A special thank you to all participants whom came for the STC outing on 21st March 2026!
Approximately a bajillion years ago, some of you may recall that ChargedUP SG 2.0 (CUSG 2.0) took place, In which the STC was initially invited to test drive and review cars, explore the new innovations made to electrify Singapore’s land transport, and just test the reception of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in general. Needless to say, our visited had too many low points we encountered in no particular order:
- Couldn’t Test drive vehicles, unable to verify the safety features’ effectiveness
- Discovering Major safety flaws – Flush Door handles, digital controls for all essential equipment. SUV-Crossover car bodies pushed hurts pedestrian safety.
- EV popularity inflated by subsidies, not because of demand – As shown from low footfall of the event.
While we did see a fair bit of innovations made, they are more akin to following Moore’s law (exp. Increased battery range), and don’t quite lunch above their weight.
But overall, the event left a sour taste for us, in which considering the majority of Singaporeans (by design) will never own a car. This especially is felt on point 2, safety is a huge concern for pedestrians considering few can afford a personal tank to participate in the road arms race. It may not be exclusive it EVs, but electrification is indirectly encouraging ownership of heavier automobiles.
Regarding lukewarm reception, it does seem that the EV stakeholders had taken notes. Ever since I written about CUSG, there has been reform at controlling the car industry. The relevant Government statuory boards have since revamped our existing tax rebates, aimed at increasing the financial penalty of acquring vehicles lacking any form of electrification.
Outside controllable policies, both locally and worldwide, there has been no shortage of killing news displaying global instability. Several deadly Electric Vehicle (EV) car crashes worldwide bring about skepticism and fear amongst car buyers seeking electrification. And the geopolitical conflicts happening in the Middle Eastern regions, which control the majority of the world’s oil supply, have sharply driven up Oil Prices.
So, EVs are in a little bit of a weird spot today. Singapore consumers continue to doubt fully committing into the EV revolution. Yet, the global oil crisis and disruptions to the supply chains are pushing today’s car buyers to make the jump, even with uncertain.
It is therefore timely, that almost out of the blue, in Feburary 2026 did SGCarmart announce their massive roadshow for consumers, Beyond Motion 2026. A car consumer event aimed at motivating the general public to consider EVs.
As such, in this post, we will:
- Evaluate new technologies that may enhance the EV experience (and our PT system) especially.
- Check if car manufacturers have made amendments that may change our stance on their safety.
- A leopard never changes its spots (Toyota)
- Same Same But Different (EV Models)
- Actually Going Beyond?
- Footnote
Before I continue, I would like readers take note that while I will subconsciously be referencing my core experience with CUSG 2.0, at the end of the day, these events are entirely seperate. Organized by different hosts with only remotely homogeneous objectives in mind. CUSG 2.0 focuses on showcasing Business-2-Business (B2B) technologies and Business-2-Consumer (B2C) sales on EVs, the event hosts SGCarMart have made it clear that Beyond Motion is centred around consumers and electrified vehicles (includes hybrid), thereby being a dedicated B2C event to directly encourage EV (and maybe hybrid) uptake amongst potential car buyers. And certain criticisms I make may not be within the scope of the event.
A leopard never changes its spots (Toyota)
For any lao jiao Singaporeans, I am quite sure we all know Toyota, quite possibly the ICE car prowess in Singapore. From making our well-known luxury aggresive vehicles (cough Alphard), to producing the well-known beater Vios that last a whole bloodline.
But, as my previous writings on the company regarding detailed, it’s time to burst your picturesque perspective of Toyota Singapore, as they are noticeably behind the whole EV curve, for better or worse. For a popular brand, having only one EV to showcase is a kick to the nuts for their EV credibility.
Infuriatingly, their catalogue is chok-full of hybrid vehicles that while popular, challenge the status quo the aforementioned government incentives intend to nudge towards. The lack of full EV options means buyers will receive ZERO emissions rebates under the revised VES scheme this year. And even government aside, the fuel crisis plaguing the whole world (as of writing this post) makes anything that isn’t an EV, let alone in an EV-focused event, almost entirely unappealing.
Proponents argue the rational behind the Japanese automotive giants keeping EVs on the low priority. Numerous Japanese sites and even my more eagle-eyed viewers have explained to me the social and economic contexts in Japan, on how they have their budgets also set on alternative non-fossil fuel sources like Hydrogen. It does not help either that conservative nature of Japanese work culture in these car giants tends to hold back progress on electrification.
It is also essential to understand that most car owners use their vehicles outside major cities in Japan (e.g. Outside Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto), instead on smaller towns and prefactures that may lack sufficient energy in their grids to support a full transition to EV. Not to mention Japanese people detest change, and wouldn’t enjoy the janking slow energy refilling an EV would bring.
But rationallity aside, I stand by my opinion that the slow adoption is still a hinderance nonetheless. Evident as BYD overtook Toyota as the most popular selling car brand in Singapore!
But there is one infuriating model that aggravated hives within me. The right-most in the picture, the accursed SUV-vehicles.
To give additional context. Believe it or not, I’ve previously driven the Corolla Cross’ 1st Gen predecessor in Johor Bahru as a rental.
While it was only a few hours of rental. It felt like a hellish chore somewhat on par with unclogging a toilet. To summarise the terrible, take note even for a 2nd-3rd year driver like me, I already found the car unwieldy to drive. Especially in the tighter JB carparks like KSL City’s spiral ramps. And it is difficult to go close to kerbs on the nearside due to the higher seating position. And while I got the car out unscaved, the car already had scars from less observant and confident drivers.
As such, I did not like how its very successor received the same techbro treatment – can’t see somewhere? Slap another camera and hope for the best. The blindspots are just as egregious as I remember!
Anyways, the new Noah and Sienta are both quite welcome models as actually practical family MPVs, but they have already launched some time ago, hence I’ll spare the details.
Overall, Toyota Singapore had been quite disappointing, and here is where I started hoping the Chinese car makers are breaking boundaries over the EV possibilities. Which segways into….
Same Same But Different (EV Models)
Moving on from Toyota, it already reinforced the no-so-memorable hypothesis we had. But as a heads-up, it’s mostly downhill from here.
Putting technology aside, looking at the safety aspect…oh wait, it this next point involves both “safety” and “innovation”! For the sharp-eyed who had read the sources I linked earlier, you may recall the Xiaomi Car Crash. Somebody died, all thanks to the Enshittification of technology marvels that come at the cost of safety!
According to mutiple sources of the crash, the driver was pronounced dead as soon as his burnt corpse was rescued, as rescuers could not open the doors as the mangled car could not open its door. The door electric components apparently did not function when the car caught fire, locking the helpless victim into the very death cage he shelled good money for. Due to the trendy “Teslafication” of flush door handles. It came as no surprise that the People’s Republic of China made the neo-liberal controversial decision to ban flush door handles Nationwide.
However, every decision made in an isolation is almost always a monkey’s paw, and car manufacturers are not happy to be sitting on unused parts that have been deemed a forbidden fruit. Which consequently results in them exporting the parts to markets which aren’t subject to those same road laws. As I ventured into ALL manufacturers’ booths, with the exception of Toyota, the rest are clearly trying to dispose off their uncompliant parts, selling those parts buil to Singapore like a dumping ground.
Armed with this knowledge, it is only inevitable that the public will eventually be questioning our lack of regulations on these minimalist designs.
In fact, the only China car manufacturer that actually responded in their entire fleet is BYD, at the very least, the new Seal and models brought in after 16/10/2025, aren’t using the flush door handles.
Unfortunately, one pesky model remains in the anomaly, and considering its tarnished record being involved in THAT high-profile fatal collision, I cannot defend this lost hope of metal.
Speaking of this model, you may recall the incident linked earlier on the model involving it at the Tooth Relic Temple incident. Based on what the BYD Personnel relayed to us, they are emphasising the incident happened under the fault of “human error”. Indicating the driver is 100% to blame. Perhaps she did not check her blindspot, maybe she lacked situational awareness that the location has heavy human traffic, or perhaps the suspect falls under the stereotype of drivers too reliant on technology (e.g. blindspot monitoring, Automatic emergency braking) and the swiss cheese effect tumbled .
And while the investigative results have yet to be released, I would personally give a Our visit to the Sealion revealed that a portion of the incident could be blamed on its terrible design. As we’ve reiterated what feels like thousands of times, a combination of multiple large screens, lack of physical controls, and heavy reliance on sensors results in spoonfeeding drivers in the long-run.
Tragic incident aside, some of these other models are red flags walking. Take the below model car seat retraction as an example. One lack of a check, and a baby could be crushed with no resistance.
Meanwhile, we also notice that the crossover SUVs are going above and beyond to evolve into actual SUV styling.
And my absolutely “favourite” behemoth, Denza’s newly launched vehicle meant to target fragile egos – Luxury EV SUVs! Which takes all the disadvantages of whatever I blurted, and dials it up a hundred times!
Actually Going Beyond?
For all the dismisal results we have seen so far, there weren’t quite any improvements to be made in the near future that haven’t been mentioned.
Solid-State Batteries (SSBs)
If there was a technology I absolutely want to succeed for the best of the industry, this takes the cake. It was long introduced to the public back in CUSG. This was briefly mentioned in the introductory gallery to EVs, and the modern iterations of its development have been going on for at least a few years.
But to summarise (better than the vague exhibition illustrations), SSBs could in theory:
- Increase range, as they hold charges better
- Enable faster charging speeds, due to better heat dissipation and less heat generation
- Last much longer than conventional lithium-ion, as they do not grow dendrites (dendrites are the thing that reduce your battery lifespan and charge capacity)
The problem manufacturers have now is that SSBs are difficult to produce in mass quantities. And this is evident looking at the car lineup that day.
Despite the whole Beyond Motion event having significant EV carmakers with R&D divisions on SSBs, NONE of the EV models on display use those SSBs, indicating that mass production is not on the table yet. To quote Marton from TechAltar, SSBs are “a technology that is a few years away, every few years.”
Switchable/Swappable Batteries
At one of the booths, helmed by Gogoro, they pitched the innovation, aimed at eliminating a serious pain point of EVs – the slow charging. Rather than waiting to recharge, the idea is to outright switch out the batteries, akin to changing the batteries on a TV remote when they run dry. And honestly, we see the appeal.
Elsewhere, mainly in Northern Asia, this feature is a namestay for the countries reliant on their version of PMDs, scooters and similar light motorized vehicles. Considering the fast-paced nature similarities of their cultures with Singapore, the idea would certainly be in favour of those transitioning to EVs,
The question is, whether it can scale up to meet industry expecatations. Current operations of the battery swap is limited to Gogoro’s own model, using a proprietary battery system, and with a limited number of locations making it difficult to justify getting their EV scooters.
It does bring a interesting question however. Could this potentially be used for our . The essentially instantaneous charging would artificially increase range on our e-bus fleet, enabling them to go beyond the motion of their limited timeslot shifts, perhaps even a split-shift, with the time-gap spent between shifts changing the battery.
Iterative Charging Speed Upgrades:
The rest of the booths aren’t in the realm of introducing new technologies. Instead more focused on educating the public on the existing, proven features of EVs, or further refining what we already have. In which SP Group’s charging station came to our attention.
In short, SP has mentioned they are the key pillar behind industry standardization within Singapore. They define what qualifies as AC/DC charging, limit manufacturers from installing proprietary charging systems (cough Tesla America) and generally act as a key player in EV regulation.
Footnote
Well, so to speak, the event follows the footsteps of its spritual predesessor, ChargedUP SG 2.0, for all the wrong reasons. We see evolution of private vehicles in the name of profit-seeking, safety is the sacrificial lamb these companies are opting to cut corners at. This especially applies to the newer models after CUSG; running deathtraps that solidify the car “arms race” problem. With these dangerous vehicles
At the very least, there is some hope towards the EV transition towards our Public Transport industry, if SSBs and swappable batteries become the new norm, it could shake up our bus operators’ rather limited scheduling if implemented right, from a 1-to-1 crutch version of a diesel bus, to one that can compete head on in fleet flexibility.
Interested in building a better future for Singapore’s transport? Join the STC community on Discord today!
Singapore Transport Collective 
Leave a comment