Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) will invest RM 90 million over a two-year period to build more direct charging (DC) electric vehicle charging stations in the country, as shared in a Bernama report.
“We are targeting to build seven more DC stations in Malaysia by the end of this year along the North-South Highway (PLUS).
“Insyaallah, by year-end TNB will have 10 DC EV chargers throughout the highway,” he told the daily after a panel discussion at yesterday’s EV Conference 2023 held in Kuala Lumpur.
TNB’s programme director of the project management office for EVs, Mohd Junaizee Mohd Noor, said that the company had already set up three charging stations at the Ayer Keroh, Tapah, and Paka Rest and Service (R&R) areas.
Those three charging stations refer to TNB Electron, which are equipped with a dual-gun 180 kW DC charger that can supply 90 kW output for two EVs to charge simultaneously.
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Not just highways, mind; he said that TNB is in the discussion stages to build DC stations along trunk roads too, in line with the electricity provider’s commitment to increasing customer confidence for long distance travels using EVs.
“With these DC stations we want to reduce range anxiety and at the same time encourage the use of EV in the future,” he said.
Junaizee, however mentioned that there are some constraints faced by TNB and providers of EV charging services in Malaysia. Of those, he mentioned that the challenges come from the approval needed from local authorities (PBT) for the different types of charging stations.
“Every PBT has its own regulations and these should be streamlined soon to ensure this problem can be resolved. I hope with nationwide coordination, the period for approval from PBT can be shortened to two months at least,” he added.
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Other factors they face include the lack of spaces and places to install charging stations. To get around this, TNB is open to cooperating with local companies that are keen to provide the place, while TNB channels electricity supply.
As it stands, Malaysia has 900 EV chargers, according to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).