Electric cars make up over 10% of new car registrations in 2022: Iswaran

MORE than 10 per cent of all new car registrations in 2022 so far have been for electric cars – almost triple of last year, said Transport Minister S Iswaran in Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 29). The strong growth was despite cost pressures on vehicles recently, such as supply chain issues and rising interest rates, he said.

Iswaran was responding to East Coast GRC Member of Parliament Cheryl Chan’s question about possible drags on electric vehicle (EV) adoption and plans to mitigate them.

“The government also continues to support EV adoption by providing tax rebates, accelerating the deployment of EV charging points and strengthening regulations to ensure the safety and reliability of our EV charging network,” he said.

Chan also asked about whether the supply of Certificates of Entitlement (COE) will be a key determinant to accelerate transition to EVs over the next few years.

Iswaran responded that COE supply is not expected to be a key determinant, as they are not differentiated by propellant type.

Asked earlier in the session about the number of cars owned by each household, the minister said the fundamental issue that accounts for COE prices is supply and demand, where demand “remains unabated” while supply “remains constrained” due to the zero-growth policy.

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Supply is hence determined by deregistrations that are in part affected by a 10-year cycle, following the historical pattern of car registrations, as well as the current economic environment, he added.