TENAGA Nasional Bhd (TNB) is committed to driving the agenda for wider electric vehicles (EVs) adoption in the country, through collaborations and partnerships, and facilitating discourse for encouraging policies. 

As a primary driver of the nation’s energy transition, the power utility aims to lead the development of a conducive ecosystem for a wider EV adoption in Malaysia. 

“TNB’s role is more towards ensuring the EV charging infrastructure is enough to cater for the needs of EV users. 

“This includes ensuring the grid is robust and ready to accept the new loads from charging EVs,” TNB told The Malaysian Reserve by email. 
 

Nevertheless, TNB said it will not be involved in the supply of EV business as it is not a manufacturer, assembler or importer of EV. 

The group’s main and only focus is on the EV charging infrastructure business in Malaysia. 

“We have plans on setting up more EV charging stations in Malaysia. TNB has a subsidiary company, Tenaga E-Mobility Solutions Sdn Bhd, that will instal and expand TNB’s EV charging network all over Malaysia,” the group noted. 

TNB recently entered into a strategic partnership with the Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii) to create a platform that addresses the challenges related to the usage of EVs as a whole, in line with the country’s energy transition. 

The collaboration between the utility giant and the main agency of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, based on the joint development of the EV ecosystem, enables the implementation of mobility as a service and related initiatives in the automotive market in Malaysia. 

TNB president and CEO Datuk Ir Baharin Din stated that in an effort to move towards low carbon mobility in line with the country’s energy transition, the group has taken clear steps to explore the field of electric mobility which focuses on green energy, including providing EV infrastructure. 

“All these efforts will increase the impact of environmentally friendly development and global wellbeing with priority on the environmental, social and governance aspect which is TNB’s agenda,” he noted in a statement. 

Both parties signed a memorandum of understanding which, among others, enabled TNB and MARii to set up an EV Interoperability Centre in Cyberjaya which is included in the energy distribution and grid network, to establish guidelines for the expansion of EV use nationwide. 

The collaboration with MARii is still at the initial stage and the detailed scope of work and expenditure is still being worked out between both parties. 

TNB recently announced it is expanding access to high-speed broadband (HSBB) Internet access with its fibre-optic infrastructure. 

Under the first phase of Pelan Jalinan Digital Negara (Jendela) in 2021, TNB’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Allo Technology Sdn Bhd, successfully fiberised 175,000 premises in urban and suburban areas in Melaka, Perak, Kedah, Penang, Johor, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur (KL). 

“Some of these locations cover rural areas which require additional investment and may require the government’s support for further implementation. 

“The fibre broadband has substantially changed the life of the rakyat who also benefitted in terms of online classes and opportunities for online business,” it noted. 

TNB said fixed broadband via fibre-optic cable is the future-proof technology that offers the fastest, most reliable Internet service available. 

It explained that its fibre broadband service provides high-speed Internet connectivity to various media types and faster download or upload of larger file sizes (in gigabit speed). 

When it comes to business communications, it said the fibre Internet service ensures higher connection speeds for multiple users with better throughput and latency which is unrivalled by any mobile/wireless communication mode. 

“Fibre communication enables high-speed connectivity between mobile towers and mobile base stations, and it serves as an unlimited highway interconnection that delivers HSBB over mobile communication’s last-mile connection to customers. 

“This “fibre highway” configuration is important for the implementation of 4G network and even more crucial for 5G as it ensures the expected speed and latency can be achieved,” the company explained. 

At present, its fibre broadband service offers some service level agreement to customers whereas mobile services are based on best efforts by the service providers.