Singapore has announced that it will be positioning electric vehicles (EV) with less than 110 kW (150 PS) under Category A certificate of entitlement (COE) starting May. The move is part of a strategy to introduce more mass-market EVs into the category, The Straits Times reports.
Currently, Category A COEs apply to cars with engine capacity up to 1,600cc and a maximum power output 97kW (132 PS). There is no distinction for EVs, until now. The new 110 kW criteria applies exclusively to fully electric vehicles. EVs with over 110 kW will fall under Category B.
This means buyers will be paying less for COEs – based on the latest tenders, the premium for Category A COE was SGD63,000 (RM196k), or about SGD30,590 (RM95k) less than for Category B. Cars that will benefit from the reclassification include the Hyundai Ioniq Electric (now priced at SGD172,888 or RM537k with Category B COE), Kona Electric, Kia Niro Electric Short Range, and Nissan Leaf.
Following the announcement, Ron Lim, the sales and marketing head for Tan Chong Motor Sales, said: “We have received many inquiries on our Nissan Leaf EV, but many times, customers were put off by the pricing as a Category B model. This revised classification will allow us to revisit the leads collected and hopefully translate to better sales.”
Beyond that, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) also unveiled plans to make every HDB town “EV-ready” by 2025. This includes installing at least three charging points in nearly 2,000 Housing Board carparks over the next four years. Ultimately, it is targeting to have 60,000 charging points installed across the country by 2030.
Laws related to safe and reliable EV charging will also be introduced, following public consultation set to be held later this year.
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Come down by SGD30k is nothing when COE is still 2-3X the car price. Makes no difference as EV are not affordable either ways.
Why not EV COE category based on the kerb weight of the EV instead
Malaysia please follow suit and start progressive rates from 110kW and not the current 80kW. Do it now while we have road tax exemption and not when it expires and people start having to pay.
I support charging extra for roadtax, use that money to setup more charging points nationwide. Very common for early bird users to pay much more to be the first to use whether it is EV or iphone or preview for Morbius, so pay up and shaddup.