IN September 2026, something pivotal happened to the Malaysian automotive landscape: the total number of battery electric vehicles cracked the 10 per cent mark, at least a year ahead of most optimistic predictions.
The writing was on the wall. Proton New Energy Technology, or Pro-Net - the subsidiary entrusted to explore the electrified market for the nation's oldest carmaker - reported achieving 20,000 total unit sales sometime in June.
Not three months later, they sent out invitations to the media to mark the 40,000th delivery of their e.Mas brand, a doubling that took a mere three months.
This was made possible by the staggering response of the buying public to the e.Mas 5 electric hatchback.
This cheerful little car has been regularly clearing 4,000 units every month for the past few months.
If you have no idea that there is a substantial chunk of LFP under the floor, you might think that Proton has just found another best-seller, regardless of motors or magnets.
And so, in September, BEV sales hit 11 per cent. For anyone watching the transition, it is almost certain that we have entered the inflection zone - that spot between 10 and 15 per cent where most technology starts to take root and rapidly begins to dominate the market.
If you had asked me three years ago when we would hit the inflection point, I would have carefully hazarded a guess that it would likely be in 2027, and if we stumbled a bit, it would be 2028, but definitely before 2030.
There is a rather obvious logic to the inflection point.
Just because something is a new technology, it doesn't mean that it will replace the old, because some technologies are not really useful.
These sorts of technologies linger on for a while and die; sometimes, their carcasses will encourage the growth of a much more useful successor.
Case in point: the electronic diary. When it came out in the early 1990s, it never really took off because writing in a paper diary or, if you were a yuppie, a Filofax, was certainly easier.
That died a slow death sometime in the late 1990s, leaving behind names like Apple's Newton, the PalmPilot, and Psion.
I was a cheapskate and bought an entry-level Casio digital diary.
This death coincided with developments in cellular radio transmission technology that gave us fantastic bandwidth and birthed the smartphone we carry today.
Well, the diary is a key component of the smartphone - just two rungs under some game and social media stuff - but you get the idea.
The digital diary never crossed the 10 percent mark, so it died.
The motorcar did, and it made horses unemployed. The telephone did, and fired all telegraph operators.
The washing machine crossed the Rubicon and made washing maidsobsolete.
Radio, television, aeroplanes, computers, and the internet all made it after crossing the turning point.
In fact, of all the things listed here, the motorcar took the longest to become a mass-market sensation, hitting the inflection point sometime in 1915 and only becoming the dominant form of personal transportation sometime in the 1960s.
It was slowed down by World War I and World War II.
This time around, the world has hit around 22 per cent TIV for fully electric vehicles.
If you combine that number with Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles, they form the majority of global vehicle sales, pushing ICE into the minority for the first time this September as well.
It's not a coincidence; it is the obvious trend. What this means is that the age of electric land transportation has come of age, and as with any idea whose time has come, no one can stop it.
From this month onwards, we will continue to monitor BEV and PHEV sales in Malaysia, and it would be odd to see the curve suddenly dip south.
Right now, we have 131,000 BEVs on the road. This likely means that nearly every other housing estate has one, spreading the virus locally.
While I am pleased that EV sales have exceeded even my lofty expectations, it is concerning that the charging network is trailing behind.
I am also concerned for the Malaysian automotive industry as a whole because we are, frankly, not prepared for this unexpected turn of events - not least when it comes to localising key components.
Although I have not had a chance to interrogate the successful people at Pro-Net, I am quite willing to bet that they don't have a plan on how to localise batteries, traction motors, or the Battery Management Software, never mind the rest.
One of the reasons why they are not ready is because they were not expecting this success.
How do I know this? Because Proton's EV factory was opened with a capacity of producing 20,000 cars a year, and they hit that number in three months.
I know that they are really struggling to wrap their heads around this because, when they launched the factory, they told us that they would double the capacity to 40,000 units by the end of 2026.
Well, even if they manage to increase capacity in record time this month, they are still going to be behind by about 30 per cent.
Realistically, they should upgrade their EV plant to 100,000 units so that they can handle growth for the next five years.
That's how unexpected this sudden rise in EV volume has been for everyone.
To be sure, the main concern is that almost all EVs sold in this country, regardless of badge, come from China, and they have a terrifying grip on the supply chain and battery technology with no real competition from Japan, Europe, or the United States.
We are fast coming up against a huge monopoly, and we need some strong and steady hands to steer this ship.
China has a habit of ramping up their presence in a way that seems rude because they do it so thoroughly.
Chinese brands don't just bring cars; when they do local assembly, they bring their own suppliers, their own dealerships, and sometimes even the people who work in the dealerships.
This leaves very little for the real local Malaysian players.
So yes, I am glad that EVs are taking off, but I am very concerned that we may not have a handle on this matter right now.
Tell me I'm wrong. Please
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