EV charging in Orchard and Somerset: where it is cheapest, and why the parking costs more than the charge

On Orchard Road, the electricity is the small number.

The cheapest public charge in the area is at The Cathay, at the Dhoby Ghaut end, where Eigen charges S$0.52 per kWh, and most malls run between S$0.70 and S$0.87.

But on a short visit the charge is rarely the cost that matters.

An hour or two in a mall carpark can run from S$3 to past S$7, several times the price of the electricity.

So the move in Orchard is to charge while parked anyway, and to do it after about 6pm, when most malls switch to a flat evening parking rate and the bays empty out.

The fastest public charge is a 180kW unit at the Yotel hotel, at S$0.65 per kWh, below the other high-power chargers.

There is a different charger for the cheapest top-up, the fast charge and the evening visit.

The cheapest charge

The lowest rate sits at the quieter edges, not the prime malls.

The Cathay, the mall at the Dhoby Ghaut end of the belt, is the cheapest, where Eigen runs six 22kW bays at S$0.52 per kWh. VisionCrest, the office block on Penang Road, comes next at S$0.55.

Along Orchard Road itself, the cheapest are the Charge+ chargers at Ngee Ann City and JEN Orchardgateway, and the Shell bays at Wisma Atria, all at S$0.63 per kWh. Strides YTL runs Wisma Atria's other chargers at S$0.65, the same rate as the Four Seasons hotel and the MNL charger at The Heeren.

Everything else climbs. The mall chargers run by SP Mobility sit at S$0.70 to S$0.77, and the dearest chargers at the malls and hotels reach S$0.86 to S$0.87.

On a 40kWh top-up, the rate spread is about S$21 at The Cathay against about S$34 at the dearest mall fast charger — a gap of about S$13. Two hours of midday parking at one of those malls can be more than that.

The bigger cost is the parking

In most of Singapore parking is cheap enough to ignore. On Orchard Road it is the main event, and it changes where and when to charge.

By day the rates are steep. The Hilton Singapore Orchard charges about S$7 an hour, and the Four Seasons about S$6. Paragon runs about S$2.58 for the first hour but adds a S$2 surcharge through the day and a lunchtime peak charge on top, so a midday hour runs well past S$4. ION Orchard is about S$2.70 for the first hour, Ngee Ann City about S$2.60.

After about 5pm or 6pm, most malls switch to a flat evening rate. ION drops to a flat S$3 per entry, Ngee Ann City to S$4.28, Wisma Atria to S$3.50, Wheelock Place to S$4.50. Plaza Singapura is the cheapest of the lot, at a flat S$2.14 in the evening.

The chargers ease off at the same time. By day the prime malls run up to about half their bays occupied, Ngee Ann City and ION the fullest, dropping to under a third after about 7pm.

So an evening charge is the value play twice over: the parking goes flat, and the bays open up. The revolt.sg charger map shows which are open right now.

The exception is the cheap end. The Cathay charges about S$1.40 an hour, so the Dhoby Ghaut chargers are the rare Orchard spot where neither the charge nor the parking stings.

When speed matters

The fastest charger on the public networks is the 180kW Volt unit at the Yotel hotel on Orchard Road, at S$0.65 per kWh, usually with both bays open in the evening — below the S$0.73 to S$0.86 of the other 100kW-plus units.

The Tesla Superchargers at Orchard Central are faster, at 250kW, but take a Tesla plug or an adapter.

Charge+ runs 120kW chargers at S$0.73 per kWh at JEN Orchardgateway and Winsland House on Killiney Road. ION Orchard has a 100kW FastParknCharge unit at S$0.74, and the Grand Hyatt on Scotts Road runs up to 160kW at S$0.82.

The dearest fast power is at the malls and hotels, where SP Mobility and Shell charge S$0.86 per kWh on the 50kW to 120kW units at Plaza Singapura, The Centrepoint, the Hilton and Tang Plaza.

For a quick top-up at a low rate, the Yotel charger is the clear pick.

The malls and hotels

Most of the charging here is convenience charging while shopping or staying over, and the rate is set by whoever wired the carpark.

SP Mobility runs the largest share — the bays at Orchard Central, Tang Plaza, Far East Plaza and Pacific Plaza at S$0.70 to S$0.77, and the hotel and serviced-suite chargers at Pan Pacific Orchard, Orchard Hotel, Sheraton Towers and Liat Towers at S$0.72. Shell covers Wheelock Place, Paragon and the Hilton, and FastParknCharge runs ION Orchard and the Grand Hyatt.

None of these is the cheapest way to charge, but they are where a driver already is, and after dark they are mostly open.

Paying for it

There is no single tap-and-go card across the networks, so the app matters.

SP Mobility runs the largest share of the malls and hotels and takes payment through its own app. Charge+ runs the cheaper mall chargers at Ngee Ann City and JEN Orchardgateway, Shell Recharge Wisma Atria, Wheelock Place and the Hilton, and Volt the cheap Yotel fast charger and 313@Somerset.

Eigen runs the cheapest charger at The Cathay, FastParknCharge ION Orchard and the Grand Hyatt, and MNL the VisionCrest and Heeren bays.

The practical move is to set up the app for whichever charger is the regular one before the first visit, because most of these units will not start without it.

The full list

Every public charger in Orchard and Somerset with a published rate is below, cheapest first. Condominium and residents-only bays are left out, and the mall and hotel chargers are grouped by operator.

Prices and availability are as of 19 June 2026 and can change, so check the live map before driving.

The upshot

For a driver in Orchard, the cheapest charge is at The Cathay, at S$0.52, where the parking is also cheap. Along Orchard Road, the cheapest are the Charge+ and Shell bays at Ngee Ann City and Wisma Atria, at S$0.63.

When speed matters, the Yotel hotel's 180kW Volt charger at S$0.65 is the fastest on the public networks and the cheapest of the high-power chargers.

The sensible move at the prime malls is to charge while parked after about 6pm, when the parking drops to a flat rate and the bays open up.

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See real-time prices and availability for every public charger in Singapore on the revolt.sg charger map at https://revolt.sg/chargers. Check the latest before you drive.

For current rates across the whole island, see the Singapore EV Charging Price Index at https://revolt.sg/ev-charging/price-index.

EV charging guides by area: Ang Mo Kio and Bishan, Bedok and Tanah Merah, Bukit Timah, CBD and Tanjong Pagar, Clementi, East Coast, Marine Parade and Joo Chiat, Jurong East and Boon Lay, One-North and Buona Vista, Paya Lebar and Geylang, Queenstown, Redhill and Alexandra, River Valley, Great World City and Tiong Bahru, Sengkang and Punggol, Tampines, Toa Payoh and Novena, Woodlands and Admiralty, and Yishun and Sembawang.