Electric vehicle (EV) owners will now be able to locate a charging point and compare rates on a unified app.
Transport Minister S. Iswaran announced yesterday that this service will be available as a new module on the MyTransport.SG mobile app.
"Currently, EV users may need to log into different applications to find and compare charging points," he said. "To give EV users the full picture, LTA (Land Transport Authority) has developed a single platform and partnered multiple EV charging operators to aggregate and display key information of charging facilities.
"This includes the location of the nearest chargers, their prices and power rating. This will enable EV users to locate and use charging points more easily."
The app will provide information on more than 800 charging points in 200 locations operated by Bluecharge, CDG Engie, Charge+, Shell Recharge and SP Mobility.
The minister said more will be added in due course, and the service will include features such as real-time charging point availability in the future.
EV owners said this would enhance the app. "We don't have to reach a charging point only to find it's being used," said retiree Bernard Chew, 55, who drives an electric Hyundai.
Mr Leslie Chang, 58, a watch dealer who has two Hyundai electric cars, said having a unified payment mode would be useful too. "That means existing Shell subscribers can use SP chargers and pay via an existing plan - something like how ez-link cards can be used for all public buses and trains," he added.
Mr Iswaran said: "The transition to EVs is a key thrust in greening our land transport system. It will touch all our lives, whether we are motorists, fleet owners, workers in the automotive industry or commuters."
He was speaking at a carpark in Jurong West - one of the first Housing Board carparks to have charging points installed under a joint Urban Redevelopment Authority-LTA pilot tender to equip 200 public carparks with 600 charging points.
Next month, the LTA will launch its first large-scale tender to install EV chargers in nearly 2,000 HDB carparks. The plan is to deploy an additional 12,000 charging points by 2025, in tandem with an expected pick-up in EV demand.
The tender will comprise up to 10 packages, each sized to cover about the same number of carparks, and valid for 10 years. Successful bidders will deploy three to 12 charging points in their designated carparks by end-2025.
Bidders will be assessed on how they aim to offer affordable, reliable and sustainable charging services, the LTA said.
They will also be evaluated on their plans to trial and implement innovative solutions to deter the hogging of charging lots, as well as maximise deployment in carparks with limited electrical capacity.
The tender is expected to be awarded in the fourth quarter of this year, with the installation of charging points starting in the first quarter of next year.
As at end-February, the number of EVs here stood at 4,166, making up 0.4 per cent of the total vehicle population. This compares with 1,336 in 2019, making up 0.1 per cent of the population then.
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