EV charging in Toa Payoh and Novena: where it is cheapest, and the one street where overnight gets tight

The cheapest public charge in Toa Payoh and Novena is S$0.50 per kWh, and at one of the three places that charge it, the current runs at 120kW.

That site is a fast-charging bay on Thomson Road, near the Toa Payoh boundary, run by EV Mobility. A driver there pays less per unit than at almost any home-speed charger in either town, and can still refill in well under an hour.

The same S$0.50 turns up in two unlikelier spots. On the forecourt of STI Motor Centre, a motor workshop on Lorong 8, a single 40kW charger run by an operator called Electric is usually available, though the workshop's hours are worth checking first. At the Value Hotel on Balestier Road, Volt runs a pair of 22kW chargers.

None of the three is at a mall or an HDB block, which is where most drivers would think to look first.

For most drivers in these two neighbourhoods, charging is otherwise an easy business.

The estate's overnight squeeze is mild, with one striking exception on Lorong 1.

The cheapest charge and the quickest are now much the same handful of chargers. The overnight plug is a separate question, and on one street a hard one.

The cheapest charge: three sites at fifty cents

After the three S$0.50 sites, the next-cheapest charger is another fast one: a GoParkin 120kW unit at 21 Lorong 8, right beside the STI workshop, at S$0.58 per kWh.

Three alternating-current sites share the next rung, at S$0.63: the NKF Centre on Kim Keat Road, where MNL runs four 22kW chargers; Novowatt's chargers at Shaw Plaza on Balestier Road; and the OrangeTee Building on Lorong 6, where P-Parking runs two.

Charge+ comes next, at S$0.65 per kWh, and it is the more useful option for many drivers because it runs at three places they actually pass: Royal Square at Novena, the Storhub at Toa Payoh, and Balestier Hill Shopping Centre.

The Royal Square chargers are the busiest cheap option in the area, in use about 40 per cent of the day, because the rate is low and it sits in the middle of the Novena medical belt.

The Storhub and Balestier Hill chargers, away from the foot traffic, are usually available.

The town's Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks are dearer than any of these, which is the reverse of most estates. Most Toa Payoh blocks are run by Shell at S$0.69 per kWh, with one Lorong 8 block a little cheaper at S$0.67, and ComfortDelGro ENGIE and SP Mobility at S$0.70 filling in the rest.

Charging overnight: easy, except on Lorong 1

For residents without a home charger, the block chargers are the overnight default, and in Toa Payoh they are mostly a soft target.

Across the town's blocks, about a third of the ports are taken overnight, and the daytime figure is lower still.

On most streets a resident can come home late and still find a plug.

Lorong 1 is the exception, and a sharp one.

Block 138, The Peak @ Toa Payoh, and Block 130, the Toa Payoh Crest, are the two tightest, but they do not fill at the same hour, so the block matters as much as the time. Each carries three sockets.

Block 138 fills earliest. About 60 per cent of its ports are typically taken by dinnertime, and a driver wanting one should plug in by about 6pm, weekday or weekend alike. After midnight close to 90 per cent are in use, and a late arrival will usually find none open.

Block 130 holds on longer. A socket is usually still open until about 8pm on a weeknight, and nearer 9pm at the weekend, before it too fills to roughly 91 per cent of its ports on a weeknight overnight and about 83 per cent at weekends.

Both are newer blocks where more residents drive electric than the chargers can hold.

A driver living at either, and caught after those hours, is better off walking to Block 116/122 Lorong 2, the Toa Payoh View, a short walk away and at much the same rate, where two or more sockets are typically open all night, every night.

Away from Lorong 1, the quiet blocks are easy to find, with sockets to spare overnight.

None of this needs guessing at from home. The revolt.sg charger map shows which block has an open port right now.

Novena: the medical belt

Across Thomson Road, Novena is a district of hospitals, offices and malls rather than homes, and its charging follows the daytime crowd.

Royal Square is the anchor, with the cheap Charge+ alternating-current chargers and a 120kW fast charger in the same carpark, a few minutes from Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the specialist centres.

Novena Square and United Square, both run by SP Mobility, sit at the pricier end, at S$0.77 per kWh on alternating current and S$0.86 on their 100kW fast chargers. Both are usually available.

The medical buildings are filling in too. There is a charger at a Mount Elizabeth Novena clinic, for the patients and staff who park for hours at a time.

When speed matters: fast, and mostly available

Neither neighbourhood has the ultra-fast hardware of the newer towns, but the fast chargers it does have rarely have a queue.

The best value is the EV Mobility bay on Thomson Road, a 120kW charger at S$0.50 per kWh. It is the cheapest fast rate in either town, and undercuts most of the slow chargers around it.

Next to the STI workshop on Lorong 8, a GoParkin 120kW unit charges S$0.58, and EV Mobility's OKIO site on Balestier Road is S$0.66.

Charge+'s 120kW chargers at Royal Square and the Storhub, once the value pick, are now S$0.75. SAFRA Toa Payoh's 60kW charger, run by Strides YTL, is S$0.73.

Shell runs 120kW chargers at a few Toa Payoh blocks and the HDB Hub at S$0.80, and SP Mobility's 100kW chargers at the Novena malls sit at S$0.86.

Paying for it

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

Shell now runs most of Toa Payoh's block chargers and takes payment through the Shell Recharge app. Charge+ covers Royal Square, the Storhub and Balestier Hill, and SP Mobility the Novena malls and many blocks.

The cheapest chargers run on their own apps too: EV Mobility on Thomson Road and at the OKIO carpark, GoParkin beside the workshop on Lorong 8, and Volt at the Value Hotel. ComfortDelGro ENGIE, Strides YTL and the smaller operators each run theirs as well.

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

The full list

Every public charger in Toa Payoh and Novena is below, cheapest first. Private and residents-only bays are left out, and the per-block chargers are grouped by operator.

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

The upshot

For a driver in Toa Payoh or Novena, the cheapest charge is S$0.50 per kWh — at the EV Mobility fast bay on Thomson Road, the STI workshop on Lorong 8, or the Value Hotel on Balestier Road. If those are taken, a GoParkin charger next to the workshop is S$0.58, and a run of S$0.63 chargers sits just above.

Overnight charging is easy on most blocks and tight only on Lorong 1, where Block 138 fills by about 6pm and Block 130 by about 8pm, so the answer is to get home by then or walk to the quieter Block 116/122 on Lorong 2. The fast chargers are cheap by local standards and usually have an open bay.

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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, Orchard and Somerset, Paya Lebar and Geylang, Queenstown, Redhill and Alexandra, River Valley, Great World City and Tiong Bahru, Sengkang and Punggol, Tampines, Woodlands and Admiralty, and Yishun and Sembawang.