No new diesel cars and taxis will be allowed to register from 2025
In yet another push for cleaner vehicles here, no new diesel cars and taxis will be allowed to be registered here from 2025.
Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung announced this at a debate on the Government's sustainability plans yesterday. He noted that motor vehicles in Singapore emit about 6.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year. A carbon dioxide equivalent is used as a measure to compare the emissions from various greenhouse gases based on their global warming potential - or potency of a greenhouse gas in absorbing and trapping heat.
If light vehicles, including cars and taxis, all ran on electricity, "the total net carbon abatement would be about 1.5 million to 2 million tonnes per year".
"This abatement is about 4 per cent of our total national emissions - not insignificant," Mr Ong added, noting that there is 50 per cent carbon savings by switching to electric vehicles "even if the electricity is generated by fossil fuels".
He said banning the registration of new diesel cars and taxis would "further pave the way for greener vehicles", as diesel models are more pollutive.
In Singapore, diesel vehicles are mostly goods vehicles and buses. Among passenger cars, diesel models make up merely 2.9 per cent of last year's population of 634,042.
Taxis used to be largely diesel, but more than half have switched to petrol-electric hybrid models. In contrast, 95.8 per cent of goods vehicles and 99.4 per cent of buses run on diesel. - THE STRAITS TIMES
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now