Summary Reader Response FINAL

 In the article,” Electric vehicle will take over Singapore”, Dr Sanjay (2020) state that by 2040, Singapore targets to phase out internal combustion vehicles and move towards the wider adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). The article mentions factors like lack of national charging infrastructure, high cost of EVs, the driving range and charging time is of concern. Despite that, the Singapore government has set a goal of creating 28,000 charging points, with participation of private-sector authorities. The article explains ways to expedite the adoption of EVs through measures like creating a separate Certification of Entitlement (COE) and having sufficient technical personnel with relevant skills to upkeep the ecosystem. Additionally, offering incentives in early conversion schemes can aid in the speed of rolling out EVs. The article claims that Singapore is on the right track but the road to success needs more than just the government's efforts to come through. While Singapore government wants to increase adoption of EVs, challenges like high cost and charging time of EVs are hindering the progress.

One important factor is the high cost of EVs. “Hyundai Ioniq Electric” is a type of EVs that cost from $150,000 as compared to the hybrid version which cost $100,000 (Abdullah, 2021). Cost is the major factor to most buyers when considering a new vehicle, “My main consideration is budget, I will set a target of how much monthly installment I want to finance, and the next factor will be if the car is a hybrid fuel type,” said the 40-year-old technical manager (Abdullah, 2021) .

Besides the initial cost of the vehicle, charging also contributes to the high cost. “Shell is charging $0.55/kWh and a typical electric car battery is 60kWh, that's $33 for a full charge” (Poh, 2021). As compared to regular vehicle spending around $75 each month for a full tank topup (Ho, 2021). The amount saved for each topup is not significant and finding a charging station adds on to the inconvenience of owning an EV. Besides that, owners may want to buy a charging station to put in their parking lot and the cost of charging stations can be expensive. “Rapid direct-current charging can be more expensive than the slower alternate-current charging costing up to 10 times more” said Welsford (Neo & Siong, 2021). Thus reducing the cost of owning an EV is important to increase adoption of EVs in Singapore.

Another important factor is the charging time of EVs. Charging time varies on different types of EVs and the type of the charger that is used. There are currently 2 types of charger in the market: alternate-current charging and rapid direct-current charging. Ong who is the Transport Minister in Singapore said that the charger types that the Singapore government are adopting to use in their plan are type 2 for AC charging and CCS 2 for DC or fast charging (Abdullah, 2021). To put it in simple terms there will be 2 types of charging , destination charging and opportunity charging. Destination charging is at the location where you most frequently visit e.g. home or office. Charging can take about 8 to 9 hours for a 80% charge for a 39kWh battery pack (Chia, 2021). Opportunity charging is when you need the car to be charged quickly in a short period of time e.g. “Fast charger can now be found at selected Shell stations and take 40 to 50 minutes to juice up a car like Hyundai’s Kona Electric from zero to 80%” (Neo & Siong, 2021). Therefore, varying charging time depending on the type of charger used can be one of the factors affecting EVs usage in Singapore.

However, challenges like high cost will be overcome eventually. High cost of EVs is mainly contributed by the initial cost of the vehicle, Singapore government has incentive/rebates that to reduce the initial cost. The EV Early Adoption Incentive (EEAI) and Vehicle Emission Scheme (VES) can help buyer to reduce the cost of vehicle by up to $20,000 and $15,000 to $25,000 respectively (Poh, 2021). With the reentering of Tesla to the EVs market in Singapore initial cost of the EVs will be greatly reduce due to competition. Beside that it is low-maintenance and more affordable to drive than a petrol car as it as fewer parts to maintain. EVs user spend around $0.06/km drive as compared to about $0.15/km drive for petrol vehicle. (Chia, 2021).  In the long run EVs is more cost effective than petrol vehicle.

In conclusion, adoption rate of EVs will increase in the years to come after key factors like high cost, charging time and lack of national charging infrastructure are resolved. Singapore can look forward to the day where vehicle on the roads are all EVs.

Reference

Abdullah, A. (2021). Obstacles remain in electric vehicle adoption despite incentives, say transport experts and drivers. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/obstacles-remain-electric-vehicle-despite-incentives-transport-359331.

   Abdullah, A. (2021). All HDB car parks in at least 8 towns to have electric vehicle charging points by 2025. CNA. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/electric-vehicle-charging-points-hdb-carparks-8-towns-306771.

Chia, T. (2021). Electric Car VS Petrol Car: Costs, Performance, Emissions And Range [Video].  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQEkWOswQKY&t=226s&ab_channel=CNAInsider.

Ho, T. (2021). (2021 Edition) Cost Of Owning A Car In Singapore Over 10 Years. DollarsAndSense.sg. From https://dollarsandsense.sg/cost-owning-car-singapore/.

Neo, C. & Siong, O. (2021). Electric vehicles may be fast and low-maintenance, but are they a real climate solution? . https://www.channelnewsasia.com/electric-vehicles-may-be-fast-and-low-maintenance-are-they-real-climate-solution-2030271.

Poh, J. (2021). Electric Cars in Singapore — Are They Finally Worth the Money?. MoneySmart.Sg - Tips, tricks and uncommon wisdom to help you get more out of your money. https://blog.moneysmart.sg/transportation/electric-car-singapore/.

See, S. (2021). Charged up: Singapore's journey to the future of cars begins now. Businesstimes.com.sg. https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/brunch/charged-up-singapores-journey-to-the-future-of-cars-begins-now.