Earlier this week, prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri invited Tesla to look at Malaysia as a production hub for its EVs. While it remains to be seen if anything will actually come out of this, the American carmaker has indicated it is open to looking at having an official presence here, albeit not on a vehicular-related level.
The angle being pursued is that of infrastructure development, according to Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) CEO Arham Abdul Rahman. In a tweet, he said he met Hasan Nazar, Tesla’s head of federal policy, in Washington to get a better idea of the company’s perspective and plans for expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.
Reportedly, the company’s immediate interest is to set up fast charging stations in Malaysia, and it was willing to discuss further on this matter, Arham said in his tweet. He added that this is “in line with the market entry strategy as fast charging has been an area of concern within the EV ecosystem.”
The establishment of a Supercharger network would not just increase the number of DC fast charging points in the country, but also extend Tesla’s ability to provide its users in Singapore, where it is officially present, with access to rapid charging beyond the island republic. Users will of course have to pay for charging from the network, should it make its way here.
Superchargers are available in Singapore, with the first V3 units – with CCS connectors – being installed last year. Capable of providing up to 250 kW of power, the unit slashes the average charging time down to just 15 minutes. At present, Tesla’s charging network consists of over 25,000 chargers at more than 2,700 locations around the world.
Source: paultan.org