Carbon Emissions of Ride-Hailing Industry and Proposal to Transit Industry to Electric Vehicles

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Minister for Transport (a) what is the total carbon emissions generated by the ride-hailing industry in Singapore (i) in value terms and (ii) as a proportion of the total carbon emissions of the land transport sector; and (b) whether the Government has plans to support or require the transition to electric vehicles in the ride-hailing industry, perhaps starting with rental fleet partners of ride-hailing operators.

The Senior Minister of State for Transport (Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan) (for the Minister for Transport): In 2020, the ride-hailing industry in Singapore generated an estimated 0.3 million tonnes of carbon emission when performing ride-hail trips. This is about 4% of the estimated 7 million tonnes of carbon emission generated by the land transport sector.

Under the Land Transport Master Plan 2040, our taxi and private hire car companies have committed to make their entire fleet run on cleaner energy by 2040, and operators such as ComfortDelGro and Grab have been adding electric vehicles to their fleets.

MOT and LTA will continue to work with our industry partners to transition the entire ride-hail fleet to cleaner energy vehicles. We hope with our recent push to promote Electric Vehicles, or EVs, under the Green Plan, we will accelerate the transition.

Mr Speaker: Mr Dennis Tan. A very short supplementary question, if possible.

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong (Hougang): Thank you, Mr Speaker. A very short supplementary question. Will the Government consider giving a periodic milestone for the ride-hailing industry to convert to EVs?

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: As I have noted in my reply, the point-to-point or, PHC sector operators have already committed to convert their entire fleet to cleaner energy vehicles by 2040. And indeed, they have been progressively replacing their Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles.

So, for instance, for the taxi operators, between January 2018 and January of this year, the proportion of cleaner energy vehicles, hybrid as well as electric vehicles have actually increased from about 18% to close to 60%; about 59-odd percent. And for the P2P sector, the proportion has actually increased from about 20% over the same period to about 35%.

So, they are progressively doing that, and we will work closely with them in the transition to cleaner energy vehicles.

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question Time.

[ Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos 9-19 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix. Question No 8 has been postponed to the sitting of Parliament on 2 March 2021. ]