PUTRAJAYA: Electric vehicle (EV) owners will enjoy a reduction of up to 85% in road tax fees once the tax holiday ends on Dec 31 next year, says Anthony Loke.
The Transport Minister said the new road tax structure will cover both pure battery electric vehicles (PBEV) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) and come into effect on Jan 1, 2026.
"The fee will be based on the power output of the electric motor, with a progressive increase in fees, " he told a press conference here on Tuesday (June 4)
He said the move would encourage more owners of vehicles with internal combustion engines to transition to EVs.
"We are aware of worries by EV owners that the cost of fees would be high once the tax holiday ends.
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"That is why I made it a priority to ensure that the new fee structure would be lower than the existing one," he said.
For example, Loke said, the owner of a vehicle with an output of between 100kW and 200kW will pay a fee of between RM20 and RM70.
He said the maximum fee based on the progressive increase in power output would be RM575.
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For example, the owner of a BYD Dolphin Premium Standard Range would have to pay RM624 while a Tesla Model Y owner would have to pay RM2,583 under the existing fee structure if there were no tax holiday, he added.
"Under the new structure, the fee for the BYD would only be RM120 while the fee for the Tesla would be RM305.
"This represents a reduction of about 85% in fees," he said, adding that the fee structure would be reviewed once every five years.
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Loke said a total of 15,671 EVs were registered last year out of 1,533,332 vehicles registered in total nationwide.
As of April 30 this year, 7,003 EVs were registered out of 499,945 total vehicles, he added.
On a related matter, Loke said the ministry is in talks with car manufacturers to issue special plates for EVs and an announcement would be made once matters have been worked out.
