Singapore’s first electric car-sharing programme will hit the streets island-wide in December, with 80 cars and 30 charging stations across the country, announced operator BlueSG today. A subsidiary of French conglomerate Bollore Group, the company had signed an agreement with the Land Transport Authority and the Economic Development Board last June to develop the initiative, which would gradually roll out 1,000 electric cars in Singapore, reported Channel NewsAsia.
The original plan was to introduce 125 electric cars and 250 charging points in neighborhoods like Ang Mo Kio, Jurong East and Punggol by mid-2017, but the managing director of Blue Solutions — the Bollore Group subsidiary heading electric vehicle-sharing platforms — said the delay arose from complications in working with the authorities.
So the new plan is to eventually bring in by 2020 a total of 1,000 electric cars and 500 charging stations with 2,000 charging points — of which 400 will be open for public use, reported TODAY.
The BlueSG mobile app will be available via the App Store and Google Play from Dec 5 onwards, and their first fleet of electric cars will hit the roads next Tuesday, Dec 12. How it works is by a subscription-based plan — members will have to pay $15 a month under the premium yearly membership plan, with a $0.33 per minute fee for a minimum booking duration of 15 minutes. Those who prefer the weekly membership plan will just have to pay $0.50 per minute with the same minimum booking duration.
Its ultimate goal is to create the world’s second-largest electric car-sharing service in Singapore, after Paris (FYI, the Bollore Group operates the largest fully electric car-sharing programme in the world).
Eighteen stations will be placed in estates like Tampines, Bishan, Punggol and Queenstown, while ten stations will be located around the city center. One will be situated at one-north, and the last one will be at Science Park, where the Asia-Pacific headquarters of BlueSG resides. The hub will house more than 30 employees by the end of 2017 to supervise its e-mobility, energy management and system integration business for the region.
BlueSG is also planning to establish a global innovation center in Singapore for research and development in mobility, as well as energy management solutions. This could quite possibly create about 250 jobs in the country by 2021.
EDIT: Article amended on Dec 4, 2017 to include official launch dates and other details.
Reader Interactions