Singapore's electric car-sharing programme kicks off in December

Singapore

BlueSG, the nationwide electric vehicle (EV) car-sharing programme, kicks off in December with 80 cars and 30 charging stations with a total of 120 charging points.

Of the 30 charging locations, 18 will be in HDB estates and 10 in the city centre and its fringes, while the remaining two stations will be in one-north and Science Park.

BlueSG is a subsidiary of the Bollore Group, a diversified French conglomerate which runs seven other EV car-sharing systems in Europe and the US using its own Bluecar.

It was awarded the contract to operate the programme for 10 years by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Economic Development Board (EDB) last year.

Installation work on the 30 charging stations begins this month, and the plan is to roll out the rest of the targeted 1,000 electric cars and 500 charging stations equipped with 2,000 charging points progressively by 2020.

Of the 2,000 charging points, 400 or 20 per cent will be available for public use.

The so-called one-way car-sharing service provides users with the flexibility of returning the EV to a location that is different from the pick-up point.

BlueSG managing director Franck Vitte said the exact usage fees will be disclosed closer to the launch date. There are no parking charges as BlueSG pays for the season parking, for example, in an HDB estate.

BlueSG has made Singapore its Asia-Pacific headquarters with 30 staff by year-end to oversee its e-mobility, energy management and system integration business in the region. The company will also establish a global innovation centre here to undertake R&D in mobility and energy management solutions, creating about 250 jobs by 2021.

"Besides the set-up of the regional HQ in Singapore, we are delighted that BlueSG has also committed to the establishment of an open innovation platform to partner companies, universities and research institutes to co-create and deploy innovative urban mobility solutions,'' said EDB assistant managing director Kelvin Wong.

Marie Bollore, managing director of Blue Solutions, said the Bollore Group is "committed to make Singapore the second largest EV car-sharing service worldwide after Paris''.

Blue Solutions is owned by Bollore.

The French capital has 4,000 Bluecars and 6,200 charging points. The EVs use a Bollore-produced lithium metal polymer (LMP) battery, which unlike a lithium-ion battery does not require a cooling system.

Bollore will bear the cost of the three-door four-seater cars, which retail for about 12,000 euros (S$19,137) without the battery, while the Singapore government will co-fund the charging infrastructure as Bollore has to hand it over at the end of its operating period.