Environmental group: Stop greenwashing EVs, have efficiency-based tax, better public transport

RimbaWatch, the Malaysian environmental watchdog that tracks satellite images and other data on deforestation, wants the government and lobbyists of battery electric vehicles (EVs) to put an end to the greenwashing of EVs. Greenwashing is the act of making a public relations spin to a promote commercial product by riding on the climate change agenda. Typically, the product's positive impact on the environment is exagerrated, while downplaying the negatives. 

To be clear, RimbaWatch is not against EVs. In fact, RimbaWatch says it supports the expansion of EV ownership in Malaysia, but they also call on the government to prioritize improving access to public transport before pushing EVs.

“It is a fact that most EVs would, over their lifetime, reduce emissions per kilometer compared to regular vehicles, and that they would reduce exhaust pollution from vehicles themselves. However, EVs are not a silver bullet for climate change,” said the organization in a press statement to WapCar.my.

Carbon-reducing is OK, zero carbon is not

What the environment protection group is unhappy about is that lobbyists are co-opting the climate change agenda to sell more high-end private cars and costly EV charging services, often with the benefit of tax cuts from the government. These lobbyists present EVs as the be-all and end-all solution to achieving net-zero carbon personal mobility. As a private car charged by a carbon-heavy power grid, this message is simply a big lie.

“Tenaga Nasional’s energy mix is 59.2 percent coal and 34.34 percent gas, with the remainder 6.46 percent coming from other sources such as renewables. With an energy mix that is over 90 percent derived from fossil fuels, the carbon emission factor for Peninsular Malaysia’s electricity grid is 550g CO2 per kWh,” said RimbaWatch.

RimbaWatch says based on its own estimates, the carbon emission for a BYD Atto 3 and BMW iX1, when charged from a Peninsular Malaysia grid, is 86 g/km and 95 g/km respectively. For reference, a combustion engine Perodua Myvi is 100 g/km. 

“The above analysis does not take into account the higher emissions related to the manufacturing of an EV over a regular vehicle and their other associated environmental impacts,” it added.

Also read: Well done! To build more EV batteries, we will soon be mining the ocean floor for minerals

Malaysia's power grid is carbon-heavy, target for renewable energy is too low

RimbaWatch recognize TNB’s efforts to decarbonize our grid, but the group says TNB's roadmap for ramping up renewable energy is a very “unambitious target.” By 2035, TNB's target is to reduce carbon emission from its power generation by just 35 percent, and we won't achieve net zero carbon until 2050.

“Therefore, unless EVs are charged from an off-grid and fully renewable source (which is rarely the case in Malaysia’s context), while EVs reduce emissions, they do not eliminate them,” it adds.

If you are serious about going green, take the bus / train

To achieve meaningful results in decarbonizing Malaysia’s land transport sector, RimbaWatch hopes to see greater use of public transport.

“While EVs are a step in the right direction to decarbonise personal transport, it still doesn't address fundamental issues surrounding transportation, including road congestion and lack of public transport accessibility. Most of the discourse from the Malaysian government on climate action within the transport sector is on transitioning petrol vehicles to EVs, but we feel there is inadequate attention towards transitioning petrol vehicles to public transportation.

“For example, the government keeps allowing new townships on the far outskirts of cities to be built with zero public transport networks. Further, vast areas of the existing Klang Valley are inaccessible via public transport; and often a car has to be used to get to the train station, therefore defeating the purpose. The government should consider increasing the bus network, which should include smaller but very frequent minibus routes which will connect car-centric neighbourhoods to train stations, along with requiring all new developments to be accessible through public transport.

“It must be noted that while private cars provide freedom of movement, they do not provide freedom. Hundreds of thousands of Malaysians are needlessly tied to expensive loans to pay off, all due to the disease of extremely poor car-centric town planning which was so rampant from the ‘80s onwards. Policy makers should first and foremost address public transportation accessibility before adoption of EVs,” said RimbaWatch.

EVs should be taxed based on energy efficiency, same for regular cars

RimbaWatch’s demand to car companies and government policymakers promoting EVs are threefold:

1. Disclose the carbon emission per km for their EV products based on the carbon emission factor of Peninsular Malaysia’s electricity grid at a given time
2. Revise road tax structure (currently exempted for battery EVs) to one that is based on their energy consumption, and expand this revision to petrol and diesel vehicles, taxing their CO2 emissions per km. Funds from these taxes should be channeled specifically to improving public transport
3. Prioritize EV chargers that utilize energy from low-emissions sources, such as adoption of off-grid solar stations specifically to supply EV chargers

WapCar disagrees with RimbaWatch, but there are common middle grounds

As an automotive content site run by people who love cars, it would be odd for us to be anti-car, which some of these environmental groups are. We don't agree entirely with RimbaWatch’s stance.

For example, many EV owners in Malaysia have photovoltaic solar panels installed. Official numbers are hard to come by but off-grid solar-powered charging is not that rare, and the Malaysian Electric Vehicle Owners Club can certainly point to more than a handful of members doing it.

Also, the zero-carbon messaging used in marketing materials for EVs are based on the respective brand's global communication guidelines, which the local teams in Malaysia have no choice but to follow. Granted, it's not accurate but what's the alternative?

Malaysia's local authorities don't have an equivalent, standardized test for well-to-wheel emissions for battery electric vehicles. The only standardized test recognized is the United Nations' WLTP method, and to make it an internationally accepted standard, the UN needs to remove local variables like power generation source, because that would just make things too complicated.

However encouraging public transport is something that we can agree on with RimbaWatch.

If you love cars, you would love open roads, and if you love open roads, you need to be part of a movement that pushes for greater access to public transport. Just look at the traffic mess outside your office or your township today. Even interstate highways are clogged up during weekends. Where is the joy in owning a car?

We need to create an environment where people who don’t like cars but are forced to buy one just so they can get to work on time, can go car-free. They don't need to be tied down to car loans, to pay for cars they have little interest in, cars that they shouldn't need.

This way, the roads become less congested, and those of us who are stupid enough to love to spend money on cars, can enjoy our Toyota GR86 or Honda Civic Type R better. If we have to pay more to indulge in our selfish hobby, so be it, as long as the money spent clears the road.

When you no longer have to maintain a daily car that you feel indifferent about, you can afford to blow money on higher value cars for leisure - a more emotional weekend car for example. Since you no longer depend on it to get to work, you don't have to care about things like practicality or fuel economy. The whole industry then shifts to selling less low value econoboxes and more higher priced aspirational cars. The uptake of manual transmission cars also increase. Everybody wins.

Also, don't we all love driving along picturesque scenic roads, with overarching rain trees overlooking beautiful lakes? The water won't stay blue and the air won't stay clean if no effort is made to keep them that way. Else, all these green zones would be razed to build condominiums and office towers, in yet another real estate project with an 'eco' name on it (yet another example of greenwashing).

Regardless of whether you're in a Toyota GR86 or a Tesla Model Y, it’s stupid to sit in traffic going nowhere or circling for a parking.

Public transport must be improved in parallel with incentives to promote EVs.

On an unrelated note, RimbaWatch needs to raise RM 50,000 to take a palm oil company to court, contesting a plantation project that will clear forest from the Temoq Orang Asli tribe’s customary land. We may not agree fully with RimbaWatch, but they are the ones dedicating their time to protect the really green parts of Malaysia, and they are not riding on the climate change agenda to sell you some green product. We can respect them for that.