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Number of electric vehicle registrations rise in first half of 2021

Number of electric vehicle registrations rise in first half of 2021

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)

SINGAPORE: Electric vehicles (EVs) made up 1.3 per cent of all new electric car, taxi and bus registrations between January and June this year, up from just 0.3 per cent of vehicle registrations for the whole of 2020. 

This is was revealed by Minister for Transport S Iswaran in Parliament on Tuesday (Jul 27), in response to a question from Mr Shawn Huang (PAP - Jurong) regarding the adoption rates of electric passenger vehicles over the past year. 

Figures from the Land Transport Authority show there were 1,549 electric cars registered here as at the end of June, making up about 0.2 per cent of the 640,247 cars on the road in Singapore. This is up from the 1,217 registered electric cars at the end of last year. 

Mr Iswaran noted the EV Early Adoption Incentive and the enhanced Vehicular Emissions Scheme launched earlier this year helped to “narrow the upfront cost between electric cars and internal combustion engine cars”.

“With the launch of these schemes, as well as lower battery costs and more EV models from car makers, we expect that this number will continue to grow in the coming years,” said Mr Iswaran, replying to a question from Mr Huang regarding the projected take-up rates for 2022 and 2023.

The minister reiterated the Government’s aim of having 60,000 charging points islandwide by 2030, up from about 2,000 currently. 

He noted there would be another 600 charging points at 200 public car parks by next year, through a tender on EV charger deployment.

READ: Condos, private apartments eligible for new grant to install electric vehicle chargers

“In addition, we are encouraging private premise owners to install charging points at their premises, such as condominiums or retail malls,” he said. 

The LTA last week announced the Electric Vehicle Common Charger Grant, which will co-fund the installation costs of 2,000 EV chargers at condominiums and private apartments

“Overall, the combined efforts from Government and the private sector to improve coverage of our national charging point network will be able to meet EV charging needs,” said Mr Iswaran. 

“We are looking at, also, what can be done in terms of EV motorcycles,” he added, adding this included the possibility of swappable batteries for such vehicles. He noted this was being done in consultation with industry. 

Mr Iswaran noted the Government had committed to buying only “cleaner energy” buses from last year, responding to another question from Mr Huang on whether the timeline for a fully clean energy-run public bus fleet could be brought forward. 

“As public buses are replaced after being in service for 17 years, this means that there should be no more pure diesel public buses on our roads before 2040,” he said, noting there would be 60 electric buses here by the end of this year.

Source: CNA/az(rw)

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