April 6, 2026
KUALA LUMPUR – Freelance writer Halim Surin had been casually eyeing electric vehicles (EVs) for months.
Then diesel prices hit RM6.02 (S$1.92) a litre – nearly doubling in a single month – and his curiosity about EVs became something closer to an urgent need to switch to one.
“As much as fuel is subsidised in Malaysia, I can’t help but worry that it could change swiftly, like what happened with diesel, going from RM3 to RM6 in just a month,” Mr Halim told The Straits Times.
Petrol and diesel prices have lurched upwards week by week since March.
The US-Iran war has sent shockwaves through global oil markets, with the International Energy Agency calling it the “largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market”.
Malaysians are now facing a decision they can no longer afford, literally, to postpone: Is now the time to go electric?
Based on typical fuel consumption figures for 100km of travel, an electric car consumes 15 kilowatt-hours of energy, a petrol car uses 7.7 litres of fuel and a diesel vehicle 6 litres.
The difference in costs for the vehicles is stark.
Home charging for EVs cuts running costs by roughly half, compared with subsidised RON95.
The gap widens dramatically against unsubsidised RON95 fuel or diesel.
Petrol car on subsidised RON95 (RM1.99/litre): About RM15.30 per 100km
Petrol car on unsubsidised RON95 (RM3.87/litre): About RM29.80/100km
Diesel car (RM6.02/litre): About RM36.10/100km
EV (home charging): About RM7.65/100km
EV (public charger): About RM15/100km, roughly on a par with subsidised petrol
Add rooftop solar power and costs drop even further.
“If you have access to a home charger, the cost of running an EV is 50 per cent cheaper than using subsidised RON95,” said Mr Alexander Wong, managing editor of Malaysian tech news site SoyaCincau, which covers the local EV industry.
“It makes even more sense to switch to an EV for home owners with solar on their roof.”
Malaysia’s Energy Commission has warned that power tariffs will rise amid higher coal and gas prices.
The automatic fuel adjustment (AFA), introduced in July 2025, provides monthly adjustments to tariffs based on fuel costs and exchange rates.
Utility giant Tenaga Nasional said in a post on X on March 31 that the AFA for April has been set at a rebate of 0.47 Malaysian cents per kWh, compared with 2.15 Malaysian cents per kWh in March, causing tariffs to be higher.
But Datuk Shahrol Halmi, president of the Malaysian Electric Vehicle Owners Club, argued that any tariff increase will be much more gradual than petrol or diesel price increases. “In general, our members spend about half as much as they would on petrol,” he told ST.
On April 1, the Energy Commission said that the adjustment for higher fuel prices will be gradual under existing mechanisms and that more than eight out of 10 household users will not be affected for now.
Still, Mr Shahrol cautioned that public charging will remain pricier than home charging due to higher regulatory compliance costs for such facilities.
Here is how to assess your situation, according to Mr Wong and Mr Shahrol:
Do you live in landed property? Home charging is the decisive advantage – cheap overnight top-ups are the “secret sauce” for more economical EV ownership.
Do you rely on public charging or live in a high-rise? The economics are murkier, and the availability of highway charging infrastructure remains uneven. During peak travel periods, EV drivers have found themselves waiting at crowded charging points.
Is your current car relatively new? If so, it may still be worth waiting to see where fuel subsidy policy lands before switching to electric.
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