DBS floats Singapore's first green car loan

It offers a 1.68% p.a car loan and the bank is also donating trees for every loan taken up.

DBS has launched the DBS Green Car Loan for Singapore customers purchasing new and used electric and hybrid vehicles.

This is Singapore’s green car loan, DBS said in a press release.

Available beginning 1 March 2021, the loan provides a 1.68% p.a. car loan to all customers purchasing electric and hybrid vehicles. This is reportedly the lowest rate in the industry, DBS said.

As part of the green car loan package, DBS is also donating trees towards NParks’ OneMillionTress movement for each customer who takes up a loan.

The bank has been named Tesla’s preferred financing partner in Singapore, and the preferential rate of 1.68% p.a. is already available to Tesla car buyers.

There are some 43,000 electric and hybrid cars registered in Singapore today, comprising just 6.8% of the car population in the country, notes Jeremy Soo, head of consumer banking group (Singapore) at DBS Bank. In comparison, a country like Norway—the global leader in electric car market share—sees electric cars make up 54% of its car population.

“There is clearly much room for growth and we hope the introduction of Singapore’s first green car loan will help alleviate affordability concerns and be the tipping point for car buyers including electric or hybrid vehicles in their consideration set,” Soo said.

A March 2020 report done by DBS and the Impact Institute found that lending to the electric vehicle (EV) instead of combustion engine vehicle (CEV) sector has lower environmental and social costs of approximately 40% and 16%, respectively.

The DBS Green Car Loan is also in in line with the Singapore government’s announced initiatives in 2020 to support their target of replacing Internal Combustion Engine vehicles by 2040.

This includes expanding EV charging infrastructure significantly to 28,000 by 2030, and an early adoption incentive scheme for EV buyers from 2021 to 2023 which will offer rebates capped at SGD 20,000 per vehicle.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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