KUALA LUMPUR – Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) will build electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure along the North-South Expressway as part of its collaboration with PLUS Malaysia Bhd, TNB president and chief executive officer Datuk Baharin Din said today.
The utility firm is investing RM90 million to support the EV ecosystem over a span of three years.
“TNB aims to accelerate the adoption of battery electric vehicles (BEV) to capture its RM1.3 billion market value by 2030 and welcomes collaboration with strategic partners to stimulate the growth of the BEV ecosystem,” he said at an editors’ media briefing here today.
In March this year, TNB and PLUS announced that they were collaborating to reduce carbon emissions on PLUS highways through sustainability initiatives.
In a joint statement released then, both parties said the initiatives involved the development of a network of electric vehicle charging stations, and the installation of energy efficiency monitoring and solar photovoltaic systems at selected rest and relaxation (R&R) areas along the PLUS highway network.
Besides PLUS, Baharin said TNB is also in talks with other highway operators as well as federal road authorities under the Public Works Department.
He said the EV market has a potential for 3,300 charging points for 33,350 BEVs on the road by 2025 with an annual electricity revenue of RM80 million, which is set to increase to 18,000 charging points for 524,409 BEVs on the road and an annual electricity revenue of RM1.25 billion by 2030.
“By 2030, we forecast half a million EVs to be on the road with 2.3 TWh of electricity charging requirements, valued at RM1.26 billion. This also means a reduction of 4.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission by taking internal combustion engine vehicles off the road,” he added.
The EV ecosystem’s potential positive impact on both the climate and the company’s bottomline makes its development a clear priority for TNB, he explained.
On top of building the charging infrastructure, TNB will also provide upskilling and reskilling courses for the EV industry, electrify about 4,200 of TNB’s own fleet of vehicles, sponsor EV-related studies and foster coalitions among EV sector players, such as ZEVA (Zero Emission Vehicle Association). – Bernama, August 2, 2022
