In short, the CNG push fell into the age-old chicken-and-egg conundrum of having a critical mass of fuelling points or CNG vehicles first. As Singapore now pushes big into electric vehicles (EVs), Goh Chee Kiong, CEO of Charge+, does not want history to repeat itself.
Around two decades ago, Singapore pushed for compressed natural gas (CNG) as an alternative, cleaner fuel source. Unfortunately, with just five CNG stations at the peak, it was not convenient nor enough to support the number of CNG vehicles beyond a critical mass. Just three stations are operating today.
The CNG scheme reached the end of the road in 2018, when the last CNG taxi operated by TransCab – the main CNG user – was scrapped. Data from data.gov.sg as at January last year revealed that there were no fully CNG cars on the road, while only 244 cars were petrol-CNG.
