Singapore aims to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040
Singapore aims to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, making a bigger bet on electric cars as part of its efforts to cut greenhouse gases and fight climate change, the finance minister said on Tuesday. The wealthy city-state of 5.7 million, which is hiking investment in flood defences, joins Norway, Britain and others in setting a target to cut the use of vehicles with combustion engines.
"Our vision is to phase out ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles and have all vehicles run on cleaner energy by 2040," Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said in his budget speech. Singapore, which has been criticised by Tesla CEO Elon Musk as not being supportive of electric vehicles, is one of the most expensive places in the world to buy a car and there are few electric vehicles on the roads.
In Tuesday's budget, Heng said measures to encourage electric vehicle adoption included a registration fee rebate on purchases of fully electric car and taxis. The country, an oil-refining hub, will also expand public charging infrastructure to 60,000 points by 2030 from 1,600 now.
Singapore push for all-EV future faces a love of crazy, rich combustion
Singaporean chip designer Eu Gene Goh is an electric-vehicle evangelist with two Teslas, opens new tab in the garage. But the car-tech enthusiast is also not ready to give up his S$1.6-million ($1.21 million) McLaren 765LT with a V8 engine capable of hitting 100 km per hour (62 miles per hour) in three seconds.
The city-state's bid to stop the purchase of combustion-engine cars from 2030 has bumped up against an entrenched love of supercars, ultra-luxury rides and buyers with enough income to keep them in one of the most expensive places in the world to own a car. Singapore's target of phasing out combustion car sales by 2030 puts it in a small group of countries with that near-term goal, including Iceland, Sweden and the Netherlands, but sales of electric cars in those markets have picked up faster. The Singapore government has been pushing electric vehicles (EVs) for two years, offering incentives of up to S$45,000 and expanding the charging network, but take-up by individual buyers will need to vastly accelerate to hit the target.
EV made up almost 12% of all car sales in Singapore last year, up from almost 4% in 2021, according to the Land Transport Authority. Still, EVs represented just 1% of cars on the road, a Reuters analysis of ownership data found. By comparison, combustion sports cars in a city where the Formula 1 Grand Prix is one of the biggest events of the year made up 1.65% of the almost 653,000 registered vehicles. Singapore drivers average just 30 km a day and do not have the same kind of "range anxiety" as drivers in the U.S. and Europe, Schuster added. The government plans to build 60,000 charging points by 2030, up from 1,600 now, which Schuster believes will be a tipping point to achieve the 2030 target.
Shifting electric cars into the fast lane
The Audi Q8 e-tron 55 has a range of up to 600 km which is sufficient for the day-to-day needs of drivers in S'pore. Foto:Audi
Electric vehicles (EVs) have been taking centre stage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for the past few years and 2024 is no different. Although automotive manufacturers continually expand their selection of EVs and accelerate EV development, electric cars have yet to become the norm on Singapore’s roads. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) reported that EVs accounted for only 20.4% of total passenger cars on the road in July 2023. The government has been a major driver of EV uptake in Singapore. It is giving out potential incentives of up to $40,000 per electric car through the EV Early Adoption incentive and existing rebates for cars under the Vehicular Emissions Scheme (VES) Band A1. It is also committed to installing 40,000 EV charging points in public carparks by 2030 to resolve charging accessibility concerns.
“Addressing both upfront purchase costs and charging infrastructure concerns has led to reasonable success in promoting EV adoption in Singapore. These buyer incentives are similar to other EV-leading nations,” says Sharad Somani, partner and head of KPMG ESG at KPMG in Singapore. Among the top barriers to EV adoption is range anxiety, which refers to a driver’s fear that their electric car will not have enough battery charge to reach their destination and they will not be able to find a charging point on time. The driving range of an EV car is up to four times lower than that of an equivalent internal combustion engine (ICE) car before requiring a recharge. An extensive network of EV charging points is therefore key for EVs’ viability, but there is a lack of charging stations in Singapore. To make the situation more challenging, building a charging network and ensuring the reliability of charging stations is no easy feat.
“Construction of charging stations, especially in the heartlands, will take time and significantly more investment. This is because other infrastructures are also involved in the construction of charging stations, such as the electrical power grid and the safety of the building. In addition, EVs and charging station technology are constantly evolving and there is a lack of well-established standards,” explains Dr Teo Tee Hui, senior lecturer of Engineering Product Development at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). Fortunately, oil and gas companies recognise the need to support EV charging as Singapore plans to phase out ICE vehicles by 2040. Selected SPC and Shell petrol stations in Singapore have been fitted with EV charging stations, with the latter claiming that some of its chargers can charge as much as 50% of the battery on a Hyundai Ioniq 5 in about 15 minutes.
The evolution of battery-electric vehicles
Experts project that by 2040, over half of all cars worldwide will solely rely on batteries, marking a pivotal point in the journey, history, and evolution of electric vehicles
Electric vehicles have existed for almost two centuries, but their recent surge in popularity has made them more accessible. Initially, they were prohibitively expensive, limiting their appeal. However, decreasing battery prices have fuelled increasing demand. Experts project that by 2040, over half of all cars worldwide will solely rely on batteries, marking a pivotal point in the journey, history, and evolution of electric vehicles.
The electric car revolution gathered momentum post-2010, attracting numerous carmakers to enter the electric vehicle market. This influx resulted in a diverse range of EV models catering to various consumer needs. These advancements extended the driving ranges, reduced charging times, and lowered price tags for EVs. Governments worldwide implemented incentives and regulations to drive the adoption of electric vehicles, significantly contributing to the global push towards electrifying transportation.
In an era increasingly focused on environmental sustainability, the evolution of battery-electric vehicles provides insight into the changing transportation landscape. From the pioneers of the 1800s to the forefront of the 21st century, electric vehicles have traversed a remarkable path. However, their journey continues. Clean and sustainable mobility will drive our world forward, reducing emissions to preserve the planet for future generations. The road ahead is charged with endless possibilities.
Electric Vehicles
Driving an Electric Vehicle (EV) halves our carbon footprint, compared to driving a similar vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine. EVs are also quieter for a more pleasant environment to everyone around it.
To support the transition and adoption of electric vehicles, we have introduced measures and made policy changes to reduce the cost of buying and owning an electric vehicle, as compared to a hybrid or internal combustion engine vehicles. These include:
- EV Early Adoption Incentive (EEAI)
- Enhanced Vehicular Emissions Scheme (VES)
- Additional Registration Fee (ARF) floor reduction
- Revision of road tax framework for electric cars.
We aim to deploy 60,000 EV charging points across Singapore by 2030, comprising 40,000 in public car parks and 20,000 in private premises. Every HDB town will be EV-ready by 2025, with close to 2,000 HDB carparks to be fitted with EV charging points.
Transitioning to EVs
All new car registrations will have to be of cleaner-energy models from 2030. Cleaner-energy models include electric, hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell cars. We will also stop new diesel car registrations from 2025.
In addition to the incentives, we have also revised the road tax framework and increased the maximum power output threshold of Category A COE cars to make EVs more attractive. From 1 January 2022, road tax for fully electric cars in the 90-230kW bracket will be reduced, to ensure that electric and ICE cars of similar makes and luxury level pay similar road tax. Category A Maximum Power Output threshold for electric cars will be revised from 97kW to 110kW to allow more mass market electric cars to come under Category A.
You can now find out more about publicly accessible charging stations in Singapore, including the real-time availability of EV charging points, through the MyTransport.SG (iOS | Android) mobile application. Information on more than 2,900 publicly accessible charging points at over 800 locations across the island are just a few taps away! EV users can also look forward to more publicly accessible charging points. A pilot tender for EV charging points at public carparks was awarded in 2021. It covers the installation and operation of more than 600 EV charging points at over 200 public carparks across Singapore and will be completed by March 2023. A large-scale tender has also been launched for the deployment of publicly accessible charging points across nearly 2,000 HDB carparks. This will enable the deployment of an additional 12,000 charging points by 2025, in tandem with the increase in demand.
Electric cars to dominate 60% of Singapore’s vehicles in 2030
On the back of declining technology costs and government support. As technology costs are starting to fall apart, electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming far more common. With their environment-friendly features, governments from wealthy cities such as Singapore has been backing the technology with stricter regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
With these reasons, EVs could account for almost two-thirds of all cars on the road by 2030, according to a research by McKinsey & Co and Bloomberg New Energy Finance. For instance, the report revealed that the cost of a lithium-ion battery pack has already fell 65% in 2015 to around US$350 per kilowatt hour, from US$1,000/KWh in 2010. The research projected that it could fall below $100 KWh over the next decade.
"In densely populated, high-income cities like London and Singapore, electric vehicles could represent as much as 60 percent of all vehicles on the road by 2030, the result of low-emission zones, consumer interest and favorable economics," the report stated. But the rise of EVs would be for a painful cost, especially to the automotive sector. The automotive sector faces a future that could be fundamentally different from its past and may need to consider moving from using a pure product-ownership model toward providing a range of transportation services," the firm explained. More so, Gasoline retailers should be thinking through how to further monetize current assets and how to capture future value through new propositions around convenience retail, the connected car, fleet services, and electric charging.
Singapore Joins The Collective 2030 Zero-Emission Vehicle Deployment Goal
Singapore has accepted the United States’ invitation to join the Collective 2030 Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Deployment Goal (“Goal”) on 18 November 2022, at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27).
The Goal was initiated by the President of the United States (US) Joe Biden at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in June 2022. The US’s objective of initiating the Goal is to accelerate action and help speed up global transformation of the automotive sector. Countries joining the Goal collectively target to have ZEVs (which include battery electric vehicles, fuel cell electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrid vehicles) comprise 50 percent of new light-duty vehicle sales by 2030. This is an aspirational, non-binding goal – actions of specific countries towards its achievement are to be in line with their respective national circumstances and are not conditioned upon reciprocal actions by other participants. Since July 2022, Canada, Chile, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Norway, and the United Kingdom have joined the Goal.
Singapore’s participation in the Goal underscores our commitment to achieve a more sustainable land transport system, with vehicular electrification as one of our key thrusts. This comes on the back of strong momentum in electric vehicle (EV) adoption in recent months. ZEV registrations this year have so far accounted for over 10% of all new vehicle registrations, almost triple the rate in 2021. Singapore’s Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, Mr S Iswaran, said, “Climate action is a global responsibility. The Collective 2030 Zero-Emission Vehicle Deployment Goal represents a shared aspiration among like-minded countries in transiting to a greener land transport sector. It is aligned with Singapore’s vision to electrify our vehicle population, and the steps we have and will take towards it. This includes ceasing the registration of new internal combustion engine cars and taxis from 2030 and phasing out internal combustion engine vehicles from our vehicle population by 2040. Singapore looks forward to working with the international community to build a low-carbon future.”
Singapore Green Plan: EV-ready towns by 2025 and more support for businesses to improve energy efficiency
Electric cars operated by car-sharing service BlueSG in Singapore. (File photo: Gaya Chandramohan)
Singapore is taking its climate action a step further with new initiatives announced on Tuesday (Mar 8), including plans to make every Housing and Development Board (HDB) town "EV-ready” (electric vehicle) ahead of schedule, and help more businesses improve energy efficiency.
The Government said last month that it would bring forward the country's target to reach net zero "by or around mid-century", a move Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean described on Tuesday as "necessary, practical and implementable", given international developments in technology and carbon markets.
Last week, a major UN report released dire warnings about climate change inaction, with findings showing that irreversible climate impacts are happening faster and with greater intensity than ever before. In particular, rising temperatures could expose Asia to threats like food scarcity and human-health risks, with an increasing likelihood of heatwaves and floods as well as water- and vector-borne diseases.
All HDB car parks in at least 8 towns to have electric vehicle charging points by 2025
The push towards EVs has gathered speed, with the unveiling of the Singapore Green Plan 2030 on Feb 10, 2021. (Photo: TODAY/Ooi Boon Keong)
As part of efforts to expand Singapore’s electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, all Housing and Development Board (HDB) car parks in at least eight towns will be fitted with EV chargers by 2025.
The eight - Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Choa Chu Kang, Jurong West, Punggol, Queenstown, Sembawang and the upcoming Tengah town - are part of a "town-centric" approach being taken for the installation of charging points, said Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung in Parliament on Thursday (Mar 4). “By the 2030s, we will strive to make every HDB town an EV-ready town,” he said.
The towns were chosen as they are spread across Singapore and have a high concentration of car parks with existing electrical capacity to support charging point deployment, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA). In the near term, charging points will be installed in a variety of public car parks islandwide where suitable and where there is spare electrical capacity, it added.
Registration of new diesel cars and taxis to end in 2025
Cars and other vehicles in Singapore. (File photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
The registration of new diesel cars and taxis in Singapore will cease from 2025, Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung announced on Thursday (Mar 4). This is part of efforts to "further pave the way for greener vehicles", said Mr Ong.
"As we know, diesel cars emit PM2.5 (particulate matter) and are even more pollutive (than petrol vehicles)," he said. While diesel vehicles made up about 85 per cent of Singapore's taxi fleet five years ago, their numbers have dropped in recent years and they now comprise about 40 per cent of the country's 15,888 taxis. As of January, there are 18,081 diesel cars on the roads here, making up about 2.8 per cent of Singapore's car population, according to figures from the Land Transport Authority.
Mr Ong noted that the previously announced target was to phase out internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and have all vehicles run on cleaner energy by 2040. "To realise this vision and given that COEs (certificates of entitlement) for cars last for 10 years, we will require from 2030 all new car and taxi registrations to be of cleaner-energy models," said Mr Ong. “They can be electric, hybrid, hydrogen fuel cell cars, et cetera. As these technologies are evolving rapidly, we will monitor developments closely, and finalise the definition of registrable models well before 2030,” he added.
10 Reasons To Consider An Electric Car In 2024
For starters, the available electric vehicles continue to grow on almost a weekly basis
Electric vehicle ownership is no longer the niche, climate-saving activity it once was and has entered the mainstream, with many previous skeptics fully jumping on board. Even so, there are plenty of people, both current owners and others, who (rightfully) feel that the situation needs to be explained further.
If you were looking at EV ownership in 2021, the picture would be drastically different, but we’re now here in early 2024, and things are looking less bleak. The market is growing, with new electric models seemingly hitting the streets every day. We’ve covered ten reasons to buy an EV in 2024, which should help you get a feel for how an electric model would fit into your life. Let’s focus on the the reasons to buy an EV in 2024:
- More Electric Car Choices Than Ever Before
- Better Range And Faster Charging Times
- Many Are Eligible For Federal Tax Credit
- No Need To Worry About Gas Prices
- Less Routine Maintenance
- Prices May Come Down
- More Charging Options Pop Up All the Time
- Lower Carbon Footprint
- EVs Are Powerful And Quick
- Charging At Home Is Easy—For Some
How Long Should An Electric Car's Battery Last?
The good news is that EV batteries can be expected to offer a usable life of between eight and 12 years.
Range anxiety was one of the early issues held up as a reason the general public might not adopt EVs, but that has largely faded as many new electric models offer gas engine-rivaling range numbers. Charging speeds and charger availability are more significant issues, but buyers still question how long they can expect their new EV to last. Mostly, they worry about the battery. Unlike gas cars, which have well-known issues and repair costs at this point, EV battery replacement costs are largely a mystery to many buyers because of the vehicles’ relatively brief time on sale.
The good news for new owners is that automakers and the government have worked to increase EV warranty length, and the lifespan estimates for most new models are on par with their gas-powered equivalents. This guide will help you understand EV battery lifecycles, how to preserve battery life, and the costs involved if you need a replacement. Let’s get rolling.
Lessons Learned From 10,000 Electric Cars And 100 Million Miles
The EV world was very different this time last year when I wrote a recap of lessons from studying 5000 EVs. Ford had not yet shipped a single F-150 Lightning. Hertz had not yet ordered 100,000 Teslas or 175,000 EVs from General Motors.
Gas prices in the U.S. had not yet soared above $5. Build Back Better had not yet become the Inflation Reduction Act with tax credits for both new and used electric vehicles. A lot can change in one year.
Recurrent has just passed our second anniversary with a community of over 11,000 EV drivers in the U.S. and 100 million miles of data and insights. Here’s an update about what we continue to learn as EV adoption accelerates.
What happens when an electric car battery dies?
When electric cars first entered the market, the battery powering the electric motor was much smaller and less efficient than the units fitted to EVs today. The Nissan Leaf, for example, launched with a 24kWh battery back in 2010. Nowadays, electric cars are far more advanced and often feature larger batteries with a huge capacity – the Volkswagen ID 3 has a 77kWh battery, for example.
An EV battery is not too dissimilar to the one you’ll find in the back of your phone or laptop, except it's much larger, more durable and can handle higher temperatures. Much like a smartphone, the battery in an EV loses capacity and eventually reaches the end of its life. Indeed, it's far longer than a smartphone; an EV battery normally lasts between 10-20 years.
But what happens to an electric car battery when it comes to the end of its lifecycle? Here, we take a look at how electric car batteries are made, what materials they use, and how the pack can be recycled and repurposed for another use case.
Dyson kills Singapore electric car project
"Though we have tried very hard throughout the development process, we simply can no longer see a way to make it commercially viable. We have been through a serious process to find a buyer for the project which has, unfortunately, been unsuccessful so far," says Mr Dyson. PHOTO: DYSON
HOME appliance giant Dyson has scrapped its entire automotive division, including its plan for an electric car plant in Singapore, the British firm announced on Thursday. Founder James Dyson said the UK company is shutting the division due to a lack of commercial feasibility. Dyson had made its patents for its electric car public in May.
"Though we have tried very hard throughout the development process, we simply can no longer see a way to make it commercially viable. We have been through a serious process to find a buyer for the project which has, unfortunately, been unsuccessful so far," he said in an email to staff on Thursday.
In October 2018, the firm - best known for its bagless vacuum cleaners - said it will manufacture its electric cars at a two-storey facility in Singapore, targeting to roll out the first car in 2021. Subsequently, in January this year, Dyson announced it was moving its headquarters from the UK to Singapore.
