Perodua has released a teaser of its first ever EV, and in the video, the car’s front end is shown for a split second. Our rendering whiz cum auto detective Theophilus Chin froze the frame you see above and brightened it to show the car’s number plate, which reads ‘QV-E’, confirming the name we’ve been using all this while to address the P2 EV.
“Electric mobility for all. It began as just a dream. But with local hearts and hands, that dream became real – the first 100% Malaysian EV. Not just built here, but built with vision, a vision to power an ecosystem, jobs, talent, technology. Making EVs more affordable, and sustainability more real. Because when we build from home, we build a future for everyone,” the narrator reads.
The video ends with the line “from the hands of Malaysians comes the power to move Malaysia”. Is this a not-so-subtle dig at Proton, which eMas EVs are rebadged Geely models that are CBU imported from China? Only P2 would know… Anyway, the QV-E, branded as an ‘important national agenda’ by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, will be launched by the PM at the end of this month.
Malaysia’s first homegrown EV is designed and developed in-house by Perodua and the company’s president and CEO Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Ahmad told us that P2 holds the (IP) intellectual property for the EV’s design and platform. Yes, platform too – Perodua’s first electric car will use CATL-supplied LFP batteries, but that’s the extent of the Chinese battery giant’s involvement – no CATL skateboard.
We got up close with the QV-E cross section at the recent GATE 2025 show and saw that the battery capacity is 52.5 kWh. We’ve been told to expect real-world range of between 400 to 410 km. If true, this is usefully more than the eMas 5’s range and rivals the eMas 7, which maxes out at 410 km WLTP. Perodua’s performance targets for its EV – 0-100 km/h between six and seven seconds, and a top speed of around 160 km/h – are also streets ahead of the just-launched eMas 5, which is quoted with 0-50 km/h figures instead.
Price wise, the Perodua QV-E will not undercut the eMas 5 (RM57k to RM70k with early bird rebates) – expect it to be around the RM80k mark. However, one brave and novel feature is the ‘guaranteed future value’ scheme that Zainal previously mentioned – GFV, used by premium makes such as Mercedes-Benz, will shield buyers from the steep depreciation of EVs. Also not offered by any other EV seller in Malaysia now is P2’s battery leasing scheme.
The point of having a homegrown electric car is also to build up a local ecosystem for EVs, and Perodua is targeting around 50% local content for its EV by the middle of 2026, which is an admirable goal. This most probably won’t include key components such as the battery and electric motor – which will come from China – but there are plans to localise these too. However, sufficient volume is needed before this makes business sense.
Read all about Perodua’s first EV here, and find out more about the recently-launched P-Circle app that its owners will use, as well as the wallbox home charger which has a CCTV camera, ambient lighting and a touchscreen control panel.
Hang on, it’s just around the corner now!
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