In an effort to save energy and reduce air pollution, hybrid and electric vehicles have been introduced and are slowly proliferating our roads. However, a majority of Malaysians are still using traditional gasoline fueled vehicles – which is bad for the environment as it emits carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere.
That being said, the government is now trying to encourage the use of vehicles using green technology by reducing the road tax for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 50 per cent. That’s quite a big reduction!
“The Ministry has also set up a special body named “Vehicle Type Approval” which is to identify and approve green technology vehicles especially lorries and buses, to reduce the use of CO2-emitting vehicles,” said Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Kamaruddin Jaffar.
This was in response to Senator Yaakob Sapari’s question about what initiatives the government plans to implement to encourage the use of green technology vehicles, according to Malay Mail.
Replying another question by Senator Datuk Seri Khairuddin Samad about the number of vehicles registered with the Transport Ministry, he said that a total of 5,403 electric cars and 46,981 plug-in hybrid vehicles were registered as of 31 March 2019.
“Of the total, Selangor recorded the highest number of registered electric cars at 2,791, while Federal Territory recorded the highest number of hybrid cars at 25,360,” he said.
Switching to electric cars sounds like a good idea, don’t you think? You’ll get a 50 per cent tax reduction, plus you’ll be helping the environment!
Also read: 9 Thrifty Malaysian Habits You Probably Didn’t Know Are Actually Helping the Environment