SINGAPORE: Singapore’s first electric car-sharing service was officially launched on Tuesday (Dec 12), with 80 cars and 32 charging stations available for public use across the island.
The service, which is provided by BlueSG, is part of Singapore’s plans to reduce reliance on private vehicles and encourage the use of public transport.
To use the cars, drivers need to subscribe to the service online or through the BlueSG app. They can either choose to receive a BlueSG member card or register their existing EZ-Link cards which drivers can use to book vehicles and even a parking lot in advance.
Since the app was launched last week, 2,000 users have signed up, said BlueSG, a unit of France’s Bollore Group.
Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan at the BlueSG ribbon cutting ceremony with Blue Solutions managing director Marie Bollore and BlueSG managing director Franck Vitte. (Photo: Afifah Ariffin)
Two subscription plans are available – a premium yearly membership which costs S$15 per month with lower rental rates of S$0.33 per minute for a minimum booking of 15 minutes, and a weekly membership plan which does not require any recurring fee but charges S$0.50 per minute.
Taking a BlueSG trip from Toa Payoh to Mohammed Sultan, for instance, would cost premium members about S$5.61, while this translates to S$8.50 for weekly members for the same journey.
BlueSG hopes to roll out 110 electric cars and 42 stations with 165 charging points islandwide by the end of this year. And by 2020, the aim is to have 1,000 cars and 2,000 charging points.
“We are committed to make Singapore the second largest electric vehicle car-sharing service worldwide after Paris,” said Marie Bollore, managing director of Blue Solutions.
“We look forward to working in tandem with the Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to achieve urban mobility and a sustainable transport system in Singapore.”
LTA’s chief executive officer Nguyen Hoon Ping added: “We also hope that the establishment of BlueSG’s charging network and the setting of Type-2 charging as a nationwide standard, will pave the way for greater adoption of electric vehicles in Singapore, as we move towards a greener and more sustainable urban transport system.”
A BlueSG electric car-sharing vehicle is parked at a charging station. (Photo: Reuters/Edgar Su)
The Bollore Group, which set up its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore in September, is also planning to launch a Global Innovation Center here to undertake R&D projects in the areas of mobility and energy management solutions.
It is also working with Nanyang Technological University to pilot an electric tram system around the campus in early 2018.
