“Earlier, I needed to refuel my car about six times a month for which I used to pay around HK$500 (US$64) to HK$600 each time,” said Au, 27. “For my EV, I usually go for fast charging, mostly at Shell at around 50 kilowatts per hour, which costs me around HK$130 to HK$140. That’s enough for around four to five days.”
Dexter Ip, 40, switched to the Smart #1 Brabus EV model in March. He said he spends about HK$3,000 less a month in charging fees than he did when he owned a petrol-powered Honda eight-seater Freed multipurpose vehicle.
“Petrol is too expensive,” Ip said, adding that he has been driving nearly 1,000km more each month since switching to an EV.
Wilson Lam, a director at car distributor Zung Fu Group, said he has been saving almost 85 per cent from what he used to pay for petrol each month. “Charging EVs is becoming more convenient. Besides, electricity is so much cheaper than petrol,” Lam said.
However, the time taken to charge an EV is much longer than refuelling a conventional car.
“Most people are [annoyed] by the time cost of charging an EV,” said Au. “Refuelling your gasoline vehicle only takes about five to 10 minutes, while charging your EV takes at least an hour.”
How easy is it to find EV charging facilities and petrol stations in Hong Kong?
At the end of June, there were 8,728 EV chargers for public use, including 5,234 medium-speed and 1,511 fast-charging ones across Hong Kong, according to the Transport Department.
Au, an occupational therapist, says sometimes he finds charging facilities at the hospital where he works. But he mainly uses charging facilities at shopping malls he frequents for dining.
“It’s hard to find charging facilities. It needs to complement your habits,” said Au. “In the past when I drove a petrol car, I would go to places where I did not have to pay for parking, or could park on the streets. Now, I look for shopping malls with EV charging facilities as a priority.”
Ip said he also uses charging spots at shopping malls on the weekends. “It’s quite a waste of time, and in this respect it is not as convenient as driving an ICE [internal combustion engine] car,” said Ip.
What incentives are there for buying EVs compared with regular cars?
The government outlined plans three years ago to encourage the uptake of EVs, with a target to stop registering new petrol and petrol-electric hybrid vehicles by 2035. This is part of the government’s decarbonisation road map to attain zero vehicular emissions by 2050.
The subsidy scheme was due to end in April, which led to a surge in the number of residents rushing to buy EVs, as it was unclear whether the government would scrap the incentives. This pushed the penetration rate for EVs above 90 per cent for the first time in March and April.
The government, meanwhile, has extended the scheme for another two years until March 2026. Private EVs priced above HK$500,000 are no longer entitled to the concession. Still the ratio of new EVs to ICE cars remained above 70 per cent in June and July, and is expected to stay that way, said Zung Fu Group’s Lam.
Both Au and Ip said they had decided to buy their EVs before April to avail of the one-for-one replacement scheme.
The government’s policy for EVs and the road map to phase out petrol vehicles by 2035 has steered consumers towards EVs as a priority, said Ray Leung, managing director of BMW Concessionaires (HK) in Hong Kong and Macau.
“In the automotive industry, we now find that it is more difficult to find a consumer for an ICE vehicle,” said Leung, adding that EVs now account for around 90 per cent of BMW’s sales in Hong Kong.