6 things to look out for before buying an Electric Car in Singapore

With more options in 2022, it is important to ask the right questions before purchasing an Electric Car (EV). I’ll start by listing some pointers to take note of when looking at your future electric-powered car.

POINTERS:

• Charging Plug
• Convenient Charging Stations
• Charging Speed
• Lifestyle / Frequency of Use
• Motor Power
• Costs

Now let me explain the points and what you could look out for when making this electrifying purchase.

Charging Plug

There are only 3 choices of plug types in Singapore, have a look at my video for more information.

With Chademo being the least favorite plug type in Singapore, it is important to avoid it. I would recommend getting a car that has Type 2 and CCS as this is the majority plug connector currently at public charging stations. I have developed some thoughts that my Nissan Leaf would slowly get harder to charge as I see many fast charger CCS plugs at stations with no Type 2 plug connectors available.

This limits my choice of charging stations but also means that my car has not gone through many fast charge speeds which harms the battery over time.

Convenient Charging Stations

I believe most Singaporeans do not own a landed property or stay in an apartment that has charging facilities. It is really important to have really convenient charging stations available near your work or home. This ensures that you can easily charge your vehicle whenever the charger is available. This brings me to another point, you will need to have 2 charging stations that are convenient enough. Why 2 you may ask?

You will need to have more than 1 charging station available as there is always a chance that there is someone using the charger which will disrupt your charging plans and needs. I’ve been in those annoying situations where someone arrives before me at a charging station and starts to charge, we have no choice but to ask how long he will be charging and hope to come back around that estimated time.

Charging Speed

Now, when I mention charging speed, everyone opens their app and looks at the charging speeds available at the charging stations. Do not be fooled! What is available at the charging stations does not mean your vehicle will be able to accept that speed.

Yes, look at the charging speed that your potential car will be able to charge at. For example, my Nissan Leaf has a max charging speed of 6Kw. This means if I head to a 32Kw charger, my car would only be able to charge at 6Kw regardless. You may like to charge at a slow rate sometimes, which I would recommend if you have time. If your potential car can select this, I would love to switch my vehicle with yours. I only know that Tesla cars have this option so far, not sure if other brands have this ability yet.

Lifestyle / Freqency of Use

With lifestyle being the greatest change when purchasing an EV / Electric Car. Understand that your life will change, it will definitely be very different. Whether this is your first car purchase ( Like me ) or you are coming from a petrol/diesel car, you will adapt and learn to enjoy the benefits of owning an electric car in Singapore.

I consider another factor really important and that would be the frequency of use. One of the biggest selling points is that an EV’s running cost is lesser than a petrol/diesel car. This is true but this would only be apparent when you use the vehicle more often. I drive from Choa Chu Kang to Little India twice a day, 5 days a week. This electric car has saved me loads of cash charging the vehicle with about $19 per full charge ( 0-100% ) instead of going to the petrol station which would have cost me an estimated $100 for the same mileage. I have calculated this cost and would be posting this in future post or videos so do follow my blog or youtube channel to learn more.

Motor Power

With great power comes great responsibility, which would easily summarize what this point is about.

When searching for your EV purchase, always look at the power of the car. The higher the power, the higher the cost. The higher the power, the faster it is. I’m sure you are wondering what costs are involved, insurance and road tax cost would be higher than usual depending on the motor’s power. Definitely ask the sales team to go into detail as you may forget to ask about these costs sometimes.

Costs

There is no need for me to mention this actually but as you saw from the previous point that you may forget to ask a few crucial questions when purchasing your next EV. First, you may like to understand the cost of insurance. Second, you should also know how much is the car’s ARF. Third, you should also find out how much does it cost to replace car parts as you know and an electric car could cost you a bomb to repair the battery if damaged. Forth, you may like to know the cost of charging which I have done some calculations with my Nissan Leaf in this video.

Conclusion

To end this post, I’ll do a quick summary to conclude this post.

If you are looking for a specific Electric Car I would consider, it would be the MG 5 and the New BYD E6 if you want a bigger car for your family. The New E6 does have a smaller motor which results in savings but not shiok.

I did not go into detail about range as all Electric Cars have pretty good range and there are many factors that determine the actual range of the car like terrain, driving style, the capacity of the battery, and the motor power.

The more powerful your motor is, the range decreases. If you have a small battery pack, the range rapidly decreases but most EVs now have a good enough battery capacity for Singapore’s road. If you are driving to Genting or drive max acceleration every time you step on the acceleration pedal, the terrain and driving style would decrease its actual range too. Hence, I’ve decided to leave this out of the points but it would also be important to think about these concurrently.

Join the EV Enthusiast FB Group and ask questions! Most EV drivers are happy to reply to any random questions you may have so don’t be shy. I hope this post has helped you in thinking about your next car purchase, do have a look at my youtube channel if you have time to watch how I go about my day with an EV.

Thanks for dropping by LeafMyLife!