Kuala Lampur, May 10 -- There is something deeply comical about watching politicians in tropical countries lecture the public about "saving the planet" while sitting in traffic jams powered by coal-fired electricity plants.

Malaysia has entered the electric vehicle era the way a middle-aged banker suddenly discovers CrossFit: loudly, expensively, and without fully understanding what's actually happening.

The EV conversation in this country has become almost religious. Question it and you're treated like a climate-denying caveman wearing diesel-soaked batik. But engineering does not care about fashion. Physics does not care about hashtags. Thermodynamics certainly does not care about press conferences with green backdrops and smiling min...