SINGAPORE — The first batch of six electric vehicle (EV) charging points under the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) large-scale tender covering nearly 2,000 Housing Board (HDB) car parks was made operational on Wednesday (Feb 22). 

These charging points are located in two public car parks in Telok Blangah and Boon Lay, with three charging points at each location.

The charging points in these car parks are respectively operated by ChargEco and Charge+. 

Speaking to reporters at the event launch, Transport Minister S Iswaran hailed the deployment of the first batch of chargers as an important development in Singapore's efforts to build up the electric vehicle ecosystem.

“As we all know, one of the concerns is around what is called range anxiety, where the question is ‘Where can I get my next charge?’” he said.

“By making charging points ubiquitous across the island, especially in our HDB (car parks), we hope to eliminate that range anxiety and therefore encourage greater adoption.”

All the charging points in HDB car parks are slow charge. A single charge can last about five days based on the average mileage of 48km per day.

Drivers can locate their nearest charging point with the MyTransport.SG app.

Another 2,000 charging points covering one-third – or more than 700 – HDB car parks are expected to be deployed by the end of the year, in line with Singapore’s goal to have at least 12,000 EV charging points by 2025, added LTA in a factsheet.

There are currently more than 3,600 EV charging points islandwide.

In 2022, electric car registrations formed 11.8 per cent of all new car registrations, said LTA. 

Singapore now has more than 6,500 registered electric cars, and close to 10,000 EVs including other vehicle classes.

“We’ve seen a very significant increase in adoption rate… I think it's a combination of factors including the fact that many commuters or buyers have assessed and arrived at the conclusion that there's a value proposition for electric vehicles as well,” added Mr Iswaran.

NEW SUBSIDIARY SET UP

To oversee the deployment of EV charging points across public car parks, a subsidiary called EV-Electric Charging Pte Ltd has been set up. 

Wholly-owned by LTA, the subsidiary will work closely with the five successful tenderers and government agencies to plan and manage the deployment of EV charging points, said LTA.

The subsidiary will also “coordinate the upgrading of supporting electrical infrastructure for EV charging”, the authority added.

Mr Iswaran pointed to the different types of car parks as an important factor in this initial phase.

“Surface car parks, multi-storey car parks, newer car parks where there’s sufficient electrical infrastructure, older ones which may not quite have it,” he explained.

“So we need to find the ways to solve these problems, because they become a template for the subsequent implementation. So this initial period is an important one in that regard.” CNA

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