Malaysia Begins Preliminary Section of Electrical Bus Re-fleeting, Focusing on 1,100 Models by 2030

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Over a thousand electrical buses might be launched to Malaysia’s highway community, beginning with the capital Kuala Lumpur, because the nation’s long-stalled push to decarbonize public transport is lastly breaking out of pilot mode.

In a report by the Malaysian Transport Ministry, Prasarana Malaysia Berhad, the nation’s dominant public transport operator has introduced plans to obtain greater than 1,100 electrical buses nationwide between this 12 months and 2030 — a transfer that ranks amongst Southeast Asia’s largest electrical bus rollouts to this point and alerts a decisive shift away from diesel.

The procurement kinds a part of Prasarana’s Sustainability Blueprint and aligns with Malaysia’s Nationwide Power Transition Roadmap (NETR), which targets deep emissions cuts alongside accelerated transport electrification. Prasarana is aiming for a forty five% discount in operational carbon emissions by 2030, pushed by fleet electrification, renewable power deployment, and energy-efficiency upgrades throughout its community.

Most notably, the plan places a sundown on diesel bus purchases. Prasarana will procure 310 diesel buses as its closing inner combustion acquisition, with deliveries concluding by March 2026, earlier than transitioning absolutely towards electrical buses by 2037. Whereas that timeline would look cautious in Europe or China, it marks a cloth inflection level in a area the place diesel buses nonetheless dominate city transport.

Electrical buses are already working, albeit at restricted scale. Prasarana presently runs 15 electrical buses on the BRT Sunway line, and the upcoming LRT Shah Alam Line (LRT3) might be supported by 150 electrical feeder buses. The brand new procurement plan makes clear that these deployments are not symbolic demonstrations, however early constructing blocks for system-wide electrification.

By way of its subsidiary Fast Bus Sdn Bhd, Prasarana plans to obtain as much as 1,600 electrical buses between 2026 and 2031, changing ageing diesel fleets throughout the Klang Valley and Penang. Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook has positioned this system as a core pillar of Malaysia’s public transport modernization technique, explicitly linking local weather targets with service reliability and concrete livability.

The buses might be provided by BYD, though there may be discuss {that a} wider vary of electrical bus manufacturers could also be procured within the 4 years of the re-fleeting program, which commenced final 12 months.

The primary part will see 250 electrical buses delivered between March 2026 and March 2027. Of those, 175 items might be deployed beneath Fast KL within the Klang Valley, whereas 75 buses will serve Fast Penang, with operations anticipated to start in Might 2026.

Penang, specifically, highlights why electrification is changing into unavoidable. Fast Penang presently operates about 310 buses, a lot of them greater than a decade outdated. The operator has begun its closing diesel renewal this 12 months (70 new diesel buses) after which all subsequent fleet replacements will shift to electrical automobiles. By 2027, Penang alone is anticipated to deploy as much as 240 electrical buses throughout two procurement phases.

As in most rising electrical bus markets, value stays a constraint. In line with Loke, electrical buses presently value between RM1.2 million (~$295,920) and RM1.5 million (~$369,900) per unit — almost double the worth of diesel alternate options. Whereas the overall program price range has not been disclosed, the federal government has indicated that procurement selections will emphasize lifecycle worth fairly than upfront value, a vital distinction given the decrease gasoline and upkeep prices of electrical buses over time.

Electrifying the fleet is simply a part of the technique. Prasarana can be scaling up renewable power integration throughout its infrastructure. Photo voltaic installations started in 2023 on the BRT Sunway station and 6 different places, with plans to increase photo voltaic deployment to roughly 75 rail and bus depots, stations, and transport hubs nationwide over the subsequent three years. Pairing electrical transport with cleaner energy addresses a standard weak spot in international electrification efforts.

The sustainability push extends past automobiles. Deliberate investments embody improved pedestrian walkways, extra accessible bus stops, and upgraded transport hubs, reinforcing the precept that decarbonization works finest when paired with higher-quality, people-centered city design.

Prasarana can be increasing its Fast Penang On-Demand service, which presently operates 50 vans statewide. Following a request from the Penang authorities, the operator plans to obtain an extra 170 vans, with the procurement course of anticipated to start within the second half of 2026. Whereas not electrical but, on-demand companies play a supporting function in decreasing non-public automobile dependence when built-in with high-capacity, low-emissions transit.

Taken collectively, these initiatives place Malaysia on a reputable — if measured — path towards lower-emissions city mobility. The timeline could not fulfill probably the most aggressive local weather advocates, however the course is unmistakable: diesel is being phased out, and electrical buses have gotten the spine of public transport in Malaysia’s largest cities. In a Southeast Asian area the place transport emissions are nonetheless rising, that shift carries actual weight.