SINGAPORE — Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are not only cleaner but their driving ranges and refuelling times are comparable to petrol cars, so why is the Government placing a significant bet on electric vehicles as part of its efforts to fight climate change?

This was one question several Members of Parliament (MPs) posed over two days of this year’s Budget debate on Wednesday and Thursday (Feb 26 and 27) as they pointed out that other countries appear to be favouring the alternative that is even less pollutive.

In his Budget speech on Feb 18, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that buyers of electric vehicles will get a rebate of up to 45 per cent on the additional registration fee, capped at S$20,000, under an early adoption scheme, from January next year. 

In announcing this, Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister, said: “We are placing a significant bet on electric vehicles and leaning policy in that direction because it is the most promising technology.” 

But Jurong Group Representative Constituency (GRC) MP Ang Wei Neng, who is also the chief executive of ComfortDelGro Taxi which manages a fleet of more than 10,000 taxis, on Thursday raised some concerns about banking on such vehicles.  

Mr Ang pointed out that the promise of significantly reducing charging time and the cost of an EV’s battery “still remains a promise”. 

Elaborating, he said that the car battery industry had voiced concerns of exaggerated claims being commonplace, adding that not everyone is convinced that planned car battery breakthroughs will become a reality.

CONSIDER HYDROGEN FUEL CELL VEHICLES 

“Don’t get me wrong, I am supportive of having more green and clean vehicles,” Mr Ang told the House. “Just that we do not want Singapore to bet on the wrong ‘green’ car like the experience of CNG (compressed natural gas) powered cars.”

CNG cabs used to make up about 10 per cent of Singapore’s taxi population at its height in 2011, following a push for these vehicles in 2001, but they were phased out by the end of 2017 due to a lack of infrastructural support and cost ineffectiveness.

He then suggested that rather than “putting all our eggs in the (electric vehicles) basket”, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles could complement the push for electric vehicles here. 

Furthermore, China, Japan and South Korea are already working to put millions of the less pollutive hydrogen-powered vehicles on their roads, he said. 

This point was also raised on Wednesday by MP Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok) who asked the Government to elaborate on its choice of electric vehicles.

Nominated MP Mohamed Irshad asked what the Government was doing to ensure that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will not be locked out of the market.

“I submit that simply transitioning to electric vehicles is not enough…” said Mr Irshad on Thursday. “We must take the lead in moving towards a fossil-fuel-free future in our region.

“Thus, over the next few years, I hope that this House will seriously consider adopting alternative power sources, including nuclear energy given the advances in technology, and to look beyond electric vehicles.”

NEED TO REBUILD INFRASTRUCTURE

The MPs also raised concerns on what Non-Constituency MP Dennis Tan called “the biggest elephant in the room”: The need to rebuild an infrastructure currently tailored for internal combustion engine vehicles.

Mr Tan, a member of the Workers’ Party, and Mr Irshad were both of the view that incentivising electric vehicle use here may put a strain on the power grid, pointing out that 95 per cent of electricity here is generated from natural gas.

Asked Mr Tan: “While our current power generation mix will improve by 2030 due to more solar capacity, how are we moving to lowering the carbon footprint of our power generation in 2030 to 2040?”

Mr Murali asked about the kind of infrastructural development that would be required to fulfill the Government’s plan to expand the number of charging points from 1,600 today to 28,000 by 2030, questioning if there is, for instance, a need to build substations. 

He also enquired of the "cost recovery" plan for the additional infrastructure required and the supply of electricity to the electric vehicles.

NEW REBATES INSUFFICIENT 

Some MPs pointed out that the newly-introduced rebate may not be sufficient to push more people towards buying electric vehicles.

Mr Ang said that the existing Carbon Emission-Based Vehicle Scheme, which offers a rebate of up to S$30,000 off the additional registration fees, is more attractive than the up to S$20,000 in rebates offered under the Electric Vehicle Early Adoption Incentive Scheme.

He added that the additional road tax of S$700 per year that will be levied on electric vehicles is also not helping the push towards the greener option.

In his debate speech on Wednesday, Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Yee Chia Hsing said electric vehicle adoption will be “slow”, highlighting that electric versions of car models with their petrol, diesel or hybrid equivalents are selling at a significant premium.

He gave the example of a Hyundai Ioniq Electric, which retails for about S$152,000 – a premium of S$44,000 over its hybrid sibling. He also noted that a Volvo S60 plug-in hybrid, which allows charging as a source of energy, is selling at S$265,000 – a S$90,000 premium over a normal S60.

Car distributors should also be nudged to ensure that investments in charging stations are not wasted and become “white elephants”, said Mr Yee.

He said that many electric vehicle models, including the Volkswagen e-Golf and the Honda E, are still not being sold in Singapore and that only eight electric vehicle car models are available here.

To demonstrate their unavailability in the market, he stressed that none of the top three car brands by sales here – Honda, Toyota and Mercedes, which account for more than 28 per cent of passenger car sales – offer an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid car model.

To incentivise car dealers to bring in the models, there should be a double tax deduction for expenses incurred to bring in these models, said Mr Yee. 

Profits from such sales can also be taxed at a lower corporate income tax of 10 per cent, he suggested.

And for car dealers who are unable to meet target electric vehicle sales, he suggested that the Government could levy a S$5,000 tax on every petrol or diesel car they sell.

A total of 1,120 electric cars plied Singapore’s roads last year, up from 314 in 2017 and 560 in 2018, according to a written answer to a parliamentary question issued on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the number of petrol cars here had largely remained stable over the past three years, at around 570,000.

There had been a steady increase in the adoption of hybrid cars last year, from 21,985 in 2017 to 36,460 last year.