This is four times the number of such loans provided in 2021, said its head of renovation, car, and wealth financing Kenny Tan.
“We believe this is in line with rising awareness of environmental sustainability among Singaporeans, due to the government’s push for electrification of our land transport,” he said.
Maybank said about 20 per cent of vehicles they have financed to date are electric and hybrid vehicles, with the loans amounting to more than S$600 million, while UOB said that one in 10 car loan applications are for EVs.
The government has been pushing EV adoption for the past two years, in a bid to reduce peak land transport emissions by 80 per cent by or around 2050.
WHO IS TAKING THESE LOANS?
UOB said that based on its data, nearly half of its clients who take up its green loans are millennials.
“They are high-wage earners, and almost 50 per cent of them are staying in apartments,” he said.
Among those who have taken a green loan to buy an EV is Thomas Kok.
Mr Kok, who got a loan from OCBC, said that the preferential interest rates were an incentive for him.
“Sustainability has been in my life for quite some time,” he added.
But not everyone is sold on the idea of a switch just yet, mainly due to insufficient charging infrastructure, long wait times, and the higher cost of greener cars relative to conventional ones.
BETTER ADOPTION TO COME
While the popularity of EVs has grown with rebates provided by the government and increasing EV options, Associate Professor of Economics Walter Theseira from the Singapore University of Social Sciences said people may be waiting for their favourite brand to release an EV.
He noted that mainstream Japanese car makers are lagging when it comes to EVs.