Public Consultation on Proposed Legislation to Regulate Electric Vehicle Charging

Ministry of Transport & Land Transport Authority

Consultation Period: 15 Jun 2022 - 14 Jul 2022

Status: Closed - Summary of Responses

Consultation Outcome

Summary of Responses to Public Consultation on Proposed Legislation to Regulate Electric Vehicle Charging

In June 2022, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) and Land Transport Authority (LTA) sought public feedback on the proposed legislation to regulate electric vehicle (EV) charging in Singapore. The proposed legislation seeks to establish new regulatory frameworks and provide LTA with the relevant enforcement powers, with a view to ensuring that Singapore’s EV charging infrastructure is safe, reliable, and accessible for all EV users. 

2. The public consultation exercise was held from 15 June 2022 to 14 July 2022. As part of the exercise, MOT and LTA also organised industry consultation sessions. 

3. At the close of the public consultation, MOT and LTA received over 70 responses from a wide range of stakeholders, including members of the public, companies, industry and business associations. The feedback received was generally supportive of the proposed legislative measures. The main areas of feedback pertain to mandatory EV charging provision for developments; the licensing regime for EV charging operators (EVCOs); the registration regime for EV chargers; charging provisions for electric motorcycles; and measures to optimise the use of EV charging points. Details on the key pieces of feedback received and the corresponding written responses from MOT and LTA can be found in the Annex below.

4. MOT and LTA would like to thank all members of the public and industry for their active participation in the public consultation exercise. Their feedback was critical in strengthening the proposed legislation, which is expected to be tabled in Parliament by the end of this year.

Ministry of Transport and the Land Transport Authority
2 Sep 2022

ANNEX Key Areas of Feedback and Responses by MOT/LTA

1) Mandatory EV charging provision for developments

Respondents were supportive of the proposed mandatory charging provision for developments. Several went further to express support for a more ambitious mandate. Suggestions included expanding the scope of the mandate to cover existing developments, in addition to new developments as originally proposed; and increasing the minimum requirements for both active provision (number of chargers) and passive provision (electrical capacity), possibly with different thresholds for different types of developments. 

MOT/LTA will review the mandatory provision requirements, taking into account the public feedback as well as the strong uptake of EV sales in recent months. 

2) Licensing regime for EV charging operators (EVCOs)

Some industry respondents raised questions about whether the proposed licensing regime would be onerous and costly for EVCOs. While some acknowledged that a licensing regime was necessary, others pointed out that if compliance costs were too high, it may pose barriers to entry for smaller market players, and the costs may subsequently be passed on to consumers. 

While an effective licensing regime is essential to ensuring the reliability and accessibility of EV charging services throughout Singapore, MOT/LTA acknowledges the need to keep compliance costs reasonable even as we design an effective licensing regime. MOT/LTA will continue to work with the industry to address their comments on the licensing requirements. 

Some industry respondents also cautioned that the data sharing requirements of the licensing regime should avoid undue disclosure of commercially sensitive data. 

MOT/LTA recognises and understands the concern. The primary objective of the data collection requirements is to facilitate the planning of the national EV charger network and its supporting electrical infrastructure. While some data may be publicly disclosed to support the accessibility of chargers to EV users (e.g. through mobile applications that map chargers), MOT/LTA will ensure that the data disclosures are not commercially sensitive and consistent with global best practice. 

3) Registration regime for chargers

A minority of respondents proposed to exempt private chargers owned and used exclusively within households from the proposed charger registration regime as they felt that these private chargers would not be useful for LTA’s planning. 

MOT/LTA are of the view that a comprehensive EV charger registry is critical in ensuing that owners are accountable for the safe installation, use, and maintenance of EV chargers. It is also important for LTA, as the EV charger regulator, to have full visibility of EV chargers across the island, to in turn plan for the efficient and orderly growth of the national EV charging network. In addition, the registration requirement ought to be fairly applied. To support public compliance with the proposed requirements, MOT/LTA will provide sufficient time and information to all existing charger owners. 

4) Charging provisions for electric motorcycles

Some respondents requested clarity on charging provisions for electric motorcycles, in order to facilitate public adoption. There were also calls to review the proposed ban on home charging of detachable batteries, as it would constrain charging options for electric motorcycles. 

Electric motorcycles are an important part of the national vehicle electrification effort. In recognition of the more diverse and evolving charging landscape for electric motorcycles compared to cars, MOT/LTA is adopting a multi-pronged approach towards electric motorcycle charging solutions. For a start, we have catered charging provision for electric motorcycles, where 1 out of 3 charging points serve both a car and a motorcycle wherever possible, in the large-scale EV charging tender for HDB carparks (TD116) published on 8 April 2022. At the same time, we will be embarking on various sandboxes for newer electric motorcycle charging solutions, to test their feasibility in Singapore’s context and ensure that they are safe for public use. MOT/LTA will continue to work closely with industry providers on these efforts. 

For now, as detachable battery charging for electric motorcycles is a relatively nascent charging solution that has yet to see widespread global adoption, MOT/LTA has proposed disallowing the charging of such detachable batteries at home in the first instance, out of consideration for public safety. We will continue to closely monitor global developments in this area. 

5) Measures to tackle the hogging of EV charging lots

Many respondents commented on the potential challenge that lot hogging behaviour could pose towards EV adoption, since many charging lots are expected to be shared among EV users. Various solutions were suggested, such as the imposition of heavier penalties on offenders, and the use of technological solutions. 

Under the Parking Places Act and Regulations, it is presently an offence for ICE vehicles to park at EV charging lots in HDB and URA-managed parking lots. Private developments have also begun to ban and penalise the hogging of EV charging lots under their respective parking bylaws. MOT/LTA and the relevant agencies will continue to work with industry players and premise owners to develop a well-rounded approach to tackle lot hogging, comprising: i) regulation; ii) innovation; and iii) a gracious charging culture.

Detailed Description

Public Consultation on Proposed Legislation to Regulate Electric Vehicle Charging

Introduction 

1. The Ministry of Transport (MOT) and Land Transport Authority (LTA) would like to invite public feedback on proposed legislation to regulate electric vehicle (EV) charging in Singapore.

Scope of Consultation 

2. 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, EVs. EVs currently produce around half the emissions of an internal combustion engine vehicle in Singapore. 

3. EVs are refuelled by electric vehicle charging systems, or EV chargers, that charge the EV’s battery. The Government intends to introduce regulations to ensure that EV charging infrastructure is safe, reliable and accessible for EV users. The proposed legislation will establish regulatory frameworks to govern EV charging and will provide LTA with statutory powers to enforce these regulatory frameworks.

   1. Safety. Unsafe EV charging systems pose risks, such as electrical fires and electrocution. We intend for LTA, as the regulatory body overseeing Singapore’s EV charging infrastructure, to ensure that the supply, use, and installation of chargers in Singapore comply with requisite safety standards.

   2. Reliability. Beyond charger safety, it is critical to ensure that the public charging network is reliable, as it will form a key part of transport infrastructure in Singapore. We intend for LTA to impose a licensing regime for EV charging operators. This 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.

   3. Accessibility. A good coverage of chargers is necessary to ensure accessibility for EV drivers. To minimise the need for costly retrofitting, the Government intends to require new buildings with carparks and those undergoing major redevelopment 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. The consultation document at Annex A outlines the objectives of the proposed Bill, and highlights MOT and LTA’s policy positions regarding the proposed regulations in the upcoming legislation. Feedback from this consultation will aid the Government in further refining the proposed regulations.

Period of Consultation 

5. The public is invited to provide feedback on the proposed legislation from 15 June to 14 July 2022. 

Guidelines for submissions 

6. Respondents are requested to observe these guidelines for submissions:

   1. Please provide your contact details (name, organisation in which you represent, if any, as well as your email) such that LTA can follow-up to clarify any comments if needed.

   2. Do organise your comments in a clear and concise manner highlighting the ways in which the proposed legislation and policy objectives of the Bill be improved, and the rationale behind it.

   3. Wherever possible, do provide illustrations, examples, data, or suggestions, to substantiate your point. Respondents may provide supporting materials as annex to the feedback submission.

   4. The attached document (Annex A) is released only for the purpose of this consultation and should not be used to make any individual or organisational decisions.

Feedback Channels

7. All submissions should reach MOT & LTA by 2359 of 14 July 2022. 

8. Please send your submissions via email to EVConsultation@lta.gov.sg, with the subject “Public Consultation for the Electric Vehicle Charging Bill”. If you’d like to attach a document containing your feedback, please only send them in Microsoft Word or PDF format.

Publication of Feedback 

9. LTA will publish a summary of the comments received on LTA’s website, together with our responses. Please be assured that the identities of respondents will not be disclosed in the summary.

Documents to download

• Annex A: Public Consultation Document on Proposed Legislation to Regulate EV Charging

• Public Consultation on Proposed Legislation to Regulate Electric Vehicle Charging - Annex [PDF, 229 KB]

• Key areas of feedback and responses - Annex [PDF, 68 KB]