EV Sales Up by 286% in 2023 with 10,159 Units – MAA

Sales of EVs in Malaysia skyrocketed by 286% in 2023, with a total of 10,159 units delivered last year.

2023 was a pretty good year for electric vehicles in Malaysia, not only thanks to the influx of new EV models making their local debut last year but also in terms of total sales. According to the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) in its annual press conference today, EV sales in Malaysia skyrocketed by a whopping 286% in 2023, with a total of 10,159 units delivered last year.

This sudden rise in EV sales is no surprise considering that the local EV scene is still in its infancy, as shown by the previous year's sales record. In 2021, only 278 units of EVs were sold nationwide, while 2022 saw its sales tenfold into 2,631 units, followed by 2023 with 10,159 units – the first year where EV sales breached the 10,000 mark.

There’s a caveat in said sales figure, however, as the sales data displayed here were only gathered from the association’s members. This means that sales data from non-members like Tesla is not included in the list, which means that the actual sales figure could be higher than what’s reported by MAA.

Besides EVs, sales for hybrid vehicles have also shown a positive growth in 2023

Besides EVs, MAA has also released the annual sales volume for hybrid vehicles in Malaysia, which even includes mild-hybrid vehicles (MHEVs) like the new Proton X90 and many more. For the hybrid market, a total of 28,055 HEVs were sold in 2023, which is a steady 40% year-on-year growth compared to 2022’s sales figure of 19,988 units.

In total, both hybrids and EVs (xEVs) have experienced a 69% increase in their sales volume for 2023, jumping from 22,619 in 2022 to 38,214 in 2023. While said increase sounds stellar, the total industry volume (TIV) for xEVs is still small compared to the annual 2023 TIV of 799,731 units, only making about 5% of the total annual sales.

Aside from both EV and HEV sales figures, MAA has also laid out the total number of public EV charging stations. As of Oct 2023, MAA has reported that a total of 1,434 charging stations are currently operating in Malaysia, with 1,117 of them being AC chargers, while DCFCs only charted at 317 units. Said figures are still far from the government’s target of having 10,000 charging stations operating by 2025, which is only a year away from now.

For 2024, MAA believes that the xEV sales figure will continue its remarkable growth, thanks to multiple incentives by the government, as well as the introduction of more xEV models in the coming months. Ultimately, the association targets xEVs to make about 9–10% of the 2024 TIV with 74,000 units, of which 14,800 will be full EVs.