FOR many middle-class families, a car is a big-ticket purchase requiring careful consideration. This was indeed the case for Eric Lim, a 32-year old recruiter, who needed to meet the growing transportation needs of his family of 4. It took 3 showroom visits before he finally bought his first electric vehicle (EV) from a Chinese brand – joining a tiny minority of car owners in Singapore.

South-east Asia’s EV market is about to enter a phase of rapid growth. According to market research firm Mordor Intelligence, the Asean EV market was valued at US$500 million in 2021, and is expected to grow more than fourfold to US$2.6 billion by 2027.

Yet the market is still nascent. Data from Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) shows that as of this May, only 6 out of 1,000 private cars in the country are pure EVs.