EV charging in Malaysia ranked 2nd cheapest in the world, research suggests

Electric vehicle (EV) adoption in Malaysia is ramping up rather significantly in recent years as more marques launching battery EVs in the market. While a lot of Malaysians still can't afford an EV, those who can and wish to own one may still want to consider EV's charging cost before making the move to transition from internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.

An Australian research body, Compare the Market, recently published their finding and it says Malaysia ranks second among 50 countries around the world as the cheapest places to charge an EV.

According to the research data, charging an EV in Malaysia cost a mere AUD 0.97 (RM 2.90) for 100 km of driving. Our country is second to Argentina with AUD 0.70 (RM 2.10) per 100 km, while India comes in third place with AUD 1.43 (RM 4.28) per 100 km.

Other Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand join in the Top 15 list of the cheapest countries to charge an EV. Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, Denmark and Italy tied for the most expensive countries to charge an EV – a whopping AUD 11.26 (RM 33.72) for a 100-km drive.

The model used for this study is the outgoing Hyundai Kona petrol and Kona Electric Standard Range. The research’s methodology involved ranking the 50 countries based on their electricity and petrol prices. The cost for refueling/recharging the cars is calculated based on this dataset.

Compare the Market also found that our petrol is rated the cheapest among the other countries selected for this study.

It’s important to remember that both our petrol and electricity is subsidised by the government and these calculations are made based on the most recent publicly available statistics for both petrol and electricity price (September 2022).

According to the research, a full charge for the Kona Electric will costs AUD 2.95 (RM 8.83), while a full tank of petrol for the regular Kona will set you back AUD 33.81 (RM 101.24).

To recap, Hyundai Kona Electric is powered by a 39.2 kWh battery and provides a driving range of 305 km (WLTP). Kona Petrol on the other hand is fitted with a naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre engine with an estimated range of 806 km (based on the researcher’s calculation from the listed fuel consumption data).