In yet another push for cleaner vehicles here, no more 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 on Thursday (4 March). This is five years earlier than the target to have all new vehicles be 'cleaner energy' models by 2030.
"This abatement is about 4% of our total national emissions - not insignificant," the minister added, noting that there is 50% 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 made up merely 2.9% of the 2020 population of 634,042. Taxis used to be largely diesel, but more than half have switched to petrol-electric hybrid models. As at end-2020, only 41.5% of 15,678 cabs here were diesel-powered. In contrast, 95.8% of 140,783 goods vehicles and 99.4% of 18,912 buses run on diesel.
The new Commercial Vehicle Emissions Scheme, which kicks in next month, is designed in part to persuade owners of light commercial vehicles - which make up 68.9% of all goods vehicles - to switch to cleaner fuels.
