Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have been heralded by some as key to reducing carbon emissions from the transport sector. Yet, there has been little critical research into their sustainability from a transport planning perspective. This study critically analyses the sustainability of BEVs in Singapore by examining the changing political framing of BEVs and how BEVs affect attitudes towards transport among Generation Y.The government’s pragmatic ideology led to BEVs being initially framed as an ‘unnecessary’ and expensive risk without clear national benefits. The subsequent policy reversal to embrace BEVs was due to falling costs, image issues, and a green growth opportunity. Encouraging BEV adoption was arguably never just about responding to the climate emergency.Among Generation Y, car ownership was associated with strong symbolic motivations. BEVs will likely strengthen them given BEVs are seen to signal progressiveness, innovativeness and prestige. Consequently, the promotion of BEVs involves a fine balancing act to avoid accentuating the car’s symbolism. BEVs were seen to connote eco-friendliness, but many doubted environmental reasons were a significant motivator driving BEV adoption. BEVs were found to strongly symbolise that one is in the privileged 5% of people staying in single-unit landed properties, where accessibility of charging points is not an issue. This is a concerning inequity that needs to be addressed given the government’s target to cease the registrations of new ICE vehicles by 2040.

This paper intends to prove that the underlying spatial logic of central Singapore has been shaped by the evolving ethnic discourse, and by extension, language.