTP-rated range of 370km. In terms of charging is supports single-phase AC charging up to 6.6kW and DC charging up to 60kW.
Would you buy the Perodua QV-E? Let us know in the comments below.
