STRAITS SIGNAL | EP 01 The Fear Premium:The hidden friction behind Singapore’s commercial EV transition
Most people know Hong Seh for Ferrari. For Maserati. For the kind of cars that made Singaporeans crane their necks on the PIE.
That chapter's closed. And what Edward Tan — third-generation, true-blue Singaporean — is building in its place is arguably more interesting. Less glamorous, maybe. But the kind of bet that only makes sense if you're willing to read ten years ahead and act now.
Electric lorries. Commercial EVs. The unglamorous backbone of how this city actually moves.
In Singapore's first episode of Straits Signal, I sat down with Edward inside an actual electric lorry — yes, we recorded in one — to unpack the full circuit of this pivot. From a family that started in fish tackle and hardware in 1936, evolved through chemicals, landed on luxury cars, and is now going all-in on clean commercial fleets.
Here's what we got into:
- The evolution nobody saw coming — how a petrolhead family traded horsepower for kilowatts, and why Edward calls it evolution, not disruption
- The 119 problem — Singapore just registered 119 commercial EVs in two months. Edward breaks down why that number is actually more signal than it looks — and what the 40,000 government incentive flipping on January 1st really means for the Y and X plate segments
- Why Chinese EVs deserve a second look — beyond the skepticism, Edward makes the case for why China's volume, data, and consolidation puts them ahead on commercial EVs in ways the Western market simply hasn't caught up to yet
- The system integrator play — selling a lorry is the easy part. Edward's real bet is on solving everything around it — fleet management software, refrigeration systems, battery monitoring, bodybuilders, after-sales. End to end, or bust.
- And the line that stuck — humans are our own worst enemy. Very kiasi, very kiasu — scared to die, scared to lose, but somehow also scared to move. Because the technology is here. The economics work. The only variable left is us.
Timestamps
- 00:00 — Intro: 1936 to electric lorries
- 03:20 — Why Tesla was a bridge, not a destination
- 08:45 — Breaking down the G, Y and X plate segments
- 14:10 — The real reason adoption is slow (hint: it's not the charging)
- 22:30 — The China EV question — risk or edge?
- 31:00 — Becoming a system integrator: deliberate choice or market push?
- 40:15 — What it would actually take for electrification to fail
- 47:00 — Quickfire: fleet operators, what are you waiting for?
About Straits Signal
Straits Signal tracks the operators mid-move — the real decisions, the pivots, the logic behind the leap. Hosted by Kim Yeoh. Built for people who want the actual story, not the press release version.
New episodes dropping regularly. Follow so you don't miss the next signal.
Connect
🔗 Hong Seh Group / Edward Tan — LinkedIn
📍 Singapore
If this episode sparked something — share it with the one person in your network who's still sitting on the fence about EVs. You know exactly who that is.
