Nearly 2,000 HDB car parks to have at least 3 EV charging points each by 2025
SINGAPORE: To make every Housing and Development Board (HDB) town “EV-ready” by 2025, nearly 2,000 HDB car parks will each have a minimum of three charging points.
These charging points will “mostly provide low-powered, overnight charging”, to meet the needs of car owners and minimise the load on the electrical grid, said Transport Minister S Iswaran on Tuesday (Mar 8).
Speaking during a multi-ministry joint segment on the Singapore Green Plan 2030 at the Committee of Supply debate, Mr Iswaran said more charging points will be installed in car parks where there is demand and adequate electrical capacity.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a press release that the move is a “significant step” in achieving Singapore’s target of 60,000 EV charging points by 2030.
A “large-scale tender” for HDB car parks will be launched in the first half of this year, it added.
Singapore’s land transport emissions peaked at 7.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2016 - way ahead of the 2030 timeline set at the national level, LTA said.
As such, the Government has set a new target of reducing emissions by 80 per cent from the 2016 peak by around 2050.
IMPROVED EV INFRASTRUCTURE
To increase the adoption of EVs, all residential estates will have the required electrical infrastructure progressively upgraded.
These upgrades will be financed by LTA through green bonds, and the costs will be recovered from EV charging operators and EV users over the longer term. Implementation details are being worked out, LTA said.
New legislation will also be introduced to ensure “safe and reliable” EV charging. A public consultation will be published later this year.
Half of Singapore’s public bus fleet will be electric by 2030, in line with plans to have a 100 per cent cleaner-energy bus fleet by 2040. More than 400 diesel buses will also be replaced by 2025.
The country currently has about 5,800 buses in total.
Sixty electric buses ply the roads now, which LTA said helps it better understand the “operational and technical considerations” of a larger-scale adoption of electric buses.
Similarly, taxi operators have committed that at least half of Singapore’s taxi fleet will be made up of electric taxis by 2030. Singapore currently has around 15,000 taxis in its taxi fleet.
The statutory lifespan of all electric taxis will be extended from eight to 10 years, giving operators more time to “optimise their electric taxi investments”, LTA added.
Private-hire car operators will also increase their EV adoption, with 50 per cent of GrabRentals’ fleet to go electric by 2030.
REVISED COE CATEGORY A MAXIMUM POWER OUTPUT
LTA will also revise the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) Category A maximum power output (MPO) threshold for electric cars from 97kW to 110kW, allowing more mass-market electric cars to come under Category A.
“Based on the EV models approved by LTA for use so far, this move will double the number of models that fall within Category A from 10 to 20,” said Mr Iswaran.
The MPO thresholds for Categories A and B were set at 97kW in 2013, to account for the “predominantly internal combustion engine car population” then. This threshold will continue to apply for non-electric cars.
The revision will take effect from the first COE bidding exercise in May this year, from May 4 to 6.
HARNESSING SOLAR POWER IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Solar panels will also be installed on the roofs of new or recently upgraded land transport infrastructure, such as train and bus depots, offices and facility buildings.
This supports LTA’s existing plans to achieve the solar energy deployment targets of 16 megawatt-peak (MWp) by 2025 and 25 MWp by 2030.
This month, the agency will also call an open tender to deploy solar panels on other land transport infrastructure, including the upcoming Integrated Train Testing Centre, pedestrian overhead bridges and covered linkways.
With this open tender, LTA will contribute up to 20 MWp of additional solar capacity - equivalent to the power needed to charge up to 285 single deck e-buses for an entire year.
“But beyond these efforts, the success of this green endeavour ultimately rests with each one of us, and the commuting decisions we make every day,” added Mr Iswaran.
“Based on LTA’s estimates, compared to driving an internal combustion engine car, switching to an electric car halves our carbon footprint. Taking an electric bus reduces our carbon footprint by 70 per cent. Taking the MRT reduces our carbon footprint by close to 90 per cent. And if we walk or cycle, the carbon footprint is practically zero.”
