saga ev

A prototype of a locally-assembled electric vehicle will be completed by September next year, according to the CEO of the Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI) Madani Sahari.

At the public introduction of the COMOS EV car-sharing programme, Madani said that the new car will be a joint venture between a local company and a foreign one, although he declined to name exactly which firms have saddled up for the project.

Could that Malaysian entity be Proton or Perodua (the former had previously collaborated with Frazer-Nash Research to develop its own EV, and was supposed to begin commercialising it this year), or will it be another company that is outside the automotive business?

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Madani also claimed that the first electric bus prototype will arrive around the third quarter of next year. Earlier in the year, MAI signed a collaborative agreement with ARCA Corporation Sdn Bhd, AutoCRC Ltd and Swinburne University of Technology to develop and manufacture an electric bus.

This E-Bus will first see service in Putrajaya and Langkawi, due to their relatively simple routing and range requirements. ARCA Corporation has earmarked an investment of RM200 million spread over a period of four years, with commercialisation of the bus slated to commence in 2016.

Also included in the agreement is the development and production of lithium-ion batteries that will power this bus, and Madani said that they will be built in the first quarter of next year. These batteries will also be able to be used in cars and as energy storage.