In Singapore’s latest budget announcement, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat reiterated the government’s plan to have all vehicles run on cleaner energy by 2040.
Along with the announcement, several initiatives were rolled out to incentivise the public to adopt electric vehicles (EVs) early.
However, there is only so much the government can do to encourage EV adoption through policies and regulations. Other parties like car makers, providers of charging ports and public transport operators must also play their part.
According to a report by Citi Research titled Electric Vehicle Transition published in February, EV adoption in 2020 was still being curtailed by consumer views on price, range and charging availability, these are the same barriers that existed in 2018 although the gaps are closing.
The government has recognised the three issues and specific measures have been drawn up to deal with each of them. First, the “cost differential” between EVs and cars that run on the internal combustion engine (ICE) will be narrowed. In particular, the Additional Registration Fee (ARF) floor will be lowered and road tax for EVs will be revised.
Terence Zou, CEO and founder of ride-hailing platform Ryde, cheers the government’s push for more EVs. “That said, more education and incentives are needed by car manufacturers and the government to ensure that Singaporeans are fully aware of the pros and cons of owning an EV vehicle.”
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To support the eventual increase of EVs in the country and in a bid to reduce “range anxiety” or the fear EV drivers have of running out of battery power while on the road, Singapore plans to have at least 60,000 EV charging points at public car parks and private premises by 2030. This is a big jump from Singapore’s previous goal announced in Budget 2020 of 28,000 charging points by 2030.
There are now nearly 1 million vehicles on Singapore’s roads, according to Budget Direct. More than 600,000 of them are private and rental cars, including cars used by ride-hailing services. With that many vehicles on the road, will 60,000 charging ports be enough?
Markus Schuster, managing director of Audi Singapore, says one way is to sell EVs with a charger installation. In Audi’s case, it is partnering with SP Group to provide a wall box charger as part of Audi’s e-tron package, which gives a driving range of 300 km on a full charge. That is equivalent to a week’s driving before the car needs to be recharged. This means e-tron drivers should not be that dependent on public chargers. “Still, having more public charging points will enable more consumers to make the switch without compromise,” he adds.
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“Regulations and incentives allow consumers to have more advanced technologies at a lower cost. This sets off a virtuous cycle where higher adoption helps drive costs down, leading to even more attractive EV options for consumers,” says Schuster.
At present, range anxiety is still an issue as refuelling EVs take much longer than an ICE vehicle and the range of EVs in actual driving conditions is typically much lower than that of ICE.
This problem will be solved in time as battery technology makes big advances. Already, some of the latest EVs will soon offer an average range of about 450 km on a single charge, compared to about an average range of 500km for an ICE vehicle. And in just a few more years, battery technology will reach a tipping point where an EV’s range will soon be comparable to that of an ICE.
However, for potential owners of EVs, range anxiety is lower on the list of worries compared to the price of owning an EV and the availability of charging infrastructure, according to Citi’s research.
Electric push
Several car manufacturers have taken the plunge to bring their EVs into Singapore despite the city state’s EV infrastructure being less than ready.
BMW now offers eight electric and hybrid car models in Singapore and intends to bring in another two more models by the end of 2021. Audi has brought in three models with another two more coming in. Even supercar maker Porsche has seven hybrid models and one full-electric model.
“Electrification is a marathon, not a sprint. It won’t happen overnight,” Christopher Wehner, managing director of BMW Group Asia tells The Edge Singapore. “As battery performance improves, charging infrastructure develops, and electric motors become more efficient, the cost of EVs will reduce over time.”
BMW believes it can support Singapore’s push towards EVs in three ways. Firstly, it will continue to offer customers a wide selection of EVs to choose from. Compared to other brands in the market, BMW is said to offer the highest number of EV models in Singapore.
Secondly, although charging infrastructure is not exactly BMW’s core business, the manufacturer plans to help strengthen the charging infrastructure in the country and support its customers with solutions for home and public charging. Since 2014, BMW has worked with Greenlots, a member of the Shell Group, to establish the ChargeNow charging infrastructure network locally. It has also partnered with industry leaders like CapitaLand since 2015 to drive the proliferation of public chargers.
Finally, BMW will work side by side with the relevant industry bodies to determine what additional incentives can be offered to EV drivers and how to encourage drivers to make the switch to an EV.
Since BMW launched its electric models in 2014, it has already sold over 500 EVs in Singapore. “We expect this number to grow with the new electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles due to enter the market in the coming months,” adds Wehner.
BMW sold a total of 192,646 electrified BMW and MINI vehicles worldwide last year – an increase of 31.8% over 2019. Revenue from full EVs rose by 13%, while plug-in hybrid sales climbed by almost 40%, even as the company’s overall revenue for 2020 dipped slightly.
The popularity of Tesla, arguably the world’s most famous EV maker, enjoyed a big lift only when its mass-market Model 3 was produced and sold in meaningful numbers from 2018.
Melvin Goh, executive chairman and CEO of EuroSports Global (ESG), the distributor of luxury supercars, explains to The Edge Singapore that EVs deliver maximum torque instantaneously, which is especially useful in city-driving although EVs have yet to crack the ability to maintain high speeds over a long time.
Still, that does not mean the luxury EV market is difficult to crack. While EVs are fast closing the performance gap with top-end ICE vehicles, buying a luxury automobile also appeals to emotions besides technical specifications.
“The appreciation of new electric technology may take time. Luxury brands which possess strong brand equity, can continue to cement their position by adopting new technologies while emphasising what differentiates themselves from the pack,” says Goh.
ESG is the Singapore distributor of supercar marques like Lamborghini and Alpha Romeo. Although Lamborghini has launched an EV model, it has yet to reach the shores of Singapore. Meanwhile, Alfa Romeo is preparing for its first EV launch for 2022.
Porsche, which has several hybrid and electric models in the market, is committed to set up charging stations in public areas in Singapore in a bid to boost sales. Its first charging stations located at Marina Bay Sands offer complimentary electric-charging capabilities for all EVs and hybrid vehicles.
Two-wheelers too
E-bikes powered by removable and rechargeable lithium batteries is another way to sidestep the infrastructure problem.
Local start-up SWAG EV plans to launch its brand of electric motorbikes this year in Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia as well as export them to Europe.
CEO Janson Chen explains, “SWAG EV’s e-bikes have been designed to remove its reliance on infrastructure which will greatly reduce barriers to adoption of EVs in Singapore. All our e-bikes are currently powered by rechargeable lithium batteries that can be removed and charged safely at home. This provides the everyday user with much more flexibility and added convenience of not having to rely on infrastructure to recharge their batteries.”
However, it may take some time before SWAG EV’s e-bikes can be seen on the roads of Singapore as the company is in talks with a few Singapore government agencies, primarily the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Enterprise Singapore, for the past 18 months to bring them in.
Another company planning to gain a toehold in the two-wheeler market segment is ESG.
Scorpio Electric, the EV brand owned by EuroSports Technologies (EST), a subsidiary of ESG, is creating its first Made-in-Singapore high-performance smart electric motorcycle.
On Nov 9, 2020, ESG announced it had raised US$1.3 million ($1.74 million) in the first fundraising round and another US$5 million in another round for the development of Scorpio Electric by EST. The company has guided that it will continue to incur development expenses for this and does not expect to generate meaningful revenue from EST for the next 12 months.
In its latest 1HFY2021 results ended September 2020, ESG recorded a net loss of $1.7 million, compared to earnings of $1.6 million in the previous year. This came on the back of a 42.6% y-o-y drop in revenue to $24.4 million.
EVs for the masses
By 2030, the Ministry of Transport wants commuters to make use of public transport for 75% of morning peak-hour journeys.
As most Singaporeans still get around the island via public transport, any widespread adoption of EVs must involve buses and taxis.
Already, LTA has rolled out 10 electric double-decker buses and 15 single-deck buses as part of its plan to procure 60 electric buses — 10 double-deckers and 50 single-deck buses — by the end of this year.
Taxi companies are also working towards the electrification of their taxi fleet. ComfortDelGro is gradually phasing out its fleet of diesel-powered taxis in favour of EVs. Since 2018, the land transport operator has purchased several fleets of electric taxis to replace those with diesel engines. At the end of 2019, two in five taxis in Singapore were electrified.
Other private sector players have been busy staking out claims in other niches in the EV ecosystem too, including EV-sharing. One of them is BlueSG, which was recently acquired by commercial fleet giant Goldbell.
Although BlueSG is currently in the red, Goldbell still sees the potential in the EV-sharing business. Kelvin Tay, managing director of future mobility and advisor to the CEO of Goldbell, says, “The future customers of mobility will demand a lot of options. Two areas we think are very important for mobility customers are on-demand buses and car-sharing, as a supplement to the other modes of transportation out there.”
Currently, Goldbell only owns BlueSG’s fleet of cars but not the charging ports. Due to its lack of expertise in that area, Goldbell would rather leave the management of the ports to vendors. “We only invest in what we know. We understand the car-sharing market, but we are still not very well versed with the charging stations,” says Tay, who will be working with operators of charging stations to expand the coverage of BlueSG locations.
