Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's Prime Minister and Finance Minister, recently unveiled the country's budget for 2024. The budget presentation covered a wide range of topics, and the following are some EV-related developments from Malaysia's Budget 2024 that you should be aware of.

The government is first and foremost welcome investments totaling more than RM170 million from firms including TNB, Gentari, and Tesla to set up 180 EV charging stations throughout Malaysia.

The government has also proposed extending from the initial term of two years to four years the providing of individual income tax credits of up to RM2,500 for expenditures linked to electric vehicle (EV) facilities. It has also been suggested to extend tax breaks for electric vehicle rentals by an additional two years.






The federal government will begin using EVs as official vehicles in addition to inviting investments from EV companies, the prime minister stated during the Budget 2024 announcement. The government has a history of deploying ICE-powered vehicles, including the Toyota Vellfire, Toyota Alphard, and Proton Perdana in more recent times.

The addition of a third lane to the Plus North-South Expressway from the Sedenak area to Simpang Renggam is one of the Budget 2024's other upgrades in the sector of transportation. A total of RM931 million will be spent on the project.




Also mentioned is the targeted diesel subsidy scheme. Diesel fuel will continue to be sold at a subsidised price of RM2.15 per litre, which is still less expensive than the market price of RM3.75 per litre.

User data shows that sales of diesel fuel with subsidies have increased by 40% since 2019, but sales of diesel cars have only increased by less than 3% in Malaysia. This raises the possibility that Malaysia would experience severe cases of smuggling due to the country's low fuel prices.






The government plans to roll out the subsidy for diesel fuel gradually in order to avoid situations like this. Only a few users, including businesses that carry goods, will be able to access the diesel subsidy.

Diesel fuels will be priced higher for other customers. This is supposed to lessen the impact of rising prices on consumers while also preventing subsidy leakage.

Prasarana Malaysia has committed to spend RM600 million to purchase 150 electric buses and construct three bus depots in support of the LRT3 project.