Insurance for EV Charging Stations Against Fire Incidents and Damage to Buildings and Surrounding Vehicles
Ministry of TransportSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the insurance requirements for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations against fire and damage to buildings and surrounding vehicles. Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked if such insurance is mandatory and whether additional safety measures like sprinklers or extinguishers would be provided. Minister of State Murali Pillai stated that EV charging operators must maintain public liability insurance with a minimum $2 million coverage per occurrence. He explained that this policy covers personal injury and property damage to third parties, including the Housing and Development Board and car owners. The Minister of State added that the Land Transport Authority is monitoring safety, noting that EV fire incidents in Singapore remain very low.
Transcript
16 Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for Transport whether there is any requirement for all EV charging stations to be insured against fire and damage to the building housing them and surrounding cars.
The Minister of State for Transport (Mr Murali Pillai) (for the Minister for Transport): Mr Speaker, Sir, the hon Member Mr Lim Biow Chuan may be happy to note that the electric vehicle charging operators (EVCOs) are required to maintain a public liability insurance policy which covers personal injury, death or damage to property of third persons arising from EV charging operations, including from fire incidents, with a minimum coverage of $2 million per occurrence.
Mr Speaker: Mr Lim Biow Chuan.
Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten): Sir, I understand that there was some concern by drivers about the safety of EVs after the fire involving EVs in Seoul in August. Sir, may I ask the Minister of State, in addition to insurance, would there be other safety requirements like the installation of sprinklers or the provision of fire extinguishers near EV charging points, so as to give assurance to other car drivers that their vehicles parked next to an EV charging station would be safe?
The other question, if I may ask the Minister of State, is whether the insurance just covers the owners of the car park, primarily the Housing and Development Board (HDB), or would it also cover managers of the car park, like Town Councils?
Mr Murali Pillai: Mr Speaker, Sir, I appreciate the hon Member Mr Lim's concern about safety arising from the Seoul incident that he mentioned. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is looking at this quite closely. From the perspective of fire incidents in Singapore, thankfully, it has remained quite low. In 2023, for a vehicle population of 16,262 EVs, there was only one fire incident. So, we will continue to look at it and then, based on the experience, we will take whatever further steps that are necessary.
In relation to the coverage of the insurance policy, as I mentioned in my answer to the hon Member Mr Lim just now, it is a third-party public liability insurance policy. So, it covers not only damage to property – and the Member mentioned HDB – it also covers personal injury and damage to other third parties as well. So, that is the ambit of the policy.