SINGAPORE: SP Group said on Wednesday (Jan 9) it has rolled out its first wave of 38 electric vehicle charging points, a move that comes amid a growing popularity and uptake of electric vehicles.
The 38 points comprise 19 50kW direct current (DC) chargers, which are able to fully power up a vehicle in 30 minutes, as well as 19 43kW alternating current (AC) chargers.
They are located at commercial buildings, industrial sites and educational institutions islandwide, including at Alexandra Technopark, Hyflux Innovation Centre, Techlink and Corporation Place.
“The locations are close to amenities such as food centres, offering drivers greater convenience while waiting for their vehicles to be charged,” SP Group said in a news release.
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GROWING POPULARITY OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES
This is the first wave of 1,000 charging points SP Group plans to roll out by 2020, which the company expects to become Singapore’s largest public electric vehicle charging network.
The roll-out of the charging points come amid a growing popularity of electric vehicles.
According to data from the Land Transport Authority, there were 614,937 cars registered in Singapore as of end-November last year. Of those, 357 cars were petrol-electric plug-ins while 466 were pure electric. LTA’s data also showed there were 102 pure electric taxis.
Those numbers have grown from 206 petrol-electric plug-in cars and 314 pure electric cars at the end of 2017.
“SP’s new additions will be a game-changer in improving the charging turnaround time for EV drivers in Singapore,” the company said in the release.
“EV drivers can also enjoy at least 50 per cent cost savings compared to typical Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles for every kilometre travelled. The cost of using SP charging points will be regularly adjusted, mainly influenced by the prevailing electricity costs in Singapore.”
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File photo of an electric vehicle charging point. (Image: CNA)
SP UTILITIES MOBILE APP
SP Group said that drivers can search and access the charging service through the SP Utilities mobile app. The app includes functions for payment and will send users regular updates on their charging sessions.
One of SP Group’s charging points, located at Singapore Polytechnic, will also be used to train students taking the engineering curriculum.
Over the next few years, SP Group intends to introduce more high-powered DC charging points of up to 350kW.
OTHER DC CHARGERS
Aside from SP Group, there are currently six other DC chargers in Singapore.
Electric car-sharing company BlueSG said in December that it will progressively open up its charging points to the public in the first quarter of 2019. Previously, only its own fleet of cars use its charging points.
READ: BlueSG to open charging points to privately owned electric vehicles next year
A BlueSG electric vehicle charging point. (Image: CNA)
The company currently has 531 charging points islandwide at 135 locations islandwide, and aims to have 2,000 charging points at 500 locations by 2020. Of these charging points, 20 per cent will be available for the public to use.
