Loke Proposes Special Number Plates For EVs In Malaysia

Anis

18 May 2023 at 07:00 AM

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Neta V official preview at the Malaysia Autoshow 2023.

Aside from announcing a revamp of the road tax structure for electric vehicles, Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke, has also stated that the Road Transport Department (JPJ) is looking into a number of other incentives to entice the public to purchase EVs. This includes special number plates that distinguish these vehicles from other vehicles on the road.

According to Loke, The Road Transport Department is working on other incentives for EV users, such as e-plates for EVs.

Singapore's "EVS" series of number plates on the Ioniq 5.

We can have special number plates for EVs to differentiate EVs from other vehicles." "These are the things we can do to help encourage the adoption of EVs," he said yesterday at the Green Mobility and Transport Forum. The mention of special plates could refer to a new number plate series designed specifically for EVs, similar to Singapore's "EVS" series of number plates for domestically manufactured electric vehicles such as the Ioniq 5.

Other options include adding a letter to the front or back of the plate, as in Germany, or producing a special green plate, as seen in China and the United Kingdom.

Loke's mention of "e-plates" is also intriguing, implying a different type of EV-specific number plate technology. This could include ideas as far-fetched as using digital displays to display vehicle registration, though that technology is still a long way off.

The 2023 MINI Electric Resolute Edition is priced at RM211,164.

A more realistic interpretation would be "digital number plates" with embedded RFID tags, which would allow law enforcement to track all vehicles, not just electric vehicles. It may also allow users to pay for tolls, as Malaysia prepares to implement multi-lane fast flow (MLFF) barrier-less tolls in 2025, which are expected to use existing RFID technology. Having specialised number plates would make it easier to enforce EV-specific benefits. It will, for example, allow parking operators to quickly determine whether an EV is parked in an EV-reserved parking space, preventing others from hogging these spaces, which may have public chargers attached.

Source: SoyaCincau