2010 Mitsubishi i-MiEV to comprise first batch of 50 Singapore electric cars arriving in Sep 2010

Singapore will receive its first batch of electric vehicles (EVs) next year as part of a national EV test-bedding programme. The Energy Market Authority (EMA) said 50 Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric cars will make their way here from Sep 2010. EMA deputy CEO David Tan said the authority is now looking for companies to participate in the programme and be an early adopter of EVâ€™s in Singapore.

Mr Tan said a multi-agency EV Taskforce will also be rolling out a small network of charging stations. A competitive tender will be launched in 2010. On top of that, a study will be carried out to determine the number of EV charging stations and their specific locations. Most of the charging is expected to be done overnight in the car parks of the EV users' homes or offices. The deployment of these EV charging stations will be timed to coincide with the actual take-up of EVs under the testbedding programme for Singapore electric cars.

- A slight departure from the Renault-Nissan combo mentioned earlier, but nevertheless it is good to know that the first *real* electric cars are coming over to Singapore finally. Ok, let me define "real" here as an actual electric car you can look forward to buying from a showroom soon, something that is a mass production model, not a one-off thing, and not something so high-end that you get movie stars and government officials on some kind of a waiting list.

It's something that the "Average Family Man" might want to buy, and just as importantly is able to afford. Something from a well-known, trusted car-maker brand that would benefit from the same distribution, dealership and service network that would be required to support the entire lifecycle of the car, without you having to register your own one-man dealership to import *one* special electric car into the country (yes, I do know someone who almost had to do that). All the above, that to me, makes for "real". Now it may not be *your* definition, but it's just *my* definition :)

And finally, not to forget that in Singapore, over 80% of the population stays in high-rise apartment buildings, so having our folks trying to haul 100-feet electric power cords down from our homes to the carpark to plug into our EV's or plug-in hyrbids is pretty much out of the question. So we will also need a "real" EV charging network to match, and it's good to see that the Singapore government is working on that as well.

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