500 New Electric Vehicle Charging Points By 2020 Thanks To The Power Of Twitter?
A while back, Elon Musk posted a tweet proclaiming that he felt the Singapore government wasn’t “supportive” of electric vehicles.
https://mustsharenews.com/tesla-singapore-elon-musk/
This was made in response to a netizen who asked him why Tesla’s new Superchargers were rolled out in many countries across the globe, except Singapore.
Razer CEO Min Liang Tan also chimed in to offer a helping hand to Mr Musk, creating a little Twitter moment between the two billionaires.
https://mustsharenews.com/elon-musk-min-liang-tan/
Now, Singapore’s largest EV charging network looks set to launch 500 new charging points across the island.
30 of which are expected to be completed by end-2018.
From malls, to corporate building spaces and residential carparks, every conceivable location will play home to a brand new charging point by 2020.
At least according to Singapore Power (SP) Group, in an official announcement on Tuesday (19 Jun).
Singapore’s an ideal environment for EVs
SP Group claims that this move will bolster Singaporeans appetite for electric vehicles, with 30 charging points to be ready by end-2018.
They also described Singapore as an “ideal environment” for EVs as it is “highly urbanised and compact”.
By building up EV infrastructure around town, they hope to “plug a critical gap” by “reducing range anxiety” in drivers of electric vehicles.
This means that drivers no longer need to worry if their electric cars will “run out of juice”, before they reach their destinations.
Tenders have been launched
SP is looking to hire companies who can set up and install these chargers in an open tender.
If everything goes smoothly, we can expect more than 100 of 500 charging points to fully charge an EV within half an hour.
That’s 3-7 times faster than presently available docks in Singapore today.
Mobile app for locating charging docks
Imagine simply logging into an app to check where’s the nearest charging station while on the road in your EV.
Well, this may soon be a reality with SP Group’s new app — including automated updates on the charging process and e-payment options.
SP Group promises that more details in terms of price tiers will be released closer to the launch of the network at the end of the year.
Putting two and two together
Since SP Group’s announcement came after Elon Musk famously made known his dissatisfaction with the “lack of support” for EVs by our government, we can’t help but wonder if it’s all merely a coincidence.
We don’t deny, however, that this is a promising show of support for more EVs to ply our roads in the near future.
Now, all that’s left is to hope for Emissions Rebates for EVs too, come July’s announcement.
Featured image from SGCarMart.
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