SINGAPORE: Mr Harris Abdul Razak has learnt to plan his day around a plug.
Since buying his MG4 electric car in February, the diagnostic radiographer has relied mostly on charging at work, and occasionally at malls.
Housing Board car parks near his condominium in the east have chargers, but he would have to pay for parking. He tops up instead during his night shifts, when competition for a charging bay is lower.
Even then, with only two slow chargers at his workplace car park, it can get "very competitive". "The (charging) points are always occupied. I either have to come super early or wait later in the evening for slots," said the 39-year-old.
CNA Games
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Electric vehicles (EVs) made up nearly 60 per cent of new car registrations in the first quarter of 2026, overtaking combustion engine and hybrid models for the first time, and a jump from 45 per cent in 2025 and 3.8 per cent in 2021.
Industry players say the latest figures reflect a permanent shift in consumer behaviour rather than a one-off surge.
Singapore is now in the steep part of the growth curve seen in countries leading the EV movement such as Norway, the Netherlands and parts of China, said Associate Professor Jimmy Peng from the National University of Singapore's (NUS) electrical and computer engineering department.
Associate Professor Victor Kwan from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Academy attributed rising EV ownership partly to government policies that support EVs and penalise more pollutive vehicles, such as higher surcharges under the Vehicular Emissions Scheme.
Greater product variety, rebates and competitively priced Category A COE models from Chinese brands have also broadened appeal.
"The whole momentum and market ecosystem has been feeding itself over the last few years," said Assoc Prof Kwan.
The growing visibility of charging infrastructure has also lowered psychological barriers to switching, said Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship Terence Fan from the Singapore Management University (SMU).
The government has moved to keep pace with that growth. As of March, 30,500 charging points have been installed in Singapore, more than halfway to the target of 60,000 nationwide by 2030.
Of these, about 3,500 are fast chargers, with roughly half publicly accessible, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in response to CNA's queries.
When asked how many of the targeted 60,000 would be fast chargers, LTA did not respond. Member of Parliament Poh Li San, who sits on the government parliamentary committee for transport, said the proportion would likely be determined by LTA and property owners, as electricity availability is a key consideration.
Senior Minister of State for Transport Sun Xueling cited the updated figures in parliament on May 6, adding that LTA monitors EV adoption rates closely and coordinates with agencies including the Energy Market Authority, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and JTC on charging deployment.
"For car parks with high demand, LTA will work with EV charger operators to deploy more chargers, electrical capacity permitting," Ms Sun said.
But as EV adoption goes mainstream, some say the next challenge is less about adding more chargers and more about whether they are in the right places with enough power to meet demand.
"I would argue that the charger count is becoming a vanity metric," said Assoc Prof Peng.
The real measure, he said, was charging energy delivered per vehicle per week. A 7-kilowatt (kW) alternating current (AC) home charger, which is slower and suitable for overnight charging, and a 180-kW direct current (DC) fast charger each count as one charging point but serve very different needs.
Over 90 per cent of HDB car parks are equipped with slow chargers. Fast-charging hubs are being rolled out, with at least one per HDB town planned by end-2027.
"If close to 60 per cent of new cars are EVs, the right question shifts from 'how many points' to 'how many usable kilowatts, in the right locations, at what utilisation'," said Assoc Prof Peng.
"Otherwise we will reach 60,000 points and may still have a charging-experience problem."
Some MPs have made the same point. "It is not just about having sufficient charging points, but also whether there is sufficient infrastructure to support actual user behaviour and charging patterns," said MP Ng Shi Xuan.
The Sembawang GRC MP had asked in parliament this month for data on charger utilisation rates at public car parks. Acting Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow said in a written reply that the average rate at HDB car parks is about 20 per cent, with higher rates in Tengah, Punggol and Sengkang.
Workers' Party MP He Ting Ru also filed a parliamentary question this month on the number of HDB car parks without EV chargers. Mr Siow said 139, or 7 per cent of HDB car parks, are without chargers due to technical constraints such as insufficient power supply or community requests to delay installation.
Ms He told CNA she was prompted by residents who had raised concerns about charging access after buying an EV. While those without chargers at their HDB car park can transfer their season parking to a nearby car park with chargers at the same rate, the Sengkang GRC MP said this may not always work for residents whose daily routines are built around a specific car park.
Ms Poh said planners need to account for charger type and how EV owners actually use their cars – where they drive most frequently and how long they typically dwell.
If most EV owners prefer fast chargers at malls and office car parks over slower HDB alternatives, "from a nationwide EV charger infrastructure network point of view, it is more cost-effective to build more fast chargers at office car parks and shopping malls", she said.
Drivers on the ground echo the call for better-targeted infrastructure. BYD Atto 3 owner Ng Lay Peng, 37, said chargers in her Bidadari estate are almost always full at night. "Three lots for our entire estate is quite challenging," she said, noting that older estates tend to have more charging points but fewer EV owners.
"The number of chargers in residential estates needs to make sense and should probably be informed based on the number of EVs registered through season parking."
Professional emcee Alex Tan, 41, faces the same problem at his Sengkang HDB car park, where three slow chargers serve his block and are sometimes all taken. When the battery for his BYD Seal Dynamic dips to 10 per cent, he makes the trip to a nearby mall, where fast and slow chargers are usually available.
For now, it amounts to "little frustrations", but as the EV population grows, the wait "will become more real", said SUSS' Assoc Prof Kwan.
Beyond charger counts, experts flagged deeper constraints: mandating chargers in new condominiums, retrofitting older buildings and ensuring accessibility for all vehicle types remain gaps to address.
SMU's Asst Prof Fan said some EVs are limited by parking lot size or building ceiling heights, and larger commercial vehicles still struggle to find suitable chargers.
A more significant bottleneck is the electrical infrastructure in many HDB precincts and older condominiums built before 2010.
Low-voltage transformers at these developments were designed for lifts and lighting, not for multiple EVs charging concurrently overnight, said Assoc Prof Peng. Upgrading feeder cables or transformers can take more than a year and is costly.
At condominiums, the constraint is often administrative rather than technical. Approvals from management corporation strata title (MCST) bodies are slowed by voting requirements, disputes over cost-sharing between EV and non-EV owners, and liability concerns.
The pool of licensed electricians qualified to install EV chargers is also stretched by competing demand from solar panel and battery storage projects.
"Charger counts grow visibly and get reported, but transformer upgrades and managed-charging systems are invisible until they fail," said Assoc Prof Peng.
NUS' Professor Dipti Srinivasan said dynamic load management systems that distribute limited power intelligently across multiple chargers are needed, or buildings will face costly full grid upgrades.
Without smart charging, local low-voltage transformers risk overloading during evening peaks once EV adoption exceeds roughly 60 to 70 per cent, she warned. Widespread rollout of vehicle-to-grid-ready chargers and software that shifts charging to off-peak hours remains limited.
Looking ahead, Ms Poh noted that rapidly evolving battery technology could improve charging speeds and battery life, reducing both charging duration and frequency.
"EV planners will need to model the increase in charger demand due to increase in number of EVs, but offset by the improvements in battery technology, to project more accurately the rate of installing new charging points, what type and where they should be located," she said.
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Since buying his MG4 electric car in February, the diagnostic radiographer has relied mostly on charging at work, and occasionally at malls.
Housing Board car parks near his condominium in the east have chargers, but he would have to pay for parking. He tops up instead during his night shifts, when competition for a charging bay is lower.
Even then, with only two slow chargers at his workplace car park, it can get "very competitive". "The (charging) points are always occupied. I either have to come super early or wait later in the evening for slots," said the 39-year-old.
CNA Games
Show More Show Less
Electric vehicles (EVs) made up nearly 60 per cent of new car registrations in the first quarter of 2026, overtaking combustion engine and hybrid models for the first time, and a jump from 45 per cent in 2025 and 3.8 per cent in 2021.
Industry players say the latest figures reflect a permanent shift in consumer behaviour rather than a one-off surge.
Singapore is now in the steep part of the growth curve seen in countries leading the EV movement such as Norway, the Netherlands and parts of China, said Associate Professor Jimmy Peng from the National University of Singapore's (NUS) electrical and computer engineering department.
Associate Professor Victor Kwan from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Academy attributed rising EV ownership partly to government policies that support EVs and penalise more pollutive vehicles, such as higher surcharges under the Vehicular Emissions Scheme.
Greater product variety, rebates and competitively priced Category A COE models from Chinese brands have also broadened appeal.
"The whole momentum and market ecosystem has been feeding itself over the last few years," said Assoc Prof Kwan.
The growing visibility of charging infrastructure has also lowered psychological barriers to switching, said Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship Terence Fan from the Singapore Management University (SMU).
The government has moved to keep pace with that growth. As of March, 30,500 charging points have been installed in Singapore, more than halfway to the target of 60,000 nationwide by 2030.
Of these, about 3,500 are fast chargers, with roughly half publicly accessible, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in response to CNA's queries.
When asked how many of the targeted 60,000 would be fast chargers, LTA did not respond. Member of Parliament Poh Li San, who sits on the government parliamentary committee for transport, said the proportion would likely be determined by LTA and property owners, as electricity availability is a key consideration.
Senior Minister of State for Transport Sun Xueling cited the updated figures in parliament on May 6, adding that LTA monitors EV adoption rates closely and coordinates with agencies including the Energy Market Authority, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and JTC on charging deployment.
"For car parks with high demand, LTA will work with EV charger operators to deploy more chargers, electrical capacity permitting," Ms Sun said.
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NOT A NUMBERS GAME
But as EV adoption goes mainstream, some say the next challenge is less about adding more chargers and more about whether they are in the right places with enough power to meet demand.
"I would argue that the charger count is becoming a vanity metric," said Assoc Prof Peng.
The real measure, he said, was charging energy delivered per vehicle per week. A 7-kilowatt (kW) alternating current (AC) home charger, which is slower and suitable for overnight charging, and a 180-kW direct current (DC) fast charger each count as one charging point but serve very different needs.
Over 90 per cent of HDB car parks are equipped with slow chargers. Fast-charging hubs are being rolled out, with at least one per HDB town planned by end-2027.
"If close to 60 per cent of new cars are EVs, the right question shifts from 'how many points' to 'how many usable kilowatts, in the right locations, at what utilisation'," said Assoc Prof Peng.
"Otherwise we will reach 60,000 points and may still have a charging-experience problem."
Some MPs have made the same point. "It is not just about having sufficient charging points, but also whether there is sufficient infrastructure to support actual user behaviour and charging patterns," said MP Ng Shi Xuan.
The Sembawang GRC MP had asked in parliament this month for data on charger utilisation rates at public car parks. Acting Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow said in a written reply that the average rate at HDB car parks is about 20 per cent, with higher rates in Tengah, Punggol and Sengkang.
Workers' Party MP He Ting Ru also filed a parliamentary question this month on the number of HDB car parks without EV chargers. Mr Siow said 139, or 7 per cent of HDB car parks, are without chargers due to technical constraints such as insufficient power supply or community requests to delay installation.
Ms He told CNA she was prompted by residents who had raised concerns about charging access after buying an EV. While those without chargers at their HDB car park can transfer their season parking to a nearby car park with chargers at the same rate, the Sengkang GRC MP said this may not always work for residents whose daily routines are built around a specific car park.
Ms Poh said planners need to account for charger type and how EV owners actually use their cars – where they drive most frequently and how long they typically dwell.
If most EV owners prefer fast chargers at malls and office car parks over slower HDB alternatives, "from a nationwide EV charger infrastructure network point of view, it is more cost-effective to build more fast chargers at office car parks and shopping malls", she said.
Drivers on the ground echo the call for better-targeted infrastructure. BYD Atto 3 owner Ng Lay Peng, 37, said chargers in her Bidadari estate are almost always full at night. "Three lots for our entire estate is quite challenging," she said, noting that older estates tend to have more charging points but fewer EV owners.
"The number of chargers in residential estates needs to make sense and should probably be informed based on the number of EVs registered through season parking."
Professional emcee Alex Tan, 41, faces the same problem at his Sengkang HDB car park, where three slow chargers serve his block and are sometimes all taken. When the battery for his BYD Seal Dynamic dips to 10 per cent, he makes the trip to a nearby mall, where fast and slow chargers are usually available.
For now, it amounts to "little frustrations", but as the EV population grows, the wait "will become more real", said SUSS' Assoc Prof Kwan.
STRUCTURAL CONSTRAINTS
Beyond charger counts, experts flagged deeper constraints: mandating chargers in new condominiums, retrofitting older buildings and ensuring accessibility for all vehicle types remain gaps to address.
SMU's Asst Prof Fan said some EVs are limited by parking lot size or building ceiling heights, and larger commercial vehicles still struggle to find suitable chargers.
A more significant bottleneck is the electrical infrastructure in many HDB precincts and older condominiums built before 2010.
Low-voltage transformers at these developments were designed for lifts and lighting, not for multiple EVs charging concurrently overnight, said Assoc Prof Peng. Upgrading feeder cables or transformers can take more than a year and is costly.
At condominiums, the constraint is often administrative rather than technical. Approvals from management corporation strata title (MCST) bodies are slowed by voting requirements, disputes over cost-sharing between EV and non-EV owners, and liability concerns.
The pool of licensed electricians qualified to install EV chargers is also stretched by competing demand from solar panel and battery storage projects.
"Charger counts grow visibly and get reported, but transformer upgrades and managed-charging systems are invisible until they fail," said Assoc Prof Peng.
NUS' Professor Dipti Srinivasan said dynamic load management systems that distribute limited power intelligently across multiple chargers are needed, or buildings will face costly full grid upgrades.
Without smart charging, local low-voltage transformers risk overloading during evening peaks once EV adoption exceeds roughly 60 to 70 per cent, she warned. Widespread rollout of vehicle-to-grid-ready chargers and software that shifts charging to off-peak hours remains limited.
Looking ahead, Ms Poh noted that rapidly evolving battery technology could improve charging speeds and battery life, reducing both charging duration and frequency.
"EV planners will need to model the increase in charger demand due to increase in number of EVs, but offset by the improvements in battery technology, to project more accurately the rate of installing new charging points, what type and where they should be located," she said.
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