SINGAPORE - More cars qualified for emission rebates last year (19) than in 2018 but more were also slapped with surcharges because of their pollutant levels, Parliament was told on Thursday (Feb 27).
Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli responded to a question from MP Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC) by outlining figures for cars registered under the various bands of the Vehicular Emissions Scheme (VES).
The VES was implemented in January 2018 to assess cars on five key pollutants - carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. The VES band is determined by the worst-performing pollutant level of the five.
Based on figures provided by Mr Masagos, 27.7 per cent of new cars qualified for rebates of at least $10,000 last year, up from 22.1 per cent in 2018. But the cohort that qualified for the highest rebate of $20,000 declined from 2.2 per cent in 2018 to just 0.8 per cent.
The increase was cited in Budget 2020 as one reason for a fall in vehicle-related tax revenue in 2019.
Vehicles that were slapped with a tax surcharge accounted for 22.9 per cent of new cars registered last year, up slightly from 22.6 per cent in 2018.
Cars falling under the Neutral band - these do not qualify for rebate nor attract surcharge - shrank from 55.4 per cent in 2018 to 49.3 per cent.
Mr Masagos said: "The quarterly registration trends under the respective VES bands show promising results in encouraging the uptake of cleaner cars."
Meanwhile, the number of diesel passenger cars continued to grow despite most of these vehicles emitting high levels of particulate matter than equivalent petrol engines.
There were 18,049 diesel passenger cars on the road as at the end of 2019 - up 4.6 per cent from 2018's 17,253, according to Land Transport Authority (LTA) figures.
The Straits Times understands the growth was on the back of continued demand for diesel models from brands such as Renault, Opel and Kia. A sizeable proportion had been from private-hire fleet owners.
That trend is being offset by taxi operators moving away from diesel.
LTA data shows that the number of diesel-powered taxis shrank from 15,089 in 2018 to 9,759 last year - a 35.3 per cent drop.
Diesel models accounted for 52.6 per cent of all taxis last year, down from 73.3 per cent in 2018.
Diesel cabs have largely been replaced by petrol-electric hybrids, with market leader ComfortDelGro saying that all the new cabs it buys will either be hybrid or electric models.
