Electric cars to hit the roads by June

KOTA BARU: Electric cars will be hitting the roads by June after legal standardisation of the vehicles is completed.

Road Transport Department (JPJ) director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan said the Transport Min-istry was drawing up laws to enable 10 appointed companies to start producing the cars.

“We are now in the final stage of formulating the laws on the use of such cars on Malaysian roads according to the United Nations Economic Commissions for Africa standards pertaining to electric cars.

“We first have to get down to basics, where car manufacturers must meet specifications formulated like the type of battery, maximum speed and the braking system,” he said yesterday after opening the Malaysian Driving Institute Association annual general meeting and dialogue session.

Solah also said Parliament passed an amendment to the Road Transport Act 1987 last year to accommodate the electric cars in the Act, whereby only the chassis numbers of the electric cars need to be registered at JPJ.

He also said the ministry was working out other details on how to convert electric power to horsepower and the amount of road tax.

Earlier in his speech, Solah said the department needed the cooperation of driving institutes to self-regulate when handling new driving students.

He said the move will help create competition among the institutes to produce competent new drivers.