This comes at a time when Singapore is transitioning towards cleaner energy supplies for transport. Photo: Bloomberg

Great Eastern has launched a new standalone electric vehicle (EV) insurance plan, GREAT EV Protect, in anticipation of Singapore’s move towards an EV-centric future.

According to a release dated Sept 6, the plan includes three benefits — outpatient medical claims of up to $1,000 from electric shocks from electric vehicle charging stations; home contents insured for up to $20,000 for damage caused by fire from private EV charging stations at landed properties; and accidental damage to owner’s private EV charging stations of up to $5,000.

This comes at a time when Singapore is transitioning towards cleaner energy supplies for transport. From 2030, all new vehicles in Singapore are to run on cleaner energy, supported by a network of 60,000 charging points around the island, including 20,000 in private premises.

The release notes that the number of EVs has increased rapidly over the past few years, with a 122% jump in the number of EVs on the road in 2022 compared to the previous year. With that, Great Eastern notes that “Singapore’s journey to an EV-only nation will require support beyond ready infrastructure and buyer impetus”.

"The launch of our standalone EV insurance plan is timely and important. The adoption of EVs will only continue to increase with the push for Singapore to electrify all vehicles and build a sustainable land transport system,” says Jimmy Tong, managing director of general and group insurance at Great Eastern.

He says that Great Eastern needs to ensure everyone is well-covered by a protection plan tailored for unique incidents to EVs, which are not adequately addressed by conventional internal combustion engine vehicle policies.

“GREAT EV Protect will give a peace of mind for our customers, by applying the same rigour as our protection for drivers of non-electric vehicles with new coverage for potential EV-only issues,” he adds.