How will the new early adoption incentive and vehicular emissions scheme affect EV buyers?

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Electric vehicles (EVs) in Singapore are about to get more expensive. A day after the record-breaking COE bidding prices announced on the Sept 20, 2023, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and National Environment Agency (NEA) have issued a joint statement of the latest revisions of the EV Early Adoption Incentive (EEAI) scheme and Vehicular Emissions Scheme (VES).

The LTA will be extending the EEAI scheme to the end of 2025. From the Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2024, EV buyers will receive a 45 per cent rebate off their Additional Registration Fee (ARF) tax. However, the cap for EEAI rebates will be lowered to S$15,000 - a S$5,000 decrease compared to the current scheme.

What's the maximum rebate for EVs under the revised scheme?

What that means is that if you buy an electric vehicle that is classified under the VES A1 band, you could get a maximum ARF rebate of S$40,000 after factoring in both EEAI and VES. The $0 additional registrations fee (ARF) floor still applies until to the end 2024.

However, the VES system will also be revised for 2024, with VES A2 rebates being lowered to S$5,000 compared to S$15,000 under the current system.

Essentially, if your EV is classified under the VES A2 band, you will only be eligible for a maximum rebate of S$20,000 under the revised VES and EEAI schemes (S$15,000 EEAI rebate + S$5,000 VES A2 rebate).

Aren't all EVs categorised under VES A1?

Contrary to popular belief, not all electric vehicles are eligible for the VES A1 rebates. At the time of writing (effective to the end of 2023), the LTA factors in an emission factor of 0.4g CO2/Wh for EV electrical consumption relative to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. 

Factoring in the CO2 factor (400g CO2/kWh), these are the EV "CO2 emission" figures based on electrical consumption for the various VES bands from Jan 1, 2024 onwards:

EV consumption VES bands for 2024

VES Band	Rebate amount	km/kWh	kWh/100km	CO2 (g/km)
A1	S$25,000	4.444km/kWh	22.5kWh/100km	≤ 90
A2	S$5,000 (Formerly S$15,000)	3.333km/kWh	30kWh/100km	≤120
B	$0 – Neutral	2.516km/kWh	39.75kWh/100km	≤159
C1	-S$15,000	2.198km/kWh	45.5kWh/100km	≤182
C2	-S$25,000	>2.198km/kWh	>45.5kWh/100km	>182

How will this affect my EV purchase in 2024?

For the most part, it won't. Not unless you're looking into purchasing a few specific EVs. Most consumer EVs will be eligible for the full 45 per cent ARF rebate under the VES and EEAI schemes, but there are several models that will be more adversely affected by the VES revisions.

Specifically, the new revisions will see EVs that have efficiency figures higher than 22.5kWh/100km (4.444km/kWh) get a maximum rebate of S$20,000 (a drop from the S$35,000 under the previous schemes).

To name a few, the Audi Q8 e-tron 55, BMW iX, BMW i4 M50, Jaguar I-Pace, Mercedes-AMG EQS 53, Mercedes-EQ EQV 300, some variants of the Porsche Taycan and the Taycan Cross Turismo.

However, mass-market EVs with lower OMV (open market value) figures like the BYD Atto 3 or MG ZS will be unaffected by the latest change. But buyers who are looking into purchasing premium EVs such as the Hyundai IONIQ 5, Kia EV6, Polestar 2 and BMW i4 would have to fork out a little more given the reduced S$40,000 ARF rebates.

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This article was first published in CarBuyer.