Malaysia Has Strong Potential To Become Regional Traning Hub For Electric Vehicles

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has the potential to become a regional training hub for electric vehicles, said UK-based Institute of Motor Industry (IMI). "Malaysia definitely has a strong potential to become the main regional training hub for electric vehicles as we see it as being ahead of others in the region in the area of electric vehicle adoption," he said. Nash said this at the institute's conference, themed 'Upskilling to Meet Industry's Needs'. The conference discusses the changing environment of the car sector currently and the needs for car companies to enhance human capital management to meet the more sophisticated technology and needs of customers. Nash said to cater to the growing demand for electric and hybrid cars, IMI was calling on car industry's players to emphasise on training on energy-efficient vehicles (EEVs). "We have always expected demand for electric or hybrid vehicles to rise as they become more sophisticated over time and with the growing public awareness for alternative-fuelled vehicles," he said. He said IMI has been working closely with the Malaysian government since early last year to provide training support across a network of community colleges, emphasising on electric and hybrid vehicles, in line with the aim of making the nation a regional EEV hub. "The Kepala Batas Community College's Centre for Hybrid and Electric Vehicle in Malaysia's northern state Penang and Pekan Community College in Pahang (in peninsular Malaysia) are among the IMI-approved centres which had started the process to equip technicians with new EEV skills since last year," he said. Currently, he said, there were 264 EEV-trained technicians in Malaysia. He said as the electric vehicle sector matured, more technicians with EEV knowledge were needed as it entailed working on high-volatge electrical systems of such cars and unqualified staff attempting to work on these vehicles would face potentially fatal consequences. --BERNAMA