4,000 Charge+ EV charging points, Pirelli’s puncture-proof tyre, test-drive Volkswagen to support SPCA

Charge+ surpasses 4,000 charging points

Electric vehicle (EV) charging operator Charge+ now has more than 4,000 charging points in Singapore, with more than 2,000 of them in Housing Board estates and 1,700 in 300 condominiums.

Charge+ marked the achievement on March 30 in an event held at Beyond X in Keppel Road, a start-up incubator formed by architecture firm Ong&Ong and events management company Hustle & Bustle.

Mr Ong Tze Boon, chairman of Charge+, said: “As a major EV charging company in South-east Asia, we have a strategic goal to implement 30,000 charging points globally by 2030, so as to catalyse electric mobility in Singapore and the region”.

Supporting the growth of the charging network is DBS Bank, which extended a $21 million green loan in 2024 under the Enterprise Financing Scheme – Green, a government financing scheme to help local companies develop capabilities.

Pirelli’s puncture-proof tyres

Pirelli has launched a new tyre model called Cinturato Rosso, a puncture-proof tyre with Seal Inside technology, in Singapore on March 27.

Punctures are the most common cause of accidental loss of tyre pressure and the name Seal Inside describes the technology well: When something punctures the tyre, a sealing material will stick to the object.

This creates a seal around the object if it remains in the tyre. When the object is removed from the tyre, the sealing material is drawn to fill the hole, sealing its edges. This is said to enable drivers to continue their journey without having to make immediate intervention in the event of a puncture.

The Cinturato Rosso with Seal Inside technology is available in 16- to 20-inch sizes to fit saloon cars, crossovers and sport utility vehicles, and is available at tyre installers that sells Pirelli.

Test drive for a good cause

To mark International Pets Day on April 11, Volkswagen Group Singapore (VGS) launched its Unleash The Zoomies campaign in partnership with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). From April 1 to 11, VGS will donate $10 for every test drive taken in a Volkswagen, Skoda or Cupra model.

The Volkswagen Centre Singapore at 247 Alexandra Road, which houses the showroom of all three brands, will be transformed into a pet-friendly activity space from 10am to 6pm. Highlights include a pet-friendly market, which showcases vendors selling treats and accessories for pets. The first 30 test drive participants on that day will also get a goodie bag filled with treats.

Find out more at the Singapore websites of the Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra brands.

Jaguar invokes past heroes

Jaguar is promising that its upcoming electric grand tourer carries the spirit of the brand’s best-known models, including the E-type, XK120, XJS and XJ Series I, even though it does not run on petrol.

This comes as the brand prepares to relaunch itself as an all-electric luxury brand after it stopped making nearly all petrol-engined models in mid-2024. The last petrol-powered unit was a F-Pace SVR that left the production line in December 2025.

In press materials distributed on March 31, Jaguar said its engineers dug deep into the brand’s roots, driving its most iconic models from the past 90 years to understand and incorporate the “driving characteristics and engineering philosophy” into the new creation.

This emphasis on the brand’s heritage seems like a counterpoint to its radical Copy Nothing rebranding campaign in 2024, marked by the Type 00 concept car. The production version of the electric vehicle, which has yet to be officially named, is expected to be unveiled in the coming months.

Honda unplugs Sony EV

Afeela1, the first EV jointly developed by Honda and Sony, is dead. This is a high-end electric saloon that blends Honda’s engineering experience with Sony’s expertise in infotainment, among other cool innovations to challenge the Chinese carmakers and Tesla.

Japanese carmaker Honda said on March 25 it is pulling the plug on the EV, which was meant to be made in Honda’s factory in Ohio, the United States, along with work on the second Afeela model. The future of Sony Honda Mobility, the joint venture the two Japanese giants formed for the project, is now under review.

The latest blow to Honda’s electric dreams comes barely a week after it announced it was canning plans for three other EVs under its 0 Series. Honda had planned to launch them initially for the North American market in 2026.

But there are no signs of its EV plans for the rest of the world shorting out. Particularly, the EV models made with Chinese state-owned carmaker Dongfeng remain on sale in Asia, while Singapore deliveries of the Super-One, a Japanese-made city EV, is slated to start in mid-2026.