The Malaysian government has said it will phase out the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) for vehicles and end the sale of such vehicles in the country.
Transport minister, Loke Siew Fook announced several measures aimed at phasing out the use of CNG for vehicles and CNG-powered vehicles citing safety concerns.
He said this was for the safety of road users and the public, adding that there were only about 44,383 CNG vehicles currently, accounting for just 0.2% of vehicles, not including motorcycles.
“The NGV tanks of these vehicles are now reaching the end of their service life and need to be replaced and NGV tanks typically have a safe usage period of 15 years,” Fook said.
The minister said the vehicles had caused explosions during accidents.
Malaysia introduced the use of CNG in the late 1990s.
