Efficient Use of EV Charging Infrastructure Located in Different Premises Across Different Times of Day

9 Mr Edward Chia Bing Hui asked the Acting Minister for Transport with reference to electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities at public carparks and other Government-managed premises, how the Ministry is ensuring the efficient utilisation of EV charging infrastructure across different times of the day given Singapore's land and energy constraints.

The Senior Minister of State for Transport (Ms Sun Xueling) (for the Acting Minister for Transport): We are deploying electric vehicle (EV) chargers in tandem with growing demand, within the constraints of space and electricity. As EV technology is continuously improving, we are also mindful not to overbuild as chargers can become obsolete quickly. We monitor utilisation rates closely and will deploy more chargers when utilisation is high, electrical capacity permitting.

EV Charging Operators (EVCOs) implement various incentives and disincentives to optimise usage throughout different times of the day. Some EVCOs impose idle fees during non-overnight hours to deter unnecessary occupancy of EV charging lots. Other operators charge lower prices during off-peak hours. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will work with EVCOs to explore other measures to encourage charging during off-peak periods.

Mr Speaker: Mr Edward Chia.

Mr Edward Chia Bing Hui (Holland-Bukit Timah): Thank you, Speaker. The Senior Minister of State also pointed out that at some point Singapore will have a land constraint and looking at the constraints, we, therefore, need to look at maximising the available EV charging infrastructures and, therefore, utilisation rate.

So, my first supplementary question is whether the Ministry is actually monitoring the utilisation at every individual EV charging stations and using this as key performance indicators in evaluating operators for future tenders and contract renewals?

Second, whether the Ministry will consider mandating differentiated charging fees to encourage more efficient utilisation of EV chargers across peak and off-peak periods?

And really, my questions are because I have received feedback from residents that, most of the time, these chargers are actually not utilised. But when they come home at night, when it is during peak hours, it is, therefore, over-utilised. So, can we smoothen out demand across the day so we can encourage better utilisation rates?

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for his questions, and also very helpful feedback as to how we can better optimise our electrical infrastructure to support EV charging. Indeed, we do face constraints, land constraints, electrical capacity constraints.

So, on his suggestions, firstly, on his question as to whether we monitor utilisation at the individual charger level, most of the time, we see that the chargers are grouped together in a cluster in a car park. So, currently, we monitor utilisation for the car park rather than at the individual electrical charger level because we feel that this is more useful for us to analyse if the charging provision in the car park is sufficient.

He had also had a question as to whether or not the charger utilisation is currently being accounted for when evaluating future tenders or contract renewal. Currently, that is not our position.

As to his suggestion as to whether or not we should mandate scheduled charging, there are various ways for us to look at how we can better optimise electrical charging throughout the day. I had talked about the idle fees that some of the EVCOs actually implement. There are also other possibilities, such as load balancing and scheduled charging, which can help us better distribute how the electrical capacity is distributed across chargers and across buildings, and also tying that to software. All in all, there are other methods for us to look at how we can better make use of electricity, given our grid constraints.

At the same time, we are also exploring with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Energy Market Authority on electrical capacity upgrades. So, we are doing that all together. As to whether or not there is a need for us to mandate certain measures, we will consider that after we have exhausted all these other possibilities.