KUCHING: More policies need to be established to encourage the use of electric vehicles, says Dr Hazland Abang Hipni.
The Deputy Energy and Environmental Sustainability Minister stated that the government, especially the federal government, should look at the implementation of policies that could cultivate the public’s interest in using electric vehicles.
Using Norway as an example, he pointed out that 75 per cent of the vehicles used by the people there were electric vehicles.
“This growing interest of the community there started when the Tesla company sold their vehicles there.
“On top of that, the Norwegian government exempted the sales tax on electric vehicles and the provision of discounts for income tax for anyone who owns such vehicles had further increased the number of people buying such vehicles.”
He said this during the question-and-answer (Q&A) session during the International Digital Economy Conference Sarawak (IDECS) at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) today.
Following this, he added that relevant policies also needed to be studied to enhance the interest of the public to use environmentally friendly electric vehicles.
“However, as of now, it is difficult to garner their interest as the cost of these electric vehicles is still high,” he explained.
