PUTRAJAYA: The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) reflects the government’s commitment to more environmentally sustainable mobility, says Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

The Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister said the move will further encourage the public’s adoption of EVs.

“We can advise and advocate to encourage the people to use EVs but if we don’t take any action, the people will feel that we only know how to talk without action,” he said when launching a guideline for the government’s fleet of vehicles transition to EVs at his ministry here yesterday.

The document entailed technical guidelines for the transition of government fleet vehicles to EVs comprising several components which included planning, implementation, maintenance and transition evaluation.

“This guideline is also implemented under the Low Carbon Mobility Plan 2021-2030, which is aligned with the net zero goal by 2050,” he said.

According to the guidelines, the government aims to achieve at least 50% of its new vehicles to use EVs.

Also launched was a direct current fast charging station (DCFS) at the ministry’s complex, which was the first installed in government buildings in Putrajaya.

Nik Nazmi said that the transition of the government fleet of vehicles to EVs has started in stages.

“We will see that government-owned vehicles will be using EVs by next year,” he added.

Following the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that Proton’s e.MAS7 will become the official fleet of vehicles for the Asean 2025 Summit, Nik Nazmi said this will be the first time that the EV fleet is being used in the summit.

“However, depending on the needs of different levels of officials, there will also be other EV brands used during the summit,” said Nik Nazmi.

On Monday, Anwar announced that the use of e.MAS7 will also reflect the government’s commitment to supporting the joint venture between national car manufacturer Proton and Chinese automaker Geely.

On a separate issue, Nik Nazmi said that the ministry, through the Environment Department, is currently working on an enhancement policy for EV end-of-life management.

“We have an existing guideline under the Environment Department on how to manage scheduled waste.

“But we need to enhance it by coming up with something more focused on present-day needs such as solar panels and batteries,” he added.

He also said that there are already a few batches of hybrid cars and solar panels reaching end-of-life.

Source: The Star