Anyone owns an electric car ?

[taxico]

I feel Singapore lacks any strong incentive that drives EV adoption for example, in Europe. The air pollution is generally low, there is also no legislation that would strongly encourage or enforce such adoption. The only clear light in the tunnel is more recent drive towards sustainability and green economy. This will eventually make it happens but the obvious question is when.

I would be less concerned about the EV performance part. This seems to be on its way to deliver functional replacement of the gasoline cars including distance to travel and speed of "refueling". But infrastructure is not there because there is not enough cars there yet. Some legislation kick is probably needed.

it is NOT feasible to go all electric, even if for passenger cars only. there cannot be enough charge points or power generated (in the next 10-15 years?) to power them all. not especially when you have singaporean attitudes and most people living in flats.

(so we’re gonna get “fine” charging eventually?) there will never be a functional electric replacement to the gas pump anytime soon. and when it does come, it won’t be cheap.

if gas prices are bad now, wait till then.

but iirc singapore gov has said no more ice passenger cars very very soon. so the push is there.

but likely more in bid to reduce car numbers… and free up land? for more humans/FTs?

[nakatago]

The thing I'm most concerned about is how the heck are these things going to survive if taken outside of Singapore and beyond JB. Concerned about it because they have this plan to have only electric cars by 2040

A huge problem with electric cars in is not even what you’ll do once you get to your overseas destination, but rather the difficulty of even taking them out of singapore and through the region. Electric cars for the most part are not engineered to go extremely long distances, so while you will be fine entering JB on a full charge, going further like to KL or Penang may pose quite a challenge.

I've been looking into getting an EV at least in 2 years time and the answer is you integrate charge stops with your break stops. You need to stop and rest anyway--even with ICE cars--so with an EV, might as well charge. People have done > 1000 km road trips on EVs already and the limiting factor is always charging infrastructure.

The EVs themselves have quite the comparable range with most ICE cars already; it's the topping up that will always be the issue. Caveat emptor: unless you stay overnight somewhere and you can get enough charge off a household plug in 5-8 hours--your mileage will literally vary.

[nakatago]

it is NOT feasible to go all electric, even if for passenger cars only. there cannot be enough charge points or power generated (in the next 10-15 years?) to power them all. not especially when you have singaporean attitudes and most people living in flats.

While I'd like to say it's feasible now, admittedly, I did not look into Singapore's context. I have NFI how feasible it is for Singapore to install chargers. Even if they'll be off-grid powered by solar--oh, wait; those HDBs are casting shadows and I can't be bothered to figure out how Singapore generates its electricity.

[nakatago]

Taxico - I concur. I spent 6 months working on 2022 on an EV charging program and I have a patent (lapsed) to solve the charging problem. It is THE problem to solve for EVs.

I haven't really heard much about this though... my friends use their teslas daily. Charge at home or at public chargers in malls. Haven't brought up any issues.

My concerns
1. Battery longevity
No issues now. How about when the car is 5 years old.

2. Will there be enough charging points when the EV take up increase?
Already hearing stories of EV point hoggers now.

3. Related to 1…
Can an older EV car handle the cross border congestion of 2-3 hours, before resuming the journey up to Malaysia? KL takes 7-8 hours nowadays with traffic conditions over holidays into account. A bit pointless to buy a car and be limited to just Singapore.

Edit: realized it’s mainly a rehash of all the points above…

In any case, feels like hybrid cars for the next decade seem to be best solution, for tree huggers

Point 1: battery's fine after 5 years; 10 year old Nissan leafs (leaves?) still hold 70-80% of their capacity. Most EV manufacturers are guaranteeing their batteries for 7-8 years. I'd be more concerned about the companies' customer service (especially the new ones). As one vlogger put it, "you're married to the EV but the manufacturer is your in-laws."

Point 3: 2-3 hours sitting, barely moving should be fine (anecdotal experience from owners). But would Malaysia have chargers for you to top up your battery so you can continue on your road trip?

Point 2: That's just humanity being poor excuses to be living in a society. I like Tesla's solution of adding an idle fee though. Some app-driven chargers have a messaging feature that allows you to message to whoever's using the charger. All this is new; we'll figure this out.

[smoulder]

I feel Singapore lacks any strong incentive that drives EV adoption for example, in Europe. The air pollution is generally low, there is also no legislation that would strongly encourage or enforce such adoption. The only clear light in the tunnel is more recent drive towards sustainability and green economy. This will eventually make it happens but the obvious question is when.

I would be less concerned about the EV performance part. This seems to be on its way to deliver functional replacement of the gasoline cars including distance to travel and speed of "refueling". But infrastructure is not there because there is not enough cars there yet. Some legislation kick is probably needed.

it is NOT feasible to go all electric, even if for passenger cars only. there cannot be enough charge points or power generated (in the next 10-15 years?) to power them all. not especially when you have singaporean attitudes and most people living in flats.

(so we’re gonna get “fine” charging eventually?) there will never be a functional electric replacement to the gas pump anytime soon. and when it does come, it won’t be cheap.

if gas prices are bad now, wait till then.

but iirc singapore gov has said no more ice passenger cars very very soon. so the push is there.

but likely more in bid to reduce car numbers… and free up land? for more humans/FTs?

For now the plan is to replace ICE cars by 2040 if I recall correctly.

[taxico]

EVs are not green nor exo-friendly.

what we need is a new type of ICE that can sip gas (maybe even ethanol).

the engines that we know are based on tech that is so darn old.

[Ganeshas1981]

My cousin has Tesla. He says that it's damn expensive, but so far he didn't have any problems with it (he rides Tesla for 2 years now).

[Lisafuller]

EVs are not green nor exo-friendly.

what we need is a new type of ICE that can sip gas (maybe even ethanol).

the engines that we know are based on tech that is so darn old.

How so?

[jamesalan85]

I don't own an electric car yet, but I'm also curious about the experiences of others. From what I've gathered, electric vehicles seem to offer lower maintenance costs and are cheaper to 'refuel', especially with the rising petrol prices. But I'd love to hear firsthand from actual owners about their daily experiences and any tips they might have for potential buyers like me!

[sundaymorningstaple]

Check the cost of a major refueling, e.g., replacing the battery. That will open your eyes.



In Shock!

[Pal]

I am also contemplating getting an EV in the near future. Was waiting for the battery technology to be more mature and better charging infrastructure in place. Just hope that by then the EV battery can last longer till end of COE.

Pump prices are a killer! My COEed family car has too many moving parts to maintain. It is also getting a bit noisy after years of abuse

[sundaymorningstaple]

I owned two cars when the COE system first started, one and normal sedan and the other a restored 66 Mini-Cooper Mk 1 that I restored from a non-runner to a mean machine (It was a factory modified mini-cooper originally import from the UK specifically for the old Upper Thomson Race track. I sold both at the end of the 6 month grace period that was given to buy a COE based on the current valuation at that time. I said Nah! I don't need a car that badly (and I lived at the end of Jln Kayu in the camp back then!!! Haven't owned a car since.

[Pal]

I still have to do school runs every morning. There's no straight forward transport option at 6am and fees for school bus are exorbitant. So I guess car is a necessity for me for now.

[Strong Eagle]

EVs are not green nor exo-friendly.

what we need is a new type of ICE that can sip gas (maybe even ethanol).

the engines that we know are based on tech that is so darn old.

This argument keeps getting bandied about by the anti EV folks, but as a fact, it is false, and uses a lot of cherry picked data. Electric vehicles are the future, for many good reasons.

TLDR: ICE engines have a theoretical limit, as a heat engine, that cannot be violated. The best auto engines are 15 to 20 percent efficient, the most efficient are the giant diesels in container ships that hit 50 percent. We're not likely to get much more without discovering exotic new materials to withstand heat. But that's pointless... it's like trying to invent a high tech buggy whip when ICE cars are taking over the road.

[electricfantic]

thinking of getting one, but it is just too expensive. not sure if the government will increase the subsidies for ev cars. If Tesla Model 3 can go below 100K, will be great.