Fuelled by Demand

As Asia becomes a significant driving force in the adoption of electric vehicles, Tatler looks at the pros and cons of going battery-powered

- Lauren James

At the 17th World Car Awards in New York in April, Hyundai stole the show. The South Korean carmaker's Ioniq 5 won in three categories: World Car of the Year, World Electric Vehicle of the Year and World Car Design of the Year. The recognition was not only a win for Asian carmakers but also signalled endorsement of an industry rapidly evolving to phase out internal combustion engines (ICES). "Our game-changing electric vehicle (EV) has made a strong impact on increasingly eco-conscious and demanding consumers around the world, and its success supports the acceleration of electrification of the automotive industry," said president and CEO Jaehoon Chang in a statement.

With 2.45 million sales in 2020, Asia-Pacific is becoming a significant driving force in the adoption of electric vehicles, largely thanks to mainland China. With 1.34 million, the country accounted for the highest number of EVs sold in the world in 2020, due to the similar cost of EVs and ICES. Since Tesla cars first went on sale in Singapore in July 2021 and became the top-selling saloon within two months, the city-state has made a great push in EV adoption, boosting charging provision and trialling electric transport-from taxis and buses to postal service scooters and Grab bikes. However, Japan and South Korea accounted for only 31,000 and 54,000 EV sales respectively, which is being put down to the cars costing twice as much as non-electric models.

As well as being more sustainable than petrol- or diesel-fuelled automobiles, EVs are often a more cost-effective option; in Hong Kong, for example, the government has offered generous tax breaks since 1994 to incentivize their purchase. While there is still a definite cachet attached to owning souped-up sports cars and luxury SUVs, in many places owning an electric vehicle, particularly a Tesla, has become synonymous not only with practicality but also with status and virtue.