Renault-Nissan Alliance Partners with Singapore Government for EVs
07 May 2009
The Renault-Nissan Alliance has formed a partnership with the Energy Market Authority (EMA), the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore to explore the development of Zero Emission Vehicles Program.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in the presence of Lawrence Wong, CE of EMA, Dr Beh Swan Gin, MD of EDB, Yam Ah Mee, CE of LTA and Thierry Koskas, Renault Electric Vehicles Programme Director, the organizations have agreed to set up working team of representatives and promote introduction and expansion of electric vehicles in Singapore.
EV development is an exciting new area particularly relevant to the Singapore context. Singapore is well-positioned for the deployment of EVs due to our relative small size, urban environment, robust electrical grid and IT infrastructure.
—Lawrence Wong, Chief Executive, EMA
To spearhead Electric Vehicle (EV) test-bedding and infrastructure development in Singapore, a multi-agency taskforce chaired by Energy Market Authority (EMA) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has been set up with members comprising the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Economic Development Board (EDB), National Environment Agency (NEA), Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).
The EV taskforce was set up to assess the benefits and applicability of adopting EVs in Singapore. It will draw up the overall plan of EV test-bedding and evaluation of the environmental and economic benefits, with a view of a potential larger scale adoption of EVs in future. The taskforce will work with key industry players to examine infrastructural requirements, policy requirements and new business models arising from EVs, as well as identify industry development and R&D opportunities. It will also look into educating the public on EV technology though a nationwide EV sharing programme or through corporate fleets. The taskforce will set aside funding for interested parties to develop infrastructure and buy electric vehicle during the test-bedding process.
The Renault-Nissan Alliance has now formed partnerships with 26 governments, cities and other organizations to advance the deployment of EVs worldwide. The Alliance has begun ZEV initiatives in Kanagawa Prefecture and Yokohama in Japan, as well as in Israel, Denmark, Portugal, Monaco, the UK, France, Switzerland, Ireland, China and Hong Kong.
In the United States, the Alliance is exploring ways to promote zero-emission mobility and the development of an EV infrastructure in the State of Tennessee, the State of Oregon, Sonoma County and San Diego in California, and Tucson, Phoenix Arizona, Seattle in Washington and Raleigh in North Carolina.
Sounds like a good idea - you might not even need the battery swap stations as Singapore is so small (26x14 miles).
+ it is rich, and they have a lot of tax on cars, so by cutting this for electric cars, they could level the costs compared to gasoline.
I wonder do they have a lot of spare electricity at night (so you could recharge on off peak power (like most places).
[ Or do they run AC all night long? ]
Posted by: mahonj | 07 May 2009 at 11:27 AM
mahonj:
Singapour is very well equipped. It's installed generation capacity is about 12500 MW with peak demand of barely 6000 MW.
Currently, domestic usage accounts for only 18% of the total. Most people use NG for cooking and hot water.
Yes, domestic AC operate (on and off) all night but industrial and commercial usage is way down.
It seems that they have enough installed capacity to fully charge a PHEV or BEV (overnight) at every home.
Posted by: HarveyD | 07 May 2009 at 03:39 PM
Singapore is a small island nation with enough money to put into charging stations. Companies have long sought government money to leverage profits, in this case they both win. Nissan is really putting the EV on the line and not backing away. Good for them and Singapore.
Posted by: SJC | 10 May 2009 at 01:52 PM