In conjunction with the development of Careplus Mall at Seremban 2 in Negeri Sembilan, Careplus Group Berhad has launched its Careplus Group ESG program. The program demonstrates the Group’s commitment to sustainability and social responsibility as part of its core values as it ventures into new businesses, especially in the manufacturing of electric vehicles.
The launch event was held at 2 locations – the Careplus Mall in Seremban 2, and the NeXV Manufacturing (NMSB) plant site in Chembong. As a symbol of sustainable activity, a 30-year old tree from Careplus Mall was transplanted to the NeXV plant.
Construction of the plant, a joint venture between Careplus Group Berhad and GoAuto Group Sdn Bhd, began in January this year. To date, the structure, assembly floor and electrical sub-station have been completed, and the project is on track for completion by the start of 2025.
Phase 1 of the project involves the development of an assembly plant, while phases 2 and 3 will begin in 2026 and 2028, respectively.
These two phases will raise production capacity from the initial 50,000 units a year to 100,000 units. The total investment for the plant development is about RM600 million.
Once operations begin in 2025, the plant expects to have a reduced carbon footprint through eco-friendly solutions. These include technologies that produce zero wastewater discharge, zero noise pollution, while solid waste will be processed through recycling centres within the facility. A significant portion of factory’s energy will also be powered by solar panels to be installed on the roof of the plant.
Right from the start, the plant will be specialised in EV manufacturing. It will adopt smart manufacturing technologies with robotics, cloud-based plant management, industrial IoT and other technologies associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The plant will not only assemble NETA EVs, but will be open to other NEV brands intending to carry out Completely Knocked Down (CKD) assembly of passenger and commercial EVs or electric motorcycles.
Two of these brands are known to be HIGER and YUTONG and exports of the assembled vehicles will also be explored for ASEAN markets.
A few months ago, a Memorandum of Agreement between NMSB and 5 Tier Zero (T0) vendors. The vendors are PHN Industry Sdn Bhd, Hicom Teck See Manufacturing Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Noble Star Parts Sdn Bhd, Evan Karl Holdings Sdn Bhd, and KNR Biz Solution Sdn Bhd.
They will operate on the concept of a “factory within factory” whereby vendors responsible for a particular component (or system) set up their operations, manpower and management system, all within the larger ecosystem of the full manufacturing process flow to assemble each component to complete a vehicle.
The plant in Chembong is not the first automotive facility in Negeri Sembilan.
At the Sendayan TechValley adjacent to Seremban, Hino Malaysia has also had an assembly plant for the past 10 years.
In the same industrial park, Daihatsu and Perodua have a factory making engines for certain Perodua, Daihatsu and Toyota models in the ASEAN region. Akashi Kikai Industry (M) Sdn Bhd (a joint venture between Akashi Kikai, Daihatsu and Perodua) also makes transmissions for Perodua there.