Singapore’s Electric Vehicle Dreams Now Accelerating Faster

Last Updated on: 30th June 2025, 10:13 am

SINGAPORE — I landed in Singapore last June 25 to visit a solar farm in the middle of the city.

As I left the airport to the city, riding in a Toyota Prius Hybrid which I booked on the Grab app, the first thing I noticed in the Terminal 3 parking lot was the presence of more electric vehicle chargers — a total of six 22 kW chargers in one section. These are owned by SP Mobility, which also operates six more charging points at Terminal 1, home to the famous Jewel.

Shell Recharge operates eight charging stations located at Marina Bay Sands. Tesla has a total of 12 Supercharging stations with 37 ports, and it launched its first V4 Superchargers last May. Its pay-per-use fee starts at SG$0.51/kWh, which is the most cost-efficient fast-charging option in the island nation. And there are more privately operated charging networks one can easily locate using an app called PlugShare.

On the road, I kept seeing BYDs (Atto 3, Dolphin, Seal, and Sealion) and Teslas of every kind. The well-heeled use Mercedes-Benz, Audis, and Porsches. The Geely-owned luxury brands Zeekr and Xpeng were just recently introduced. Also spotted was the MG ZS EV, ORA Good Cat, and Citroën ë-C4. And there are quite a number of Proton and Wuling EVs which came in from Malaysia.

Grab has an “Eco-Friendly Ride” option which I used to book my ride. Though I found it took longer to find either a hybrid or a BEV, compared to normal internal combustion cars. The app also has a “JustGrab Green” button that relies on vehicles with a minimal Vehicular Emissions Scheme (VES) banding, including the Hyundai Kona Electric, Toyota Prius, and Kia Niro Hybrid, all of which emit less than 125g of carbon dioxide per kilometer. Grab will launch an additional fleet of EV taxis by July.

These observations confirm that the electric vehicle market of the island nation is undergoing a period of unprecedented and rapid expansion. This is driven by robust policy support, which has helped mold consumer preferences and shifted the competitive landscape. Data indicates that Singapore has, in five short years, entered a phase of accelerated mainstream adoption, propped up by well thought of, policy-led, long-term transport decarbonization goals.

Key Growth Metrics

Here are the facts from the Singapore Transport Ministry and the Trade and Investment Bureau.

The share of new EV registrations climbed from just 11.7% in 2022 to 18.1% in 2023, and then nearly doubled to 33.6% for the full year of 2024. The momentum has continued to build, with the first quarter of 2025 setting a new record where 40.2% of all new cars registered were electric.

While the share of new registrations is impressive, the total EV population remains comparatively small. As of mid-2024, there were approximately 18,000 electric cars, constituting 2.7% of the total car population. By the end of 2024, this figure had risen to 26,225 cars, or 4% of the total population.

In 2022, Singapore’s Transport Ministry said it wanted every Housing & Development Board (HDB) town “EV-Ready” by 2025 by installing at least three charging points in nearly 2,000 HDB carparks. In mid-2024, some 1,000 HDB carparks had chargers installed, and by the end of 2024, over half of all HDB carparks already had charging points installed. The goal is to have close to 2,000 fitted with chargers — some with up to five due to the number of EVs in the location. Meeting the target of 120,000 charging points by the end of this year is possible.

What Range Anxiety?

Range anxiety, at least to the EV drivers we spoke to, is not a problem in the island nation, which spans approximately 50 kilometers from its westernmost point Tuas to its easternmost point Changi Village. The country is approximately 27 kilometers at its widest. The total road network distance is about 9,400 kilometers, including all highways, toll roads, and city avenues, according to Singapore’s public works data.

“I don’t think we have the concept of range anxiety in Singapore, if we talk about getting around the country,” says Arman Batista, a lifeguard and EV owner. “Even petrol stations are never clumped together, unlike in other countries, because the distances are actually quite short within Singapore. Even when you cross into Malaysia, the distance is still manageable, and there are more charging stations there.”

In the chats CleanTechnica had with at least 36 drivers and EV owners on the streets and in parking places, range anxiety is a non-issue for EV intenders. Battery range is the actual concern, as, at the moment, owners seem to be happy with the growing EV charging infrastructure.

“Battery range is like gas in your tank,” says a Grab driver. “So you just need to juice up as much as you can.” He also said that for Grab drivers, PHEVs are the norm. He added that Singapore is so small “you need to cross end-to-end 4 times on a pure electric car and still have enough energy for a trip in the city.”

One possible proof that range anxiety is not a problem? BEVs are preferred over PHEVs, holding an 80.23% market share in 2024, according to the Mordor Market Intelligence report on the Singapore automotive market.

Ownership Incentives

The sharp increase in EV market share since 2023 coincided with the rise of more affordable, mass-market EV brands, indicating a significant broadening of the consumer base. A Nissan transport specialist told CleanTechnica that Singapore’s automotive market is now transitioning from “early adopters” to the “early majority” in the adoption lifecycle.

Passenger cars account for 84.67% of EV market share in 2024. This dominance is expected, given the focus of initial government incentives and consumer marketing.

However, the commercial vehicle segment is the next major growth engine.

It is projected to expand at a rate of 44.10% through 2030, significantly outpacing the passenger car segment. This acceleration is fueled by increasingly stringent decarbonization policies as well as corporate clean air pledges.

In terms of ownership, private individual owners constituted the largest segment of the market, with a 61.88% share.

However, mirroring the trend in vehicle types, commercial fleet operators represent the fastest-growing end-user segment, with a projected CAGR of 38.62% by 2030.

Policy led

The rapid growth across all these segments is underpinned by a powerful set of drivers deliberately orchestrated by policymakers.

The most impactful are government incentive schemes that were designed to achieve Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) parity with ICE vehicles; the aggressive nationwide rollout of public and private charging infrastructure; reforms to the COE and Vehicular Emissions Scheme (VES) that penalize ICE ownership; and firm decarbonization commitments from corporate fleet operators.

The registration of new diesel cars and taxis have been prohibited starting January 1, 2025. The objective is to transition all vehicles to cleaner energy sources by 2040, in particular commercial fleets, which are major contributors to high emission outputs.

Government policies are increasingly tailored to this segment, with schemes like the Commercial Vehicle Emissions Scheme (CVES) and the upcoming Heavy Vehicle Zero Emissions Scheme (HVZES) providing targeted financial support.

Fleet operators who make rational decisions based on TCO benefit the most. The combination of lower running costs for fuel and maintenance with these government incentives makes electrification an economically compelling proposition, ensuring this segment will be a key focus for both policymakers and OEMs moving forward.

Next story: How Singapore’s Certificate of Entitlement (COE) will further drive electric vehicle adoption.