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Budget debate: No more new diesel cars, taxis in S'pore from 2025

^{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. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI}

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 (March 4). Mr Ong noted that motor vehicles in Singapore emit about 6.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2)-equivalent per 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 the 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 to two million tonnes per year".

"This abatement is about 4 per cent of our total national emissions - not insignificant," the minister 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 made up merely 2.9 per cent 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 per cent of 15,678 cabs here were diesel-powered. In contrast, 95.8 per cent of 140,783 goods vehicles and 99.4 per cent 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 per cent of all goods vehicles - to switch to cleaner fuels.

This article first appeared in The Straits Times on 5 March 2021.