Malaysia’s Perodua unveils US$19,000 EV, battery not included

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysian automaker Perodua launched its first electric car on Monday (Dec 1), and will sell the vehicle separately from the battery to reduce upfront costs in a bid to appeal to middle-income earners. 

The QV-E, which stands for ‘Quest for Visionary Electric Vehicle,’ will be priced from US$19,350 before battery-leasing costs, the company said in a statement. 

The car will use a lithium iron phosphate battery offering up to 445 kilometres of range. The battery will be leased out to customers under a concept known as ‘battery as a service.’

“This concept is our solution toward reducing anxiety when owning a battery electric vehicle,” Chief executive officer Zainal Abidin Ahmad said. “By offering this service we will be able to offer a lifetime guarantee on the battery for our customers’ peace of mind.” 

The vehicle cost RM800 million (S$250.7 million) to develop and will be produced at Perodua’s newest manufacturing facility. Initial output will be 500 units a month, with an aim to increase production to 3,000 a month by the third quarter of 2026, Zainal said.

Perodua is the second Malaysian carmaker to unveil an EV. Proton, which is 49.9 per cent owned by China’s Geely Automobile Holdings, announced its own EV brand in June last year. Proton’s e.MAS 5 is the cheapest EV model in Malaysia, with a starting price of RM56,800.

SEE ALSO

Malaysia’s EV race accelerates as Proton moves up launch in booming market

EV penetration in Malaysia is growing, with registrations in the first 10 months of 2025 coming in at 40,679 vehicles, versus 28,048 for all of 2024. Malaysia aims for electric cars to make up 15 per cent of total sales by 2030 to help it achieve its ambition of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

The company is working with domestic vendors to localise the EV’s components to more than 50 per cent by early 2026 and to 70 per cent by 2030.

Perodua, formally known as Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua, is 38 per cent owned by UMW Holdings, a unit of Sime Darby. Daihatsu Motor has a 25 per cent stake in the carmaker while Mitsui owns a 7 per cent interest. BLOOMBERG