60% of Singapore taxis now run on cleaner energy

[SINGAPORE] Around six in ten taxis on Singapore's roads are hybrid or electric vehicles (EVs), up from just 18 per cent three years ago, Senior Minister of State for Transport Amy Khor said on Monday (March 1).

She said the proportion of cleaner energy vehicles rose from about 20 per cent to 35 per cent in the private hire car sector (see amendment note) during the same period of January 2018 to January this year.

Responding to a question from Workers' Party MP Dennis Tan (Hougang), Dr Khor said the Ministry of Transport and Land Transport Authority will continue working with industry players to ensure the entire fleet makes the transition to cleaner energy vehicles.

Last year, ride-hailing trips here generated an estimated 300,000 tonnes of carbon emissions, or about 4 per cent of the estimated 7 million tonnes generated by the land transport sector.

Earlier this month, the government announced several new targets and incentives to promote the use of electric vehicles as part of the inter-ministerial Green Plan 2030. They included a revised target of building 60,000 charging points across the island over the next nine years, more than double its original target of 28,000.

The authorities have also said the vehicle tax structure will be revised to make it less costly to buy and own EVs.

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In his Budget statement on Feb 16, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced the removal of the S$5,000 minimum additional registration fee which green cars are liable for.

He also committed S$30 million to EV-related initiatives over the next five years.

THE STRAITS TIMES

Amendment note: An earlier version of this story said that between 2018 and this year, the proportion of cleaner energy vehicles rose from 20 per cent to 35 per cent across the point-to-point sector. It should be the private-hire car sector. The article has been edited to reflect this.