As you might know from recent posts on this blog, I bought an EV car earlier this year. I’m somewhat of an early adopter amongst my friends and colleagues, and so I’ve received many questions from them about owning and driving an EV. This AMA on EV cars on Singapore will hopefully be helpful to everyone.
Context is important, and other EV car owners/drivers may have different views, because they are in a different situation from me. Do bear in mind that many questions need to consider specific car model, typical use case, lifestyle, residential/office environment, etc. While this AMA will be helpful if you are exploring buying and driving an EV car in Singapore, you know you certainly need to do your research.
Q: What is the driving range like?
Yes, this has got to be one of the most oft asked question. I am going to disappoint you by saying that, surely, you can’t be expecting a universal answer. However, it is safe to say that any mainstream EV car sold in Singapore offers a sufficient range to make it a practical choice for daily driving.
To answer this question properly, you need to ask about a specific car model. This is not unlike how you can’t have a universal answer for range and fuel tank capacity for a conventional ICE car.
So let’s talk about the specific EV car I drive — BYD M6. This car has a WLTP (Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure) range of 440 km. In my own experience, I get about 400 km. I’m happy to drive till my battery is down to 5% to 10%. I’ve heard some people panic at 20%, or even 30%, so if you think you are one of those, your effective range without causing you anxiety would certainly be less.
For reference, when I drove my ICE car previously. I’m quite happy to drive until the last bar before the fuel warning indicator shows up.
Q: How often do you have to charge the battery?
Well, you know this is a simple function of your typical mileage and the car’s driving range, right?
I typically drive at most 300 km per week. I will not drain my full battery charge with one week of driving. Nevertheless, I still do charge my car once a week, sometimes more often, whenever it is convenient.
There is currently no charger in my home or at my workplace. There will be one installed in my residential development in a few months, at which point I would charge there at least once a week, and maybe another one time if it is convenient.
Q: Where do I charge?
I don’t yet have a charger in my residential development, so at present, I have to go somewhere else. There is a Charge+ fast charger about 0.5 km from my home. The fast chargers there have never ever been fully occupied, at least not at any time that I want to charge. Therefore, that’s my go-to charger for any substantial battery charging.
I used to also visit one 4.9 km away. I still do, sometimes, to optimise my best charging cost. I’ll explain later.
Q: How much does it cost to charge? What is the full-charge cost?
Let me just say up-front that the best scenario is for those who can install their own charger in their own landed property. That’s because they pay the residential electricity tariff (or whatever rate plan they’ve signed up for). The standard tariff is now 29.94 cents/kWh (inclusive of GST).
There is no where you can get a rate as close as this from a commercial charge point operator. Singapore Power, oddly enough, has one of the most (if not the most) expensive charging rate — over 82 cents/kWh for fast-charging.
In general, fast-charging cost more while slow-charging is cheaper.
I currently go with Charge+. Their usual public rate is typically 70.92 cents/kWh for fast-chargers and 60.9 cents/kWh for slow-chargers.
Charge+ offers subscription plans for condo residents, i.e. there must be a Charge+ installation in the condo. The plans basically fix a certain price on a committed kWh amount. For example, you pay $104 for 190 kWh (54.74 cents/kWh), and $175 for 360 Kwh (48.61 cents/kWh). Usage above the committed amount is charged at the public rate. The nice thing with Charge+ subscription is that the plan applies not just to the charger in the condo, but also to all Charge+ public chargers anywhere in Singapore, and you can use both fast-chargers and slow-chargers.
The problem for me is that my usage is somewhat between the $104 plan and the $175 plan. My 54.74 cents/kWh rate jumps to over 70 cents/kWh beyond the plan’s committed amount if I use a fast-charger. It’s still alright actually, overall, but if I really wanted to optimise, I would then go to that place 5.9 km away that has a 55 cents/kWh rate.
My BYD M6 has a 71.8 kWh battery capacity, so the theoretical full-charge price on my Charge+ subscription plan is $39.30 (probably $1 or so more in reality because of charging inefficiencies).
Q: Are there enough chargers around?
For now, yes. More is always better, of course. I am a bit unsure if the growth in numbers of chargers will keep pace with that of EV cars. I hope the government won’t forget to make sure that the charging infrastructure will keep up.
Personally, I find that there’s enough chargers around, even though there isn’t one at my workplace, nor one (yet) at home. Of course, you should research for your own situation.
Q: Does charging cost less than petrol?
The short TL;DR is yes.
This will never be a like-for-like comparison. It’s not just because electricity is not the same as petrol, and not just because electricity charges vary widely if you depend on charge point operator. The most important reason is that the car we’re talking about is not the same.
However, for same of getting an idea of whether EV makes sense in terms of electricity vs petrol cost, let me compare my current BYD M6 with the Toyota Sienta I come from. My typical monthly petrol cost used to be about $300. With EV, my charging cost is roughly $125 per month. That’s a $175 savings for me.
The BYD M6 is a larger car than the Toyota Sienta, so this is quite telling. As a larger EV car, the BYD M6 is also not particularly efficient. According the specs, for example, the BYD Atto3 is more efficient and would thus cost even less.
Q: How long does it take to charge?
There are two kinds of charging: slow (AC) chargng, and fast (DC) charging. EV cars usually support both AC and DC charging. The AC charging usually maxes at 7 kW or 22 kW. DC charging varies widely. The BYD M6 can support 115 kW DC charging, which is just average, while some others can do over 200 kW.
However, there aren’t that many very powerful fast chargers around. Public chargers that are not Tesla’s usually reach a max of 180 kW.
AC charging, at just 7 kW or so, is relatively slow, A complete full-charge will take 8 – 10 hours. This is usually fine for residential overnight charging. My BYD M6 with its 71.8 kWh battery will theoretically take 10.25 hours to go from 0% to 100%.
DC chargers work much faster. However, like our smartphones, the charging speed varies, faster when the battery is more empty, and much slower as the battery is topped out. For my BYD M6, I get 2% of battery every minute below 70% capacity. Therefore, goign from 10% to 70% takes me only 30 mins. However, the remaining 30% will probably take another 30 mins as well.
DC chargers work much faster, but like our smartphones, EV cars charge at faster rates with an empty battery until up to 70% or so, then begin to slow down after that. Below 70%, I get 2% of battery every minute. Therefore, going from 10% to 70% takes me only 30 mins. The remaining 30% will probably take me 30 mins too.
Therefore, the practical thing for me is to top up to about 80% or so if I don’t want to hang around to wait too long.
Q: Are you concerned about battery degradation?
Technically, yes. However, the marketing has me convinced that car batteries have evolved to a point that you don’t realistically need to worry about it in its lifetime, which in Singapore means 10 years.
Many car manufacturers provide long-enough battery warranty. Chinese manufacturers almost always give a 10-year warranty. Therefore, if the intent is to keep the car only for 10 years, then there’s really nothing much to worry anymore.
New battery technologies, such as LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate), are said last more cycles and have less degradation. Considering that one will charge maybe twice a week at most, over 10 years that’s only 1040 cycles. This is roughly the same as what Apple rates the iPhone’s battery for. Note that a cycle means 100% to 0% then back to 100%. Most people won’t be driving that much to need two full cycles per week.
Some recent studies, such as from Geotab (EV Battery Health Insights: Data From 10,000 Cars | Geotab) and Stanford (Existing EV batteries may last up to 40% longer than expected | Stanford Report) tell us that EV batteries may actually last longer than we expected. Geotab found batteries degrade at just 1.8% per year.
Q: How does servicing costs between EV and ICE compare?
EV cars should generally cost less in terms of servicing cost. The reason is simple: there are fewer parts requiring maintenance in an EV car compared to an ICE car. There is no engine oil, no oil filter, no spark plugs, no air intake filter (not aircon), no timing belt/chain, no engine coolant, no transmission fluid, no clutch, etc.
ICE cars also have other parts, such as the fuel pump, that have the risk of breaking down and thus requiring a potential replacement at some point in the lifetime of the car.
Brakes on EV cars generally experience less wear. This is because EV cars use regenerative braking to slow the car down, so the brake pads/rotors last much longer.
There is one item on an EV that might cost more than an ICE car: tyres. Tyres in an EV car wear out faster because the car is heavier, and the higher torque of the electric motor will wear out the tyre faster.
Q: Overall, is an EV car cheaper to drive?
My TL;DR, generally yes.
This is a big question because there are so many parts to operating cost. Each car is different, so unless you have the experience to compare like-for-like cars that differ only in whether they use a petrol engine or an electric motor (e.g. BMW X3 vs iX3), the car itself would influence the cost somewhat.
Very broadly speaking, EV cars will cost more in terms of road tax (due to the ridiculous Additional Flat Surcharge) and insurance. However, it will cost less in electricity (compared with petrol), as well as possibly less in servicing costs. Some EV cars like mine come with 10 years of free servicing, so that already helps save some money. As explained above, EV cars also have fewer things to service, though tyres generally wear out faster.
Let us use my experience coming to a BYD M6 from Toyota Sienta. This is my expected annual cost.
| BYD M6 (EV) | Toyota Sienta (ICE) | |
| Charging/Petrol | $1500 | $3600 |
| Road Tax | $1500 | $800 |
| Insurance | $1400 | $1000 |
| Servicing | $200 (?) | $800 |
| Tyres | $200 | $100 |
| Total: | $4800 | $6300 |
Note that I haven’t actually driven a full year, and the car is also quite new, so I can’t really talk about servicing costs of the BYD M6 that much. The amount I’ve put in reflects my guesstimate of how much it will cost at its mid-life (i.e. 5 years). The servicing cost of my Sienta is also a guesstimate based on my recollection of its cost at its mid-life, though after year 7, I think I’m spending closer to $1500 each year for servicing.
Let me just remind again that what car you buy/drive has a large influence on the cost.
Q: How does the drive feel on an EV?
The electric motor in an EV car offers two main benefits: powerful instant torque, and quiet drive.
EV cars will feel more powerful and responsive because the electric motor delivers not only instant torque, but also that same high torque throughput the speed range of the motor. There are no gears to shift. Many EV sedans also come with more powerful motors than the car really needs, so generally, they will drive like a sports car.
I come from a Toyota Sienta, which is slightly sluggish due to is small engine. Comparatively, the BYD M6 feels very zippy. However, other drivers who come from a far sportier drive may find the BYD M6 not so impressive.
The other nice thing about an electric motor is that it is almost completely quiet. The sounds you still hear in the car while driving isn’t the motor, but rather road noise and wind noise.
You may have heard that some EV cars generate artificial noise at low speeds so that pedestrians can hear an approaching vehicle. If not for that, it’s easy for pedestrians to not notice an EV car pulling up.
Q: Is driving an EV any different than driving an ICE car?
Well, it’s still a car, and they are designed to behave the same as an ICE car. EVs are newer and thus generally have more fancy bells and whistles.
There is one potential difference: one-pedal driving. The accelerator (i.e. gas pedal) is used to both accelerate and decelerate. The deceleration can potentially allow you to stop completely, so you might be able to avoid using the brake pedal entirely. However, the brake pedal should still be used for sudden or heavier braking.
Q: How does the overall cost of ownership between EV and ICE compare?
Total cost of ownership should have its two components treated separately. I answered the operating cost above.
The buying part is a bit completed. I wrote a post recently: Paradox in Singapore’s EV Economics – Zit Seng’s Blog. The post partially included some operating cost (e.g. Additional Flat Surcharge in the road tax). You need to study the numbers of the specific cars to make a sensible comparison as well as to properly understand what the cost means.
My very simplistic answer to this question is: they are comparable, close enough that you can consider EV cars as a viable alternative to ICE cars.
I went for an EV after all, so it must mean at least for me that the EV makes sense. I’m quite data-driven in my decision making.
Q: Why in particular did I get the BYD M6?
Oh, this is surprisingly simple. I needed an MPV that sits 6. Tell me, which other MPV can match the BYD M6 in price?
There is no other affordable option.
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