EV Charging cannot continue to be cheap in Malaysia, so where are the eco savings?
Looks like the ‘honeymoon’ period for electric vehicle (EV) charging in Malaysia is starting to show its dark side, sooner than later.
This above picture was recently shared on a popular electric vehicle fan page on Facebook and the comments were quite interesting. Some were disappointed that the BMW car dealer was putting a high EV charging fee and some others were not happy with the payment method (the confusing format of payment) which we think might have been done to ‘persuade’ non BMW electric vehicle owners NOT to use their EV charging facility.
Well, the BMW dealer did spend quite a bit of money installing the fast charging point (estimated hear-say from RM100,000 to a high RM200,000) and the return on investment will be a few years, plus they might be space constraints when too many electric vehicles come by to take turns to charge their EV’s.
Add to the fact that if non BMW EV drivers come and charge their electric vehicles they will be using the showroom hospitality which is cost to the showroom which they would rather reserve for their BMW and MINI customers.
Now here is where this situation becomes interesting as this BMW dealership is situated along a busy highway and with a high density of shops and reconditioned (PEKEMA) used car businesses in the surrounding area. There might be a large number of non BMW EV’s from the reconditioned dealers coming and using the charging point and enjoying the showroom facilities.
Next, we have to consider the cost of EV charging. At RM50.00 for a MINI EV to RM70.00 for a BMW per use, it is less than petrol, but where is the ‘saving the planet’ agenda? The electricity provided is from TNB and the ‘juice’ does not come from solar power. So, how is this lowering emissions?
Well, this debate can go on for the next 2 weeks and there will be no winner.
So, it looks like very soon we will be seeing more and more authorized car dealerships with EV charging starting to be strict with the use of their charging points and also the ‘honeymoon period’ of low priced electricity will soon end.
We have also started hearing isolated cases where business owners are not allowing EV owners to use the power outlets for FREE, even if they are customers as they have seen the added cost of charging an EV. Restaurant owners, coffee shops and even small town petrol stations are getting wiser to the cost of plugging in an EV for FREE.
