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S’pore to trial electric car-sharing programme

SINGAPORE — Taking another step towards the large-scale adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) here, the Government announced yesterday that it is calling for a Request for Information (RFI) to trial a car-sharing programme involving 1,000 such vehicles and lasting up to a decade.

A Bosch electric car charging station at LTA @ Hampshire. Photo: Robert Bosch (SEA)

A Bosch electric car charging station at LTA @ Hampshire. Photo: Robert Bosch (SEA)

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SINGAPORE — Taking another step towards the large-scale adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) here, the Government announced yesterday that it is calling for a Request for Information (RFI) to trial a car-sharing programme involving 1,000 such vehicles and lasting up to a decade.

The RFI was issued by an inter-agency task force co-led by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Economic Development Board (EDB). The trial will enable the authorities to gain a deeper understanding of the operating models and support required for EVs to succeed on a larger scale here, the LTA and the EDB said in a joint press release. Having a shared fleet of EVs offers the potential of reaping economies of scale because of the higher daily mileage and potentially lower running cost, the task force said.

Concurrently, it aims to explore whether a one-way car-sharing model — in which users pick up cars at one place and return them at a different location — can be viable.

The RFI comes after the authorities completed the first phase of a test bed for EVs between June 2011 and December last year. During the earlier phase, 53 organisations — private firms, public agencies and higher institutes of learning — were involved, with 89 electric vehicles deployed and 71 charging stations installed islandwide. Two market perception surveys, as well as studies on the technical and economic feasibility of EV deployment, were conducted.

Transport experts expect the trial to be rolled out progressively in as soon as 18 months, given that the infrastructure is largely in place and needs only to be ramped up.

They added that the trial was a good way to introduce a greener mode of transport to commuters here and that the critical mass that could be achieved under the second phase might just be the step needed to kick-start the car-sharing movement here. However, there must be adequate infrastructure and support for companies, such as financial incentives, for it to take off, they said.

The RFI documents, which were put up on government procurement website GeBIZ, said companies were encouraged to form a consortium, comprising car-sharing operators, charging infrastructure service providers and EV manufacturers or providers, to submit a proposal.

Such a consortium will then be able to provide the hardware, software and maintenance services required to run this system.

Various models are being considered, such as a station-based model, where users park and charge their cars at designated car-sharing lots; a free-floating model, where users can park at any parking lot at public or private car parks, which may or may not have charging stations; or a hybrid model, which is a combination of the other two models.

Potential areas of coverage are Housing and Development Board (HDB) residential towns, the Central Business District and industrial estates and business parks. Commuters should be able to check the availability of the shared electric cars and book them online and via mobile apps. The closing date for submissions is Feb 27 at noon.

The analysts noted that the Government had to lessen the cost burden by providing incentives, such as free charging stations to companies. If it costs a lot of money to implement, the costs will be passed on to consumers, which would affect demand, said Dr Park Byung Joon, SIM University’s urban transport expert.

Currently, EVs are not sold in the open market, but they can be registered by companies, institutes and government agencies. They are exempt from Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums.

Professor Lee Der-Horng of the National University of Singapore (NUS) suggested that under the second phase, the authorities waive the COE and Additional Registration Fee for businesses looking to bring EVs in. The HDB and the Urban Redevelopment Authority can also make it easier by easing regulations or quickening the approval process for companies to install charging stations. Sufficient charging points at major activity centres is also crucial, he said.

Smaller EV trials have been conducted here, including the Autonomous Electric Shuttle and Toyota’s micro EV Auto Body COMS that are deployed in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and NUS, respectively. NTU Associate Professor Gopinath Menon noted that the larger scale of the car-sharing trial will result in greater economies of scale and make EVs more affordable.

Dr Park said a one-way car-sharing model could be challenged during peak periods, when traffic usually flows in one direction — from the suburbs to the city or vice-versa. This may result in a poor distribution of available EVs as most cars will be either in the city areas in the morning or at the suburbs in the evening.

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