SINGAPORE - Five operators have been picked to deploy electric vehicle (EV) charging points in nearly 2,000 Housing Board carparks islandwide, in a move to encourage greater EV adoption by growing the charging network.

By end-2025, these companies have to operate no less than three charging points in each HDB carpark that they are responsible for, which will add at least 12,000 EV charging points to the national EV charging network.

Giving this update on Wednesday, Transport Minister S. Iswaran said the growing network “will address any range anxieties” – where EV drivers worry their car will run out of power before reaching a charging station.

Mr Iswaran said electrification will contribute significantly to lowering land transport carbon emissions, which currently account for about 15 per cent of Singapore’s domestic emissions.

The country’s aim is for all vehicles to be cleaner-energy vehicles by 2040.

The large-scale tender follows an earlier one to install more than 600 charging points in public carparks that was awarded in September 2021.

To date, 60 per cent of the designated sites have started operation, Mr Iswaran said in a speech at the Singapore International Transport Congress and Exhibition held at Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre.

EV adoption here is growing, he said, noting that electric car registrations in 2022 account for more than 10 per cent of all new car registrations – almost triple the adoption rate in 2021.

In September, the monthly adoption rate hit a new high of about 19 per cent, he added.

The five operators selected to deploy the charging points are Charge+, ComfortDelGro Engineering, SP Mobility, Shell Eastern Petroleum and Strides Automotive Services, which is a subsidiary of public transport operator SMRT. There were 11 bidders for the 10-year contracts.

Work to install the chargers is expected to start in the first quarter of 2023.

After 2025, the operators will be able to operate up to 12 EV charging points per carpark, as demand grows. There is flexibility to scale up deployment even further in future, Mr Iswaran said.

The Land Transport Authority said tenderers were assessed on various criteria, including their ability to optimise available electrical capacity to power the charging points. This will help maximise coverage of the national EV charging network in carparks with limited electrical power capacity, it added.

Mr S. Harsha, managing director for sustainable energy solutions at SP Group, said the power supply at HDB carparks will influence the type and number of chargers it can deploy.

Although SP operates 636 charging points across more than 150 locations, including retail malls and industrial buildings, this will be the first time it is working in HDB residential carparks.

It is looking to roll out chargers that will vary charging speeds depending on the number of EVs that are plugged in and the amount of power available.

Charge+ chief executive Goh Chee Kiong is convinced that the large-scale deployment of EV chargers through this latest tender will have a significant effect on EV adoption.

He said he has seen residents make the switch after the company deployed more than 600 chargers in different properties, including condominiums, in the past years.

“Residents will seriously look at replacing their internal combustion engine vehicles when they see a physical EV charger near them,” he added.

Charge+ will deploy about 4,000 chargers under the latest tender. It also won a contract from the 2021 tender.

Like Charge+, the consortium led by ComfortDelGro was awarded contracts from both tenders.

The operator said it will install up to 4,509 charging points at 387 HDB carparks under the latest contract.

These come on top of the 479 charging points from the 2021 tender. The company said two-thirds of those charging points have been deployed, with the remainder to be ready in the next few months.

The Government is also improving the public transport system, which Mr Iswaran described as “the most environmentally sustainable mode of mass transport”.

The expansion of the rail network is ongoing, with new MRT stations expected to be opened every year for the next 10 years, he added.

On Nov 13, 11 stations under the third stage of the Thomson-East Coast Line will be opened, and will boost public transport connectivity between the north and the city centre.