TotalEnergies ends EV charging operation in S’pore, to transfer charging points to other operators

SINGAPORE - TotalEnergies Charging Services Singapore is shutting down its electric vehicle (EV) charging operation here, with all its charging points set to be transferred to other operators by the end of 2025.

This is the first major EV charging service operator to withdraw from the Singapore market since the law governing EV charging came into force in December 2023.

TotalEnergies told The Straits Times on Nov 27 that it had signed a termination agreement to transfer its network of charging points to the Land Transport Authority (LTA). These charging points will be transferred progressively to other LTA-designated operators by Dec 31, the company added.

It said the decision was taken after electric car-sharing service BlueSG announced in August that it was pausing its business.

LTA said TotalEnergies’ chargers at Housing Board carparks came under a contract between LTA and TotalEnergies to support BlueSG’s service. “Following the cessation of

BlueSG’s operations,

TotalEnergies sought LTA’s agreement to terminate the contract from Sept 30, to which LTA agreed,” the authority said.

As at end-October, data from LTA showed that TotalEnergies had 1,465 charging points located in around 350 HDB carparks. There are 11,282 charging stations in Singapore – some of them have more than one charging point.

LTA added that it has arranged for other EV charging operators, which are already operating in HDB carparks, to progressively take over TotalEnergies’ chargers at no additional cost, because the chargers are part of Singapore’s public charging network.

From Nov 28, 63 of TotalEnergies’ charging stations will be switched off and handed over to SP Mobility, another EV charging operator, TotalEnergies said in an e-mail to customers on Nov 27.

The charging stations that SP Mobility is taking over from TotalEnergies comprise 250 charging points. They are located in Housing Board carparks in areas such as Bedok, Bishan, Punggol, Sengkang, Pasir Ris, Tampines and Toa Payoh. These chargers will not be operational until further notice by SP Mobility.

The chargers operated by TotalEnergies started as Blue Charge, which was an integral part of BlueSG’s car-sharing service.

The charging stations were also where BlueSG users would pick up and return the EVs.

TotalEnergies

acquired the chargers in 2021 when Bollore, the French engineering group that introduced BlueSG, was exiting Singapore. Even after the car-sharing service was sold to Goldbell, a Singapore commercial and industrial vehicle giant, BlueSG cars continued to use the charging stations under an agreement between TotalEnergies and BlueSG.

Around 500 of TotalEnergies’ charging stations were open to non-BlueSG cars.

Following BlueSG’s announcement that it was pausing its operations, TotalEnergies had told ST that it was making around 90 per cent of its chargers available to the public while it assessed the impact of BlueSG’s decision.

TotalEnergies said on Nov 27 that the decision to terminate and transfer its network of charging points has no impact on TotalEnergies’ existing activities in Singapore, which is an important hub for the region. “We remain committed to supporting the Singapore Green Plan and the region’s energy transition needs,” it added.

Singapore serves as TotalEnergies’ regional hub overseeing business activities in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. It is also home to the company’s largest lubricant blending plant in the world.

Mr Dean Cher, SP Mobility’s managing director, said the company will progressively incorporate the chargers from TotalEnergies into its app from Dec 8. It aims to complete the transition by Dec 19.

The work includes opening new electricity accounts, rebranding the chargers, integrating them into SP Mobility’s system and testing the chargers before they go live, he said.

The majority of TotalEnergies’ chargers are rated at 3.7kW, which is the slowest among those accessible publicly. On average, such chargers take up to 16 hours to juice up a typical EV – twice as long as the 7.4kW chargers commonly found in HDB carparks.

EV charging operator Charge+ said it will take over 63 charging stations from TotalEnergies. Charge+ chief executive Goh Chee Kiong said the operator will spend the next few weeks to take over and operationalise the chargers. The operator intends to retain the chargers and will look into upgrading them later on.

ComfortDelGro-owned CDG Engie said it will take over 66 charging stations comprising 264 charging points from TotalEnergies in December, and it aims to incorporate them into its network in January.

Mr Doong Shiwen, general manager of Shell Mobility and Convenience Singapore, said around 80 charging stations under TotalEnergies will be transferred to the Shell network over the next few months. Work to incorporate and commission the chargers is expected to start from mid-December.

Mr Doong said that depending on the site, Shell Mobility will upgrade the chargers, where possible, including switching to faster chargers to improve the user experience.