The history background of Electric Vehicle (E.V)
When hearing the word “Electric Car”, the first thing that may have come to your mind is Tesla. The word “Tesla” is taken from the name of a Serbian American inventor and engineer, Nikola Tesla. He was the one who made dozens of breakthroughs in electric power generation, transmission, and application. But have you ever wondered how these electric cars were invented? Because of the word “electric”, some may assume that these types of cars were invented in the modern days where technology started to get more and more advanced. However, this may surprise you, but the truth is the electric vehicle (E.V) car has been introduces in the past 100 years ago. It is quite difficult to figure the invention of electric car to one inventor or country. It is assumed that the invention begins with a series of breakthroughs from the battery to the electric motor. Then, in the 1800s, the breakthroughs led to the first electric vehicle to be released on the road.
In the early century, inventors from Hungary, United States, Netherlands began researching with the concept of battery-powered vehicle. From there, they managed to create some of the first small-scale electric cars. In the second half of the 19th century, the French and English inventors have also built some of the first practical electric cars.
Nowadays, electric cars are gaining popularity for the many of the same reasons they were when they originally became popular. Electric drive car demand will continue to rise as prices fall and buyers look for methods to save money at the pump, whether it's a hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or all-electric vehicle.
5 Main E.V Cars Manufacturers
There are a lot of companies that started to get involve with the E.V Cars as it is the alternative to replace the petrol-based cars.
1) Tesla Inc.
Tesla is the most popular brand when it comes to producing electric cars. Tesla Inc. is a renewable energy and electric car firm headquartered in Austin, Texas, United States. It is widely known that Tesla is one of the most valuable corporations in the world, and it is still the most valued automaker, with a market capitalization of about $1 trillion.
2) Mord Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford is a well-known American automaker that produces everything from pickup trucks to plug-in hybrids and sells them all over the world. The Ford Focus Electric is their most popular electric vehicle. The Focus Electric is an electric version of the iconic Ford Focus. It's a cheap EV with all the looks and feel of a regular car, but with a battery that can go over 100 miles on a single charge.
3) Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational vehicle manufacturer located in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. Nissan has sold the most electric vehicles of any company in the world. The Nissan Leaf is the company's most popular electric vehicle. The Leaf, the world's most popular electric vehicle, provides all of the advantages of driving an electric vehicle while remaining affordable.
4) Kia Corporation
Kia is a South Korean automobile manufacturer that has established itself as a cost-effective and dependable alternative to Toyota and Honda. The Kia Soul EV is their best-selling electric vehicle. The Soul EV, like the Focus Electric, has the same appearance and feel of the non-electric Soul, but with a 100-mile electric battery under the hood.
5) Volkswagen
Volkswagen, well known for the VW Beetle, now offers the Volkswagen e-Golf, a cheap and reliable electric vehicle. The e-Golf is another reasonably priced EV with a battery range of roughly 80 miles per charge and a familiar Volkswagen interior.
How Malaysia planning for E.V car?
The Malaysian government recently declared in its 2022 national budget that electric vehicles will be totally exempt from import charge, excise duty, and all taxes, in an effort to encourage consumers to switch to electric vehicles. However, the price of the electric cars should be affordable by average users along with the infrastructure like providing charging stations in gas station for the E.V cars. The reason is mostly because the elected cars need to be charged after travelling 200km to 300km, a substantially shorter distance than comparable-sized gasoline cars. Moreover, unlike pumping that took only 5 minutes, it takes an hour of more to charge an electric car.
In Malaysia, there are approximately 500 public AC charging stations and just nine public DC fast-charging stations for electric vehicles, with another ten under construction. Thus, this makes the country fall behind its regional peers when it comes to AC charging stations and DC fast-charging stations. The Malaysia Automotive Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii) and the Malay Vehicle Importers and Traders Association of Malaysia (PEKEMA) have agreed to collaborate on the creation of additional electric vehicle infrastructure in Malaysia. By 2025, the two parties want to work together to build a network of 1,000 DC rapid charging stations across Malaysia. They will also collaborate on connected parts of the charging ecosystem, including as e-payment, charger locators, battery management systems, and service centre networks. Therefore, the plan will be carried out in hope to convince citizens in Malaysia to switch from petrol-based cars to electric cars in order to save our environment from pollution and fight climate change.
Future for EV Cars in Malaysia
It is not possible that our country can also become like other developed countries that are more advance in terms of technology. It will only take a matter of time until the infrastructure for the electric cars to be prepared such as parking and charging stations. Aside from that, citizens must also be encouraged to switch to electric cars, and this may involve with pricing and practicality factory. Electric cars should be affordable and practical enough to use in Malaysia. However, without awareness about the importance of these cars, there is no way citizens will adapt to use electric cars in the country. Campaign should be widely organized to educate people on how the electric cars can save the environment. To conclude, the government should figure out the way to make electric cars become widely used in the country and follow the great examples of other developed countries like United States, Japan and so on.
