Registration of new diesel cars and taxis to stop in 2025
Picture credits: Carbuyer
SINGAPORE - In another implementation to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles by 2040, Singapore will stop the registration of new diesel cars and taxis in 2025. Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung noted that 95.8% of 140,783 goods vehicles and 99.4% of 18,912 buses run on diesel. Motor vehicles in Singapore emit roughly 6.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. If cars and taxis all ran on electricity, "the total net carbon abatement would be about 1.5 to two million tonnes per year".
Adjusting of road tax
During the Budget 2021 speech on 16th February, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that S$30 million will be set aside over the next five years for EV-related initiatives. The government will be lowering the Additional Registration Fee floor for electric cars to zero between January 2022 and December 2023. This allows EV to be more affordable as the floor is now set at $5,000 under the EV early adoption incentive. In addition, owners who register fully electric cars will receive a rebate of 45% off the Additional Registration Fees (ARF), capped at $20,000. From next year, road tax for mass-market electric cars will be lowered. The LTA will merge the electric cars with power ratings of 30 to 90 kilowatt (kW) and 90 to 230kW. Cars falling into this combined bracket will be subject to the present road tax formula of the lower 30 to 90kW band. With this change, electric cars owners will pay up to 34 percent less road tax, LTA said.
Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points
Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung announced on Thursday 4th March 2021 that there will be eight towns with electric vehicle (EV) charging points at all Housing and Development Board (HDB) car parks by 2025. The eight EV- ready towns that are equipped with charging points are Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Choa Chu Kang, Jurong West, Punggol, Queenstown, Sembawang and Tengah. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) mentioned that the towns were chosen because they are well spread out across the island and they have many car parks with existing electrical capacity that can support charging points. Meanwhile, an EV common charger grant will be set up in non-landed private residences. The authorities will build 60,000 EV charging points by 2030 at other HDB towns. They also aim to make all towns EV-ready before 2040.
