More than 5,000 BlueSG electric car rentals in first 3 weeks of service

[SINGAPORE] More than 3,300 people have signed up for electric car-sharing service BlueSG, with 5,000 rentals in its first three weeks of operation here.

BlueSG, which launched in Singapore on Dec 12 with 80 vehicles and 32 charging stations, announced this in a media release on Wednesday (Jan 3).

Mr Franck Vitte, managing director of BlueSG, said he was "very encouraged and heartened by the overwhelming response".

He added: "We are looking at quickly deploying more stations islandwide as requested by a high number of Singapore residents."

The firm had earlier told The Straits Times that it had received more than 100 rentals in its first three hours of service after the launch.

Users can rent one of the 80 battery-powered hatchbacks, drive to their destinations, and drop the car off at any of the 32 charging locations in housing estates, the city, one-north business park and Science Park.

By 2020, the goal is to have 1,000 of such green cars, along with 500 charging locations offering 2,000 charging points - making BlueSG the second-largest electric-car sharing programme in the world.

About 80 per cent of the charging points are expected to be in residential areas, with 20 per cent of all points to be made available for members of the public to charge other private electric cars.

BlueSG is a subsidiary of the Bollore Group, which also has about 4,000 electric vehicles under the Autolib car-sharing service in Paris.

THE STRAITS TIMES