The Big Read: More drivers jumping on the EV bandwagon, but obstacles remain as infrastructure tries to keep pace

The first obstacle, as Mr Lai had experienced, is to get much people ‘ approval.
 
Mr Kevin Sim, mind of business at EV cable controller Eigen Mobility, said:” One of the most common concerns is residents, typically internal-combustion motor car drivers, will lament at taking away park lots for EV paying, which they do not implement or gain from”.

Some users speculated that some residents may be concerned about health concerns like potential fire hazards.

Apart from waiting for people ‘ natural lighting, which could take weeks, getting approval for the co-funding give could get a few more months, said providers.

The award, which funds up to half of particular value parts in the installation of a cable, has an overall seal of S$ 4, 000 per cable.

However, some of such condos would rather not spend anything at all in terms of capital investment. Instead, EV getting technicians are expected to foot the bill for the installation functions, which may cost in the neighborhood of five hundred dollars, and to recover the costs by claiming a portion of the paying taxes. &nbsp,

Some businesses are reluctant to accept such installation projects on such terms because they fear it will take four to five years to recover these costs.

Existing infrastructure issues may also pose challenges to the installation of charging stations, aside from human-related and cost issues. These include issues with some underground car parks ‘ mobile phone reception or power outages.

According to Mr. Goh Chee Kiong, chief executive officer of charging provider Charge ,” EV charging stations rely on telco communications and the use of mobile apps, making it challenging to install EV chargers in car parks with weak telco signals.” &nbsp,

Hogging issues

Early EV adopters claimed that even though there were fewer charging stations than there are now, they were more likely to find unoccupied ones in shopping centers or other public places back then.

They attributed this to the relatively small number of electric vehicles at the time.

Another possible explanation is that, as there has been a rise in the number of charging points overall, they may have been set up at new locations rather than the same ones, according to Assoc Prof Theseira.

Hogging of public chargers has worsened the situation, said some EV users.

Mr. Loh, a Tesla user, claimed that there are four free chargers at a particular country club he frequents that he occasionally uses when he travels there.

” There were several times when I went there at the time of day and saw that the chargers had been completely emptied.” However, what made it worse was that chargers were allegedly hacked by people whose vehicles were already fully charged, he claimed.

In recent months, major charging point operators such as Charge and SP Group have introduced “idle fees” for cars that continue to be plugged in despite a full battery, after a given grace period.

Charge , which has about 2, 000 charging points islandwide, imposed such fees sometime this year at two locations and is monitoring others.

” Since the introduction of the idle fee, we have observed high levels of charging etiquette where drivers move their EVs quickly after finishing their charging,” said Mr. Goh.

Starting with sending alerts to drivers via its app to remind them to move their cars when the charging sessions were finished, SP Group, which has more than 1,500 charging points spread over more than 400 locations, started out by using its app.

Last December, it introduced idle fees at eight locations, in light of the increasing number of EVs and the need to “reduce waiting times through improved charger availability”, said Mr Dean Cher, the company’s head for mobility and sustainability energy solutions.

Since expanding the locations where idle fees will be charged and increased the maximum fee chargeable, the company has since expanded and increased the maximum fee charged.

While EV users generally applaud these actions, some people speculated that there are legitimate reasons why drivers leave their vehicles at the charging lot for specific times, such as when attending a work meeting.

” It ca n’t be that the driver excuses himself and makes others wait while he goes to remove his car and find another parking lot halfway through the meeting”? Samuel Tan, a tech entrepreneur who drives an electric car, said.

Similar to some drivers who go to malls for meals or movies that may last two or three hours. &nbsp,

” A direct-current fast charger can top up an EV’s battery by 80 per cent in half an hour”, says Mr Terence Yap, senior marketing and business development executive at Quickcharge. sg.

” Depending on the various factors like the car model or the charger model itself, an alternating-current charger can top up a battery by 20 per cent in about 45 minutes, or longer”.