As EVs move up a gear in S’pore, what happens after the sale?

When management consultant Henry Fong bought an electric vehicle (EV) in April 2025, he was worried about its range.

The BMW iX2 electric sport utility vehicle can travel up to 478km on a full charge – less than half the 980km range of the petrol-powered Audi A3 that the 54-year-old used to own.

A roughly 190km road trip from Singapore to Muar in Johor with friends in March helped ease his “range anxiety” and gave him greater confidence in the EV’s capabilities.

Fong is among a growing number of motorists making the switch to electric cars in Singapore.

The latest Land Transport Authority (LTA) figures published on June 12 showed that electric cars accounted for 60.6 per cent of the 22,353 new cars registered in the first five months of 2026. This is up from 45 per cent at the end of 2025, and 11.7 per cent in 2022.

Accelerating this transition is a calibrated carrot-and-stick approach.

Besides offering tax incentives to encourage car buyers to go electric, the Government has been imposing heavier surcharges on more pollutive cars.

A cut to the early deregistration rebate, or the preferential additional registration fee rebate, which took effect on Feb 20, has tilted the balance further towards EVs.

The change has a larger impact on petrol-hybrid and traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) cars than on their electric counterparts, making EVs the more attractive financial option.

Consumers now have a far wider range of EVs to choose from than before.

A decade ago, car owners looking to switch to EVs could pick only from models by BMW, BYD, Tesla and Nissan in Singapore.

One of the first EVs launched here was the Tesla Roadster in 2011, but the importer never managed to sell any.

In 2016, out of the 601,257 cars on the road, just 12 were electric.

At last count, there are now more than 62,650 electric cars on Singapore’s roads, forming almost a tenth of the about 655,000 cars here.

The share of EVs has almost doubled each year since 2020. Today, EVs make up almost a tenth of the 654,691 cars on the roads here.

Along with the greater variety of models, EVs are more affordable today than in 2016.

Back then, a Tesla Model S electric saloon imported into Singapore from Hong Kong cost more than $400,000 to register. The American EV company was not officially selling cars here then.

Today, the price of Tesla EVs starts at just under $200,000.

This is despite a certificate of entitlement (COE), which is needed to register a car in Singapore, costing significantly more now than in 2016.

Dominating the present EV landscape are Chinese carmakers, with five ranking among Singapore’s 10 best-selling car brands.

BYD is in the lead, selling 5,460 cars in the first five months of 2026, up from 3,827 during the same period in 2025. For the whole of 2016, the Chinese brand registered just seven cars.

Other Chinese players such as Chery, GAC Aion, MG and Zeekr have also made aggressive inroads, while carmakers from Europe and Japan are expanding their EV offerings.

There are now 42 brands offering EVs here.

The number of EV brands registered has grown by more than 10 times over the past decade.

Alongside the rapid growth in the number of brands, the technology underpinning EVs has progressed rapidly.

Earlier EVs were criticised for their limited operating ranges and slow charging speeds, making them poor substitutes for ICE cars.

At present, a mass-market EV such as the Aion V, a five-seater family car, can travel 485km on a full charge – 55.9 per cent farther than the 311km range of the second-generation Nissan Leaf from 2019.

Charging capability has also risen sharply in recent years, from 150 kilowatts (kW) in the BYD Sealion 7, introduced in late 2024, to 542kW in the updated Xpeng X9 in 2026.

Charging power is measured in kilowatts, and a higher rating generally allows an EV to charge more quickly.

One of the major technological drivers behind faster charging speeds is the move to 800-volt electric architecture from the older 400-volt set-up, which also improves energy efficiency and translates to better operating range.

Sellers of EVs with ultra-fast charging capabilities pitch them as being “futureproof”, ready to take advantage of improvements in the charging network.

While most public fast chargers are rated at between 50kW and 180kW, faster ones are joining the network, including 480kW chargers at a charging hub at Great World, a mixed development in River Valley.

Sharpening the appeal of EVs over regular cars are the advanced driving assistance features that are becoming increasingly commonplace, even in more mass-market options. These include smartphone digital keys and self-parking, as well as semi-autonomous driving capability, which covers functions such as filtering lanes.

EVs, especially from Chinese carmakers, also tend to be more luxurious than comparable ICE models, with high-end comfort features such as ventilated and massage seats and double-layered glass windows that keep noise and heat from the cabin.

At the end of May, there were 32,000 operational EV charging points across the Republic.

There are two types: Direct current (DC) fast chargers, which can add a range of at least 100km in less than 30 minutes, and alternating current (AC) overnight or slow chargers, which take around 3½ hours to add the same range.

Of the operational charging points, 12,400 are publicly accessible, while the remaining 19,600 are in private properties.

Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow said in a written parliamentary reply on Feb 3 that out of the 28,300 EV charging points available then, about 88 per cent were slow chargers, while about 11 per cent were fast chargers. The remaining 200 charging points were battery-swopping points for electric motorcycles.

As Singapore pushes towards its national target of 60,000 charging points by 2030, the goal is for every Housing Board town to have at least one fast-charging hub by the end of 2027.

Of these, 40,000 will be in public carparks, while the remaining 20,000 will be on private premises.

More than 90 per cent of HDB carparks have slower AC chargers, said a spokeswoman for EV-Electric Charging, the LTA subsidiary responsible for the deployment of chargers.

But coverage is not yet across the board.

As at March, 139 HDB carparks – or 7 per cent of the total – still lacked EV chargers, Siow said in a written parliamentary reply on May 5.

He attributed this to technical constraints or requests from the community to delay deployment.

These include HDB carparks in New Punggol Road, where 54-year-old Serfly Giri lives.

The automotive warranty officer charges his BYD Seal 6 at the nearby Punggol Coast Mall roughly once or twice a week, using the fast chargers there.

While the mall is only five minutes from his home by car, he noted that having a charger at an HDB carpark near his home would be ideal. It would spare him the hassle of making trips to the mall and waiting for his car to be juiced up.

Most drivers opt for the convenience of charging near their homes at night. Consequently, EV chargers in HDB carparks tend to be more utilised during overnight hours.

Despite such inconveniences, EV owners whom The Straits Times interviewed said charging an EV has cost them substantially less than fuelling up an ICE car.

Business owner Colin Goh, 50, said he typically charges his two-year-old BYD Seal weekly and pays no more than $40 each time, totalling around $150 each month. This is below the $400 monthly fuel bill for his previous car, a petrol-powered Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe.

But chargers are not always readily available.

Goh said charging etiquette is lacking, as some drivers fail to move their EVs after charging is completed, despite receiving an alert through the charging operator’s app.

To curb such behaviour, charging operators such as SP Mobility have imposed idle fees for vehicles that overstay in charging spots.

SP Mobility charges an idle fee of 50 cents for every minute after a half-hour grace period, capped at $40 per charging session.

The fee is, however, not imposed at every charging station and between 11pm and 9am.

Shell Recharge does not impose idle fees at HDB and condominium carparks, although it implements such fees at its other chargers located elsewhere, such as charging points at Suntec City and Millenia Walk.

At these sites, drivers are charged 50 cents for every minute following a half-hour grace period if they do not move their EVs out of the spot after completing their charging session.

A spokesperson said these are locations where greater congestion and significant idling were observed, and the measure aims to “encourage considerate charging behaviour and improve access to chargers for everyone”.

Programme manager Vinai Gopalakrishnan, 42, said the absence of idle fees encourages some drivers to hog chargers, particularly when charging overnight.

He said: “If my EV will be topped up only at 1am or so, the likelihood of me unplugging it is minimal. And since there are no additional costs, it plays into people’s behaviour.”

A spokesman for SP Mobility said it introduced idle fees in December 2023.

The fees were trialled at eight public locations before being expanded to all retail and HDB carparks and selected commercial premises where it operates.

“We continue to see idle fees as a way to encourage more considerate charging behaviour and improve charger availability, especially while EV adoption is still growing and before charging habits become more ingrained,” said the spokesman.

A spokesman for Charge+, another charging provider, said idle fees have helped improve its utilisation rates.

The operator has also observed drivers being more considerate at popular charging points in HDB estates and condos. It imposes idle charges of $1.96 for every 15 minutes after an initial 30-minute grace period, although these are not charged between 10pm and 9am.

Most operators do not impose idle fees at HDB carparks. Those who do suspend the fees overnight.

While physical infrastructure has scaled, with 99 per cent of HDB residents now living within 350m of a public charging point, the digital experience is still not seamless.

A source of frustration among EV owners is the fragmented payment system, which requires drivers to download separate apps and register an account with each charging provider.

EV-Electric Charging lists seven providers on its network. There are also other operators with chargers in commercial buildings.

In Serfly’s case, he has three charging apps on his phone – Juice+, Shell and SP.

Most of the time, he defaults to using the SP app, which is linked to his credit card and makes deductions and refunds automatically.

He downloaded the other two apps “just in case”, although he finds it inconvenient that they require him to deposit money into their respective wallets.

For Juice+, which has 73 charging points in Singapore, these amounts are pre-set at $30, $50 and $100.

Zafar Momin, an adjunct professor in the department of strategy and policy at NUS Business School, said this fragmentation creates complexity and inconvenience.

EV markets, including those in neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Thailand, have already begun allowing credit card payments at some charging points, or have agreements that let motorists use chargers from various operators through a single app.

While it is possible to pay for charging in Singapore without setting up an account with an operator, drivers typically have to enter their payment details on the operator’s website before charging can start, instead of simply tapping a contactless credit card.

When asked if there are plans to allow contactless payments for EV charging or to have a unified app in Singapore, LTA said it will continue to monitor developments in the space and review initiatives to improve the charging experience for all EV drivers.

Away from the new-car market, EVs remain fairly uncommon in the pre-owned space.

As at June 29, used car portal Sgcarmart had 269 second-hand EVs listed for sale, compared with 13,918 non-EVs.

Used-car dealers told ST they are approaching EVs cautiously, even as demand is rising.

Besides having to figure out the models that will be easier to resell, dealers often have to rely on the workshops of authorised distributors for repairs because the independent workshops that dealers typically use are not equipped for such work.

While there are third-party workshops with access to the proprietary tools and parts to handle EVs, others do not because demand for EV repairs at such workshops remains low.

Platinum Motoring, which sold more than 100 used EVs in 2025, said EVs from brands such as BYD and Tesla were easier to resell than those from other brands.

But the market prices of some used Chinese EVs can fluctuate significantly from month to month, often in response to changes in new-car prices, said the used-car dealership.

When an authorised distributor cuts the price of a new car, the market value of a second-hand unit can fall in tandem.

Platinum Motoring said this contrasts with popular ICE models because their used-car values tend to be more stable, since the established brands are less likely to cut new-car prices as drastically or offer promotions as frequently.

Jason Tan, sales manager at used-car dealership Lakeview Credit, said strong demand and high prices for new EVs are pushing more buyers towards the used-car market.

He said second-hand EVs are in short supply, with those about three years old proving to be especially attractive as a lower-priced alternative to new models.

The dealership has sold about 20 used EVs so far in 2026 – twice the number it sold in the whole of 2025. These are from popular EV brands such as BYD.

While Lakeview Credit expects to take in more used EVs in 2026 to meet demand, Tan said it would consider only low-mileage units still covered by warranties from authorised distributors. New EVs were earlier sold with eight-year warranties, but some brands today are stretching coverage to 10 years.

These EVs typically come with a separate warranty for the high-voltage battery. The battery will be replaced if its energy storage capacity, known as its state of health, falls below a specified threshold relative to when it was new.

Tan said many independent workshops in its network cannot handle EV repairs, making warranty coverage vital because faults involving parts such as the high-voltage battery or motors would be costly to fix.

With the warranty still in force, dealers said the battery’s state of health generally has little bearing on the EV’s value.

Yet, even when a vehicle is still under warranty, repairs can be prolonged.

Mike Wee, owner of Mayfair Motoring, said a Chinese EV that his used-car dealership took in recently had to remain at the authorised distributor’s workshop for months to wait for its infotainment touchscreen display to be replaced before it could be put on sale.

The distributor did not have the part in stock because it was uncommon for it to fail.

In Singapore, car owners reach a key decision point when their COEs expire after 10 years.

While the COE can be renewed, owners of ICE cars can choose to scrap their vehicles or sell them to a dealer for export. Either option will yield a payout.

Cars deregistered by their 10th year qualify for a scrap rebate, which is based on a portion of the tax paid when they were registered.

As EVs receive substantial upfront tax rebates, their scrap rebates tend to be lower than those for ICE models.

For EVs, the end-of-life market is also less developed.

Motor dealers said there is not yet an established export market for Singapore-registered EVs, as most remain relatively new and too few are being deregistered for such a trade to develop.

They are also unsure if there would be ready overseas demand when these EVs near their 10-year mark, as rapid technological advances could make older vehicles less attractive.

As the market for EVs is also evolving abroad, dealers and exporters said they do not yet have a sense of what buyers in overseas markets would look for in used EVs from Singapore.

If EV owners do not renew their COEs and no significant export market emerges, the scrapyard could become the main alternative.

The vehicle would be dismantled for its parts, with its battery requiring specialised handling and recycling.

One firm ready for such work is recycling company KGS, which has been approached to recycle EV batteries in the last few years.

A spokesman said the process is usually initiated by the car manufacturer, and begins with discharging and dismantling the battery.

The parts are then sorted into plastics, metals and black mass – a powdery substance that must be broken down further to extract reusable materials such as graphite, cobalt hydroxide and lithium carbonate.

These can then be used to make new batteries.

Under the Resource Sustainability Act, producers of EV batteries must collect them for “proper recycling” when the batteries reach the end of their lives or when the vehicles are being scrapped, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said.

Those that supply more than the threshold of five tonnes in EV batteries are made to join a scheme where they pay an operator to handle the collection and transportation of such batteries to recycling companies.

Payment entails a membership fee and a collection and recycling fee that take into account the producers’ market share.

NEA said that while such fees may indirectly affect how the prices of EVs are determined, these costs are not passed on to buyers as separate charges.

“The recycling of EV batteries will help reduce waste sent to landfills and enable the recovery of valuable resources such as lithium and cobalt for use in manufacturing new products,” the agency added.

An EV battery made with recycled materials is not equivalent to a brand-new one, however, said Niels de Boer, chief operating officer of the Energy Research Institute at Nanyang Technological University.

There are “challenges with impurities”, he said, which prevent batteries made with recycled materials from performing “at the same level as batteries made with new materials unless steps are taken to remove these impurities”.

To address this, de Boer said the university is working with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission to develop a cleaner and less energy-intensive solution.

“In the future, today’s concerns should be largely addressed.”

For EV owners such as Fong, the pace of change with electric cars means many questions remain unanswered.

With electric cars still relatively new, it is too early to tell how they will age and perform over the longer term.

Those factors will determine whether he keeps his BMW iX2 or switches to another EV.

“It is still something we have to see and experience down the road,” he said.