Cars drive on a street on August 4, 2023 in Singapore. Singapore, an island city-state in Southeast Asia is home to around 5 million people, and is the biggest hub in the region for wealth management and financial services. Pita Simpson/Getty Images
Singapore is seeing an influx of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) brands as the city-state enhances its efforts to promote EV adoption.
According to CNBC, Geely-owned luxury brand Zeekr and Xpeng Motors have both recently entered the Singapore market. Zeekr launched its premium SUV, the Zeekr X, with a starting price of SGD 199,999, while Xpeng opened a pop-up showroom featuring its Xpeng G6 electric SUV, priced from SGD 209,999.
This shift is part of Singapore's strategy to increase EV adoption, which has already seen growth, and reduce reliance on traditional combustion engines.
Singapore's Ministry of Transport reported that about one in three new cars were sold in Singapore during the first half of 2024 was electric, nearly double the rate from 2023. The government is also working to expand its EV charging infrastructure, with a goal of 60,000 charging points by 2030. Currently, over 7,100 charging points are installed across the country.
Now, incentives play a key role in this expansion.
The EV Early Adoption Incentive scheme, extended until 2025, provides a 45% rebate on the additional registration fee for new fully electric cars and taxis, capped at SGD 15,000. This, along with an emissions rebate program, aims to lower the upfront costs of EV ownership by up to SGD 40,000 ($10,500) making electric vehicles more accessible to consumers.
Despite the positive momentum, analysts from BMI note that while the city-state's public transportation and micromobility solutions are well-developed, the high cost of vehicle ownership could limit market growth.
As of the moment, Singapore's projections are optimistic, with expectations for an increase in EV sales across various categories in 2024.
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