KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 30): The government is developing a national standard on battery swapping across electric vehicles, which is expected to be completed and gazetted next year, said Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Liew Chin Tong.

Efforts are also underway to standardise the technology among industry players to allow cross-platform application, which will see the formation of a consortium to realise the goal of standardising battery storage system technology, Liew told Dewan Rakyat.

The standard, he said, takes into account existing standards used internationally, including by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the United Nations Regulation (UNR).

“The development of the standard involves active participation of multiple government agencies including the Road Transport Department (JPJ), Malaysian Institute of Automotive, Robotices and Internet of Things (MARii), and industry players particularly electric bike suppliers and higher learning institutions,” he said.

On the technology standardisation, Liew said the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) has initiated talks with the Motorcycle and Scooter Assemblers and Distributors Association of Malaysia (MASAAM), as well as renowned players such as RydEV and Mo Batteries.

“For information, Oyika has officially entered the Malaysian market through RydEV, which is an entity under Yinson Greentech (a unit of Yinson Holdings Bhd),” he said.

Liew was responding to Lee Chean Chung (PH-Petaling Jaya) who wanted to find out Malaysia’s medium-term plan to develop the electric bike battery swapping technology.

Lee also asked whether the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) was exploring strategic collaboration with Oyika from Singapore and Gegoro from Taiwan to develop a sustainable battery swapping industry ecosystem.

The government is taking steps to increase penetration of electric bike adoption in Malaysia, which reportedly has the fourth highest number of motorcycle users globally.

This includes a rebate of up to RM2,400 for purchases of electric bikes, as announced in Budget 2024.

For more Parliament stories, click here.