1. As part of Singapore’s efforts to tackle climate change, Singapore intends to reduce our land transport emissions by 80% from 2016 levels, by around 2050. One key strategy to achieve this target is to increase the adoption of cleaner energy vehicles, and in particular, electric vehicles (EVs). EVs currently produce around half the emissions of an internal combustion engine vehicle.
2. EVs are refuelled by electric vehicle charging systems, or EV chargers, that charge the EV’s battery. The availability of EV charging infrastructure is critical for the adoption of EVs. The Ministry of Transport (MOT) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) are planning to introduce legislation to regulate EV charging across the key stakeholders in the EV charging industry. The key considerations are:
a. First, ensuring public safety in the use of EV chargers. Unregulated and ill-maintained chargers pose safety hazards, such as electrical fires or electrocution, which can lead to loss of lives and property. Left unchecked, these chargers may proliferate as EV adoption increases. The proposed legislation seeks to ensure that EV charging services are safe.
b. Second, establishing clear standards and regulations for the nascent EV charging industry. This helps to give existing EV charging operators in the EV charging industry (as well as potential entrants) operational clarity, and also ensure that only credible and reliable EV charging operators and EV charger suppliers operate in the industry.
c. Third, laying the foundation for an accessible and reliable network of EV chargers, and helping to reduce the need for future retrofitting works.
Proposed Legislation for Consultation
3. MOT and LTA are conducting a public consultation from 15 June 2022 to 14 July 2022 to seek the public’s views on proposed legislation to regulate EV charging. The proposed legislation will provide LTA with statutory powers to enforce new regulations that govern EV charging. Key aspects of the regulations are as follows:
a. LTA, as the regulatory body overseeing Singapore’s EV charging infrastructure, intends to require that the supply, use, installation and maintenance of chargers in Singapore comply with requisite safety standards.
b. LTA intends to impose a licensing regime for EV charging operators. This licensing regime will generally apply to commercial operators. Licensees will have to comply with a set of requirements to ensure that they meet reliability and quality standards of charging service provision.
c. LTA intends to require developments with carparks that conduct specified building or electrical works to install a minimum number of chargers, and cater sufficient electrical capacity to deploy a higher number of chargers in their carparks in the future. To facilitate EV charging provision in existing strata-titled developments, Government also intends to lower the resolution threshold for selected EV charger installation proposals via a related amendment to the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act.
4. Further details about the proposed legislation can be found in the Public Consultation Document attached in Annex A.
5. We welcome your views on the proposals presented in the Public Consultation Document. Please submit your feedback to us by 14 July 2022 via email at EVConsultation@lta.gov.sg, with the subject “Public Consultation for the Electric Vehicle Charging Bill”.
