When it comes to car ownership, the first thing that comes to our mind will be the cost of ownership of the car. And of course, this includes yearly insurance and road tax renewal. Especially for higher engine capacity cars, the road tax itself would be considerably higher than your average Myvi.
Unlike the normal ICE (internal combustion engine) cars that have engine capacity (cc) 1.3, 1.5, 2.0 to determine their road tax price, EV cars do not have an engine! So how does the road tax is being charged?
Motor Kilowatt Output For Road Tax Calculation
As you are aware that EV cars do not have an engine, the road tax calculation would be based on the car’s motor kiloWatt (kW) output. Higher kilowatt output would give your car a higher power. To put it into perspective, if we are using horsepower as a common measurement for ICE cars, for EV it is kiloWatt.
Let’s start the calculation for a ‘saloon’ car (sedan, hatchback, coupe, wagon, convertible), for your own personal use. The road tax rate is as follows :
Fixed Rate (cars under 80kW)
- Under 50kW : RM20
- 50kW – 60kW : RM44
- 60kW – 70kW : RM56
- 70kW – 80kW : RM72
The calculation is quite fair and simple for cars under 80kW output. However, for cars above the 80kW output, a progressive rate is imposed to the car road tax’s calculation.
Progressive Rate (cars over 80kW)
- 80kW – 90kW : RM160 (base rate) + RM0.32 (progressive rate)
- 90kW – 100kW : RM224 (base rate) + RM0.25 (progressive rate)
- 100kW – 125kW : RM274 (base rate) + RM0.50 (progressive rate)
- 125kW – 150kW : RM524 (base rate) + RM1.00 (progressive rate)
- Over 150kW : RM1,024 (base rate) + RM1.35 (progressive rate)
The progressive rate is being calculated per 0.05kW from the base output. Let’s do an example to get better clarity on how does the calculation works.
EV Car Roadtax Calculation Example
Let’s say you decided to buy a Nissan Leaf as your first EV here in Malaysia.
Car: Nissan Leaf
Power output: 110kW
So this puts your car into the 100kW – 125kW bracket for the road tax.
First 100kW : RM274 (base rate)
Remaining 10kW : RM0.50 (progressive rate) x 200 = RM100
Total road tax : RM374
Do note that recently in Malaysia’s Budget 2022, the government has announced that there will be tax-free incentives for EV cars, inclusive of road tax! This may be the right time for you to jump onto the EV bandwagon.
Since you are already here, let’s look into the cost of road tax for some of the EV car model that is available in Malaysia (as of November 2021) (pre-road tax incentive).
Is EV Road Tax Cheaper Than A Combustion Engine Car in Malaysia?
The only way for us to measure this is by converting the kiloWatt value into horsepower. Let’s try the calculation with the Nissan Leaf.
1 horsepower (hp) = 0.7457 watt
Nissan Leaf’s Horsepower = 147 hp
Nissan Leaf’s Roadtax = RM374
So for a combustion engine car’s road tax cost, that has a similar horsepower with Nissan Leaf are :
Proton X50 (150 hp) = RM120
Audi A3 (150 hp) = RM70
Volkswagen Golf (150 hp) = RM70
So comparison in horsepower wise, the cost of road tax for EV is more expensive than a combustion engine car! But again, do note that EV cars will be exempted from road tax for 2022-2025 under the recent budget incentive announcement.