Uncertain future for traditional motor workshops as Singapore moves to phase out petrol, diesel vehicles

Uncertain future for traditional motor workshops as Singapore moves to phase out petrol, diesel vehicles

Despite that, several workshops might be wary of sending their employees for EV classes, Mr Ong stated.

“With this kind of knowledge, there’s a likelihood they might leap somewhere else. So , a lot of companies are also very reluctant to send workers for this type of improving courses, ” he or she explained.

“For other workshops along with owners up to the age, if they cannot deal with all this sort of electronic stuff, or even if they have no successors for the business,   then likely they will wrap up. ”

Back at AutoCity in Sin Ming, Ricardo Auto Centre director Jeremy Soh believes it is just a “matter of time” that EVs are widely adopted, saying his workshop may move towards EV-applicable maintenance.

This consists of aesthetic-related areas like tyres and rims as well as undercarriage upkeep like wheel alignments and suspension modifications.

“For us, we don’t intend to just call it each day. We will try to pivot to newer areas where you can still focus on EVs, ” the 41-year-old said.

“We are also doing financing, insurance and things like that. Therefore , it’s not just about working a workshop for all of us. ”

Yet Mr Soh stated he will not be “jumping straight into” delivering his employees with regard to EV courses as they are currently “very basic”.

“We may even have to send our boys overseas rather, rather than training in Singapore, ” he added.

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS

While Mister Keh of SMWA acknowledged that the present EV courses are usually basic, he anxious that they have to be foundational at the start to cater to technicians who might have little formal education and learning, especially since many of these are foreigners.

He said SMWA has conducted a “few runs” of the courses together with architectural company Robert Bosch for a total associated with 70 technicians so far.

In fact , Mister Keh is concerned about the national plan to roll out certification courses as they might prove as well complicated for professionals.

“Because you are training someone only with primary college knowledge, and you immediately want to go to a diploma course, ” he or she said, adding which he will bring this up with LTA.

Even though, Mr Keh suggested that no training course can currently prepare technicians for the nitty-gritty of servicing EVs, pointing to just how EV manufacturers do not sell their automobile spare parts, motors or circuit diagrams in Singapore to protect their own intellectual property.