Electric Vehicle Common Charger Grant (ECCG) is an initiative by the Land Transport Authority to co-fund installation costs of 2000 Electric Vehicle Chargers. Enabling non-landed private residences (NLPR), i.e. condominiums and private apartments to install multiple chargers to support the growing demand for chargers in our residential and commercial sectors.

This initiative hopes to encourage our transition as a country to a viable source of energy. It aims to construct a network of 60,000 chargers, dotted around our island by 2030

The Electric Vehicle Common Charger Grant (ECCG) will apply to the upfront cost of LEW fees, Installation as well as the Charging Systems. The incentive amount is equivalent to a percentage of the eligible costs. The grant funds 50% of your smart charging system, LEW fees and installation works. ECCG will be open until the 31st Dec 2023.

To qualify for the Electric Vehicle Common Charger Grant (ECCG), the eligible charging equipment must be fitted with smart charging functionalities. We recommend speaking with your energy professional for your property’s eligibility and guidance. 

For the most up-to-date information, please review the sponsoring entity’s website for details on eligibility and program details. View additional details on eligibility and redemption.

Can we argue that electric vehicles (EV)s are worse for the environment than internal combustion engines? Let’s look at the environmental impact of electric vehicles versus gas-powered ones. We’re going to open up some facts about both types of vehicles and try to draw a conclusion from that.

First, let's take a look at some ways electric cars are bad for the environment. One of the biggest arguments against electric vehicles is that battery production is far more detrimental to the environment than the production of internal combustion vehicles. This is true, due to the large batteries EVs use - being made with lithium, and like any raw material, that needs to be mined. The mining process produces lots of greenhouse gases and it's a problem that's only going to grow, unless the manufacturing process becomes more efficient. 

More than half of the world’s lithium supply comes from the parched salt plains of the Atacama desert,  in tippy tops of the Andes mountains. Workers drill through the crust of the salt to get to the mineral-rich brine below the surface. This process leeches massive amounts of groundwater from the surrounding area, resulting in a decreased water supply and less accessible water for local agriculture. 

But, lithium is just one of the components of a battery. It’s actually a smaller percentage than you might think too, at around 6%. The sourcing of another element used in batteries: cobalt, poses a greater more ethically-driven concern: some cobalt mines use child labour, which is reprehensible. Thankfully, large electric vehicle manufacturers, such as, Tesla and BYD have begun to adjust their battery technology, to completely omit cobalt as a component in their batteries. 

Then, there's the issue of recycling these lithium-ion batteries, The process is not at the point it needs to be to cope with the growing number of spent batteries from electric vehicles. Relatively plain things like storage, is a huge problem because of the volatility of the elements in a lithium battery. The number of potentially catastrophic fires and explosions has already been going up as more batteries are stockpiled. The solution? It all depends on how quickly the industry evolved to deal with these issues. 

The fact of the matter is modern electric vehicle production is in its relative infancy compared to gas engines, so as time goes on and new processes come into play, the environmental impact will improve steadfastly. 

The same can be said about where electric vehicles get their electricity. Right now, most of Singapore’s electric charging network is powered with energy generated from traditional power plants. So, the impact of driving a zero-emissions car is more detrimental to the environment than driving an EV in places with clean energy, such as wind, solar and hydroelectric power plants: Singapore being a well-managed and close-knit island, has already begun its conversion to solar energy as an alternative power source years earlier. Therefore, the efficiency at which an EV operates here will only get better.

So, now that we know the very real problems of electric vehicle production, how do they compare to the internal combustion engine?

Let's start where we did with electric vehicles: Production. Manufacturing the average internal combustion vehicle produces 7 metric tons of CO2. This number takes into account everything from the mining ore of steel to the moment the car rolls off the production line. That number is lower than EVs because of the absence of lithium-ion batteries. It also has to do with how efficient ICE manufacturing has become. We’re talking about the industry that is responsible for inventing the assembly line. 

After the car rolls out of the factory, greenhouse gas emissions from gasoline-powered cars start over-taking the amount any electric vehicle could use in its entire lifespan. Gasoline, like the lithium in the batteries, has to be mined.  There are a lot of steps between the extraction of crude oil to filling your car at the gas station, and each step has an environmental impact. Crude oil extraction starts with drilling into the earth, either on land or on the ocean floor. After the crude oil is mined, it needs to be refined into gasoline and other petroleum products such as jet fuel, petroleum jelly and plastic. This process releases tons of greenhouse gases, including: not only CO2 but methane and nitrous oxide as well.

Every day around the world, close to 95 million barrels of oil is produced and everyday oil refinement is responsible for emitting 767 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Sure, the average car is responsible for a negligible fraction of CO2 every year, but oil refineries release a whopping 280 billion metric tons of CO2 in that same timeframe. 

Overall, we know that over an average lifespan of a car with an internal combustion engine it emits roughly 57 metric tons of CO2. Over the same time period, the average EV is responsible for 28 metric tons of emissions, less than half of that of an ICE engine. Despite the fact that electric vehicles make more CO2 during their production, they more than make up for it by not having any emissions during use - Taking into account the emissions produced by electric-power plants that electric vehicles source their power.

So, that means the average EV will become more efficient than a gas-powered car between 6 months to 2 years of driving it. In fact, even the least efficient electric vehicle with the dirtiest power source, like a coal power plant, will be better for the environment than the most efficient gas engine after a certain period of time.  Electric vehicles in countries with access to cleaner electricity like windmills, solar and hydroelectric power plants are significantly more efficient. 

Let’s take a look at a few more myths: 

Myth number one: electric vehicle production and charging from coal-powered plants produce more emissions than gas car production and operation - False. Compare the emissions of any gas car versus any electric car and in the lone run, any EV beats any gas car in efficiency.Myth number two: our electric grid can't handle the onslaught of EVs. This one is also false. Even if a quarter of the cars on the road were electric tomorrow, the electric grids in Singapore could handle all of them without disruption.

But, we still have to acknowledge the truth, no matter how you spin it electric vehicles have less of an environmental impact than gas-powered cars.

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Electric vehicles (EVs) are a disruptive technology-  that’s reaching its tipping point toward market dominance. At which point, they’re almost certainly a technology that will, with time, become dominant over their predecessor. In this case, the predecessor is the internal combustion car, EVs have the potential to revolutionise the way we move and transport goods, and it is likely that they will become the standard in the automotive industry.

Chances are, though, when asked, you’d say that your next car will not be electric, and you’re right—the average consumer, according to surveys, would not even consider purchasing an electric vehicle, demonstrating that the technology is not yet at that tipping point where it’s on a certain path towards market dominance. But again, that path is almost certain. EVs are not there yet—right now, they’re too expensive, and too slow to charge—but they’re close. 

Taking a look at the prices of the base-models of the world’s bestselling electric vehicles, they’re already roughly there, so we know that that’s not what’s holding mass-market consumers back: The cost of the battery is a significant factor in the overall cost of an electric vehicle (EV). In recent years, the industry has made efforts to lower the cost of EV batteries through innovation and scale. The average price per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of an EV battery has decreased significantly in recent years. As the cost of batteries decreases, it becomes more feasible for manufacturers to sell EVs at a lower price point. It is expected that the price per kWh will continue to drop in the future. 

Neither is range what’s significantly holding mass-market consumers back, and it won’t be at all within a few years. What is, though, is charging. It's currently possible to get an EV with just about what the mass-market requires for cost and range but reaching that charging time—that’s just a lot tougher. What this research can lead us to conclude is that the largest barrier right now to mass-market adoption is, in fact, the charging problem. 

The tipping-point just will not happen without widespread fast charging, but widespread fast charging is just difficult because of the very way our electric grid works. You see, back when Thomas Edison, with his direct current electric system, battled it out with George Westinghouse, and his alternating current system. As the names suggest, direct current electricity flows consistently and unidirectionally, while alternating current oscillates in magnitude and rapidly changes direction. The exact details of how each works isn’t that important in this context, but what is to know is that, for a variety of reasons, AC power won, it’s now the standard for power grids, but there are certain technologies that still need DC power. 

The most widespread example of that is batteries—you cannot charge a battery using AC power. That’s why you don’t plug your smartphone directly into an outlet—you plug it into a power brick that plugs into an outlet, and that power brick is an AC to DC inverter. A standard iPhone charging inverter outputs 5 watts of electricity, which is plenty enough to charge the phone’s 11-watt hour battery in a few hours. A generic electric car, meanwhile, has a 50-kilowatt hour battery 4500 times larger. 

Therefore, it needs a much higher wattage power inverter to charge with any speed. It solves this in two ways: There’s a 7.7-kW inverter that can take AC power from common sources, like a standard wall outlet, and convert it into DC power to charge the battery. At its max rate, this can charge the car fully in under ten hours and has the advantage of allowing consumers to charge using regular wall plugs or by installing relatively inexpensive chargers on existing domestic AC electric circuits. The disadvantage, though, is that, while 7.7 kW is plenty fast enough for regular, overnight, at-home charging, it’s not fast enough to compete with the convenience of filling up an internal combustion car at the gas station. It’s not fast enough if you’re on a long-distance trip and need to be able to gain hundreds of miles of range in a matter of minutes. 

So, if you need more electricity faster, you need a higher wattage inverter. To be able to take your electric car  from almost empty to almost full in thirty minutes, you want between 120 and 250 kW. So, for faster charging, one needs to offboard the inversion process. That’s exactly what a DC-fast charger does—it supplies a huge quantity of DC power to the car, which bypasses the onboard inverter and charges the battery directly. 

But here’s something counterintuitive: using a 250 kW charger versus a 150 kW one doesn’t really impact how fast you charge. Batteries charge slower the fuller they are, so the first 20% will pass far faster than the last 20%. In the context of EV charging, this means that quite quickly into the charge, the speeds are impacted not by how much power the station is putting out, but by how much electricity the battery can accept. So, it’s actually faster to charge to 50%, drive until empty, charge to 50%, and drive until empty again than charging to 100% and driving to empty. So, combining two charges from empty to 50%, in two stops, you could effectively reach the tipping point speed of 100% charge in 31 minutes with existing 250kW chargers. Therefore, what the industry needs is not faster chargers, but more chargers.

EVs are comparable in cost to internal combustion cars, their range is about what consumers demand, but what’s lagging behind is the charging infrastructure. This isn’t an exclusively Singaporean problem, around the world, as we progress. 

As the world moves towards cleaner and more sustainable energy sources, solar power has emerged as a popular option for homeowners and businesses alike. However, simply installing solar panels on your roof does not guarantee a reliable source of energy. In fact, without proper planning, design, and installation, your solar system could end up being nothing more than a decorative addition to your building. 

To ensure that your solar system is a reliable source of energy and not just an ornament, it is essential to choose high-quality components and work with experienced solar specialists who understand the intricacies of solar power. 

One of the key components of a solar system is the solar panels themselves. It is crucial to select a reputable brand with a long history in the market, such as those with triple-A graded panels. These panels are reliable and will last for 20 to 25 years, providing a long-term source of energy for you. 

Prior to commencing, ensure companies can honour their warranties so you are not left out of pocket with broken components or a poor performing system. It is also important to avoid cheap panels that may fail due to poor manufacturing quality, such as split wires or hotspots. Some companies can fail to specify the performance of their panels, as is the case when you buy a 2TB memory card on Amazon for S$10 and it is already full as soon as you put a movie on it. Choosing the right solar panels will not only ensure the longevity of your system but also maximize energy production over time. 

Another important component to consider is the inverter, which converts the Direct Current (DC) electricity produced by the solar panels into Alternating Current (AC) electricity that can be used to power your home or business. Like solar panels, it is crucial to choose a reliable brand with a long history in the market. We recommend inverters from Aotai, which are designed with single-directional thermal cooling and have internal components from brands like Panasonic and Texas Instruments. This ensures that the inverter is reliable and will send a notification if there are any issues. 

Design is another crucial factor to consider when choosing a contractor for your solar system. Inexperienced solar contractors may suggest that you opt for the cost-saving option of poor-quality components, which can cause your system to degrade rapidly over time and result in a less efficient system. For example, undersized cables may save money upfront but are a serious safety risk and they can result in a lower output of power and may fail after just a few years due to its inadequate current carrying capacity.  

It is important to choose a solar contractor who uses high-quality outdoor cables specifically designed for solar energy to ensure they are resistant to UV radiation and do not disintegrate or rust over time. The right design will optimise the efficiency of your solar system and ensure that it reaches its full potential. 

Solar specialists use specialized software and proper designing techniques to create a more robust solar system that produces more energy and maximises system efficiency. If your contractor lacks the proper skillset or the design of the system is poorly constructed, it could be performing below its potential. In contrast, contractors who specialize in solar energy can lay out panels in a way that optimises energy production and wire them correctly to ensure the highest efficiency. 

In conclusion, it is essential to choose a specialized solar integrator to ensure that your solar system is adequately designed and constructed with high-quality components. This will ensure that your solar system is a reliable source of energy for your residential or commercial building, rather than just an ornament. Investing in high-quality solar panels, inverters, cables and working with solar specialists will provide you with a long-term source of energy that is both reliable and sustainable.