There is a plan for introducing a greater number of electric and hybrid buses on the roads of Singapore, stated Second Minister for Transport Ng Chee Meng in Parliament on Wednesday. The step is being taken for making the transportation system more environment-friendly.
The Minister was participating in the discussion of the Committee of Supply’s debate. He also informed that Land Transport Authority (LTA) will call for tenders for purchase of 50 hybrid and 60 electric buses this year.
Ng said, “Initial feedback from commuters on the electric buses has been encouraging. Though it is costly, commuters enjoyed the quieter ride and the bus has been fairly reliable. However, a problem with pure-electric technology is that it is not fully proven yet for tropical climates, in part because vehicles consume a lot of energy for air-conditioning.”
“The electric car sharing and electric taxi trials that LTA launched recently will also help us better understand the application of this technology in our climate,” added Ng.
LTA said the expansion of the trial will help it better understand the operational challenges that come with the wider deployment of such buses under local tropical weather and traffic conditions.
Currently, three bus operators in Singapore including Go-Ahead Singapore, Shenzhen-based automaker BYD and local distributor S Dreams are testing a fully-electric bus.