KUALA LUMPUR — The recent fire involving an electric vehicle (EV) in Alam Damai, Cheras has raised questions about insurance coverage if something goes wrong while charging an EV at home.

If an EV or its charging equipment causes a fire, is your home actually covered? Following the recent incident, the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) has issued a clarification on what Malaysian home and motor insurance policies generally cover, as well as several things EV owners should take note of.

The good news is that an EV-related fire isn’t automatically excluded from standard home insurance coverage. However, PIAM says homeowners should ensure that their property is adequately insured, notify their insurer when installing a permanent EV charger and make sure electrical installations comply with applicable requirements.

According to PIAM, standard Houseowner and Fire insurance policies in Malaysia cover specified perils including fire damage, regardless of the ignition source.

However, this remains subject to the policy’s terms, conditions and exclusions, and provided there is no fraud, deliberate act or other applicable breach of the policy conditions.

This is consistent with what PIAM CEO Chua Kim Soon told us when we asked about insurance coverage for EV-related fires earlier this year.

“So fire is a fire. It goes through the same phase, whether it is caused by an EV or caused by a short circuit. So if you have a fire policy protecting the building, then if there’s a fire even from an EV, that’s being covered. You need to make sure that the value for the building is adequately insured,” Chua said at the time.

PIAM had also previously clarified that an EV fire occurring within a building such as a condominium car park isn’t automatically excluded from fire insurance just because because an EV was involved.