• For public charging, the proposed guidelines recommend having EV chargers at parking areas at ground level.
  • As for EV chargers in condos, the proposed guidelines stated that they can only be built at visitor parking areas for easy access by the fire and rescue department -- chargers at individual parking lots should not be allowed.

KUALA LUMPUR (March 24): The Ministry of Local Government Development (KPKT)’s still being developed guidelines for electric vehicles (EV) charger parking in the country has come under scrutiny by a website owing to two issues.

According to the automotive portal paultan.org, a draft of the guidelines published on Malaysia Productivity Corp’s Unified Public Consultation website for public feedback reveals that EV charging parking lots in (1) basement parking and in (2) individual parking lots in strata unit parking should not be allowed.

For public charging, the proposed guidelines recommend having EV chargers at parking areas at ground level.

As for EV chargers in condos, the proposed guidelines stated that they can only be built at visitor parking areas for easy access by the fire and rescue department -- chargers at individual parking lots should not be allowed.

“Both appear to be driven by requirements by the fire and rescue department for access of firefighting vehicles to the EV charger parking due to fears of electric car fires occurring during charging,” stated paultan.org.

“So this raises questions on what’s going to happen to chargers like Gentari’s Suria KLCC chargers. It appears the only non-ground level charging in malls that will be allowed are open air rooftop levels.

“For strata property chargers, this will cause a big issue with condo dwellers,” added paultan.org.

Read also
Heavier weight of electric vehicles could cause car parks to collapse, says UK report

In a report by the Daily Mail last year, the British Parking Association (BPA) stated that multi-storey and underground car parks in the UK could collapse with the increasing weight and greater popularity of EVs.

The report stated that electric cars are about twice as heavy as standard vehicles and they could in future damage car parks.

“If a vehicle is heavier than the car park was originally designed for, the effects could be catastrophic. We’ve not had an incident yet, but I suspect it is only a matter of time.

“We have recommended that a loading check is performed on all older car parks. And the industry is responding,” structural engineer and a member of the BPA, Chris Whapples told the daily.

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