Modern system: Loke (left) posing during the JPJ ePlate launch in Cyberjaya. With him is Road Transport Department director-general Datuk Aedy Fadly Ramli (right). — GLENN GUAN/The Star
CYBERJAYA: New electric cars will now require standardised licence plates under a Transport Ministry pilot project to regulate the feature across the country.
Dubbed JPJePlate, the plates will have a white background and green colour code on its left side to indicate the vehicle’s electric status, and a Jalur Gemilang to identify it as a Malaysian vehicle.
Other unique features will include an embedded RFID chip for the payment of toll or parking, holographic stripes, anti-counterfeiting foil, QR code to act as a digital signature of the car, as well as anti-theft one-way screws.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the white background and holographic stripes will make an electric car more visible at night, reducing the likelihood of accidents, and also make the cars easily identifiable for proper safety protocols during emergencies.
“The plate’s anti-counterfeiting foil will also minimise the risk of theft and fraud while the RFID will be integrated as part of our planned Intelligent Transport System (ITS),” he said at the launch of the JPJePlate here yesterday.
The new licence plates will be available for order by car manufacturers and dealers at RM98 per set.
Loke said the new plates will not be made mandatory for existing electric car owners for the time being, adding that they can opt to place orders for the new JPJePlate from November.
He said that in line with the new plates, there will be an exclusive series of special registration numbers (NPI) that start with the letters “EV”, which electric car owners can start bidding for until 10pm on Friday.
“Earnings from these NPI will be channelled to the people’s initiatives such as the free helmet exchange programme and B2 licence training for the B40 group,” the minister added.
Loke said phase two will cover other electric vehicles like motorcycles, buses and lorries, adding that plans to introduce new licence plates for combustion engines are also in the works.
