How fleets are adopting electric vehicles in Singapore

Report on Singapore EV Landscape | 2022

Singapore aims to establish a clean mobility ecosystem that entails a transition away from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and towards electric and other cleaner-energy vehicles. The Ministry of Transport in Singapore has set the following targets:

– From 2025, no new diesel car and taxi registrations

– From 2030, all newly registered cars and taxis to be of cleaner energy models

– By 2040, all vehicles to run on cleaner energy

Under the Land Transport Master Plan 2040, Singapore’s taxi and private hire car companies have committed to making their entire fleet run on cleaner energy by 2040. LTA is supporting them by extending the statutory lifespan of electric taxis from 8 years to 10 years, so they have more time to optimise their electric taxi investments. At least half of the total taxi fleet in Singapore will go electric by 2030.

These fleets are adopting electric vehicles in Singapore

In 2020, the ride-hailing industry in Singapore generated an estimated 0.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions. This is about 4% of the estimated 7 million tonnes of carbon emission generated by the land transport sector in Singapore.

Under the Land Transport Master Plan 2040, Singapore’s taxi and private hire car companies have committed to making their entire fleet run on cleaner energy by 2040. Here’s a look at how different fleet companies are adopting EVs:

Blue SG Car-sharing Service – Owned by Goldbell Group, Singapore’s largest player in the leasing and distribution of commercial and industrial vehicles, this 100% electric car-sharing service was launched in 2017 in partnership with the LTA and Economic Development Board (EDB). The service uses Bluecar vehicles equipped with Lithium Metal Polymer batteries from Blue Solutions, by the Bolloré Group.

This is a membership-based point-to-point car-sharing service with a fleet size of 1000 cars across 500 locations throughout the country. Members have access to shared electric Bluecar vehicles at self-service charging stations located in public housing, the city centre and commercial estates around Singapore.

ComfortDelGro Taxi – In Jan 2022, Singapore’s leading taxi operator, ComfortDelGro Taxi, announced that it would be rolling out up to 400 electric taxis by the end of 2022 — the number is dependent on the status of the EV charger roll-out. By 2023, ComfortDelGro expects its EV fleet to be increased to up to 1,000 electric taxis. This means that about 10 per cent of 10,000 taxis will be fully electric by the end of 2023.

Another 70 per cent will be hybrid cars, which the company has been transitioning towards in recent years.

Strides Mobility – In 2021, Strides Mobility (a business unit of SMRT Corporation) announced its plans to convert its entire taxi fleet to 100% electric within the next five years. The first batch of 300 electric taxis (MG5) was slated to arrive in Singapore progressively from July 2021. TES will work with Strides Mobility to collect and repurpose end-of-life EV batteries and enhance the EV charging infrastructure in Singapore. SMRT’s commitment to operating cleaner-energy taxis began in 2013, and its fleet became 100% hybrid in 2020.

Tribecar – Founded in 2016, Tribecar provides hourly, daily or weekly car rentals and has 1,300+ vehicles in its fleet. It plans to electrify its fleet and has signed a collaboration agreement with Charge+; however, no specific timeframe for EV adoption has been indicated. With an EV, as compared to an ICE vehicle, users will get to save at least 50% per km in fuel costs when they opt to pay for their own fuel.

Grab – Grab has pledged to transition to low-emission vehicles to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, starting with replacing its ride-hailing fleet in Singapore with cleaner vehicles by 2030. For private hire cars, 50% of GrabRentals’ fleet will go electric by 2030. Grab has partnered with Hyundai Motor Group to launch programs in Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam to help its drivers to adopt EVs.

SingPost – Singapore’s postal service provider SingPost commenced the pilots of fully electric three-wheeler scooters (IONA RAP 3Ws) and vans (BYD T3) in Aug 2021. IONA RAP 3W has a 120 km range per full charge. 50kg carrying load, and max cargo volume of 500 litres. The BYD T3 van has a range of 300km per full charge, with a maximum cargo volume of 3,800 litres.

Singpost intends to progressively replace all 700 motorcycles and three-wheeler scooters, as well as 140 vans, with electric motor equivalents as their leases expire over the next five years. This would make SingPost the first postal service in the Asia-Pacific region to commit to a 100% electric delivery fleet by 2026.

Ninjavan – Logistics company Ninjavan will start its EV pilot trial in Oct 2022, with the addition of 10 electric vehicles to its fleet in partnership with the commercial vehicle leasing company Goldbell Leasing. Ninja Van will be assessing factors such as challenges drivers might face, accessibility of commercial charging points and the driving range before committing to a larger-scale roll-out across its fleet in Singapore.

When fully charged, the EVs (Foton iBlue electric vans) can travel up to 235 km and carry a load of up to 1200kg.

GoJek – Gojek, which has a fleet of about 300 EVs in Singapore, is the first to get on board the EVA – Electric Vehicle Accelerator program that awards carbon credits for emission reductions. GoJek had earlier said it intends to operate a fully electric fleet by 2030.

Also Read: Leading EV charging networks in Singapore