Summary/Reader Response Draft #3: Electric vehicles in Singapore (a)
The article "Electric vehicles will take over Singapore. But here's what must happen first" by Kuttan (2020) mentions about Singapore’s ambitions for a greener country, issues that may be faced and possible solutions to these problems. He mentioned that Singapore has set a goal to retire internal combustion engine vehicles for 2040 and to make way for electric vehicles(EVs). The article mentioned that rewards have been put out to attract more people to switch to electric vehicles. However, he pointed out that there are challenges like meeting the demand for EVs in Singapore. Besides this, he mentioned that ensuring sufficient charging points would also be an issue in the future. The article stated that persons of authorities have planned to work with private organisations to tackle this problem.
High numbers of vehicles in Singapore leave behind a large
carbon footprint. Hence, he pointed out that this plan to electrify the public
transport system is to reduce the carbon output. All in all, Singapore has set up
multiple policies and incentives to achieve this goal of a greener country. The
article stated that Singapore has also invested a large sum of money for this
change and recognizes that it is needed for the fight against climate change.
In my opinion, usage of electric vehicles has advantages
when compared to combustion engine vehicles such as lower carbon emissions,
cheaper source of fuel and reduced initial cost of owning one even though they
may have constraints like lack of charging points.
A benefit of electric cars is the contribution they can make
to improve the quality of air in cities. According to the article
"Promoting The Adoption Of Cleaner Commercial Vehicles" (National
Environmental Agency, 2020), electric vehicles run on electricity and they have
no tailpipes. This means that they do not produce any carbon dioxide during
usage. The only time EVs indirectly contribute to the emission of carbon
dioxide is when local power is generated through burning of coals or natural
gas in order to produce the electricity to charge these vehicles. However, this
amount of greenhouse gas produced is insignificant when compared to a car which
runs on petrol. Therefore, using EVs greatly reduces air pollution.
Another advantage of using an EV is that it uses a cheaper
alternative to fuel itself, which is electricity. According to the article
"Here's whether it's actually cheaper to switch to an electric vehicle or
not - and how the costs break down" (Winters, 2021), electricity is
inexpensive compared petrol. With technological advancements in EV batteries,
the mileage of EVs could be on par with the mileage of combustion engine
vehicles in the future. This means that there will be lesser charging required
for the same amount of distance travelled in an EV. This will help to further
cut down the cost of recharging an EV. Winters also mentioned that a consumer
report done in 2020 suggests that owners of EVs typically spend 60% lesser on
fuel than owners of combustion engine vehicles.
One more advantage of owning an EV in Singapore is the
initial cost of buying one. EVs in the past have been more expensive than
combustion engine vehicles due to various reasons like the material they are
being made of and the cost of producing batteries. According to an article by Land
Transport Authority (2021) called "Factsheet: Encouraging the Adoption of
Electric Cars for a More Sustainable Land Transport Sector", LTA mentioned
that grants of up to $45000 have been introduced under multiple schemes to
allow more people to opt for electric vehicles instead of the combustion engine
vehicles. The introduction of different schemes help to bring down the initial
cost of owning EVs in the local scene.
However, one of the drawbacks of owning an EV in Singapore
is the inconvenience caused due to the lack of charging points. According to
the article "Buying An Electric Car In Singapore: A Complete
Guide"(Chan, 2021), there are around 3730 electric vehicles in Singapore
as of now but only 1600 charging points available. These charging points can
only cater to one vehicle at a time. This is a great inconvenience for EV
owners. Authorities are aiming to tackle this problem by planning to deploy
60000 charging points by 2030 in order to encourage more EV adoption in
Singapore.
In conclusion, adoption of EVs is the ideal way to move
forward as a society as it has great amount of positive impacts on the
environment. Even though there may be certain drawbacks in owning an EV now, I
believe that with the current researches going on in the electric vehicle
industry, these drawbacks would be rectified and many would opt for EVs in the
future for the betterment of our planet.
References:
Kuttan, S.C.(2020, February 23).
Commentary: Electric vehicles will take over Singapore. but here's what must happen
first. CNA.
News releases. National
Environment Agency (2020, 04 March).Promoting The Adoption Of Cleaner
Commercial Vehicles. NEA.
Winters, M. (2021, December 29).
Here’s whether it’s actually cheaper to switch to an electric vehicle or
not—and how the costs break down. CNBC.
Lta.gov.sg. (2021, March 4).
Factsheet: Encouraging the Adoption of Electric Cars for a More Sustainable
Land Transport Sector. LTA.
Chan, A. (2021, November 26).
Buying An Electric Car In Singapore: A Complete Guide. SingSaver Blog - We
Compare, You Save. Singsaver.
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