EV registrations went up all all over the East last year despite falling in the West
Registrations of electric vehicles (EVs) in Singapore surged 50.5 per cent year on year in 2023, and this is interesting indeed as EV models from the likes of Ford are sitting and collecting dust in the U.S so how come EV adoption is going in the opposite direction here in the East than it is in the West?
While some may be quick to point out that EV adoption started far sooner in the West and thus it is only a matter of time before the East sees the same trend emerge, industry watchers do not think that demand for EVs here in SouthEast Asia will soon stall, like what is happening in China and the West.
Moreover, according to Land Transport Authority (LTA) numbers published on Monday (29 Jan 2024), the Republic of Singapore registered 5,468 new EVs in 2023, a staggering 50.5 percent more than the comparatively meagre but still respectable 3,634 units that were registered in 2022.
The adoption rate of EVs in Singapore also went up to 18.1 percent of total car registrations of 30,225 in 2023, compared to just 11.7 percent in 2022. This is impressive and suggests that there is going to be a huge shift to EVs in the small country this year in 2024. Perhaps they may even come close to Thailand’s numbers.
Chinese carmaker BYD took the pole position and, by extension, the lion’s share of the EV registrations pie in Singapore at 1,416 units, or 25.1 percent in 2023. Naturally, this is no surprise as BYD has been performing phenomenally all over the globe and even here in Malaysia as of late.
On top of that, despite EV registrations falling out of favour in China and the U.S, here are some facts to digest. In 2023, 82 percent new EVs were registered in Norway, 18.1 percent of new EVs were registered in Singapore, while Thailand saw 12.2 percent of new EVs being registered while Malaysia and Vietnam saw 1.4 percent and 11.58 percent respectively.
So clearly, only China and the U.S are suffering from a decline in EV registrations while most other parts of the world seem to see more and more EV sales. However, given that China and the U.S have been dealing with EVs much longer than the rest of us, I am personally more inclined to follow their lead and stick with hybrids and petrol cars.
