
Singapore's electric car-sharing program hits the road - rbanffy
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-electricvehicles/singapores-electric-car-sharing-program-hits-the-road-idUSKBN1E60OF?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5a30fc7a04d301331dad3a4a&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
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choonway
A Singaporean here. The real revolution in transport happening here is NOT
electric cars, NOT autonomous cars, NOT Uber/Grab, NOT the bike sharing
scourge the likes of ofo.

It is the e-scooters that has been zipping around the walkways and highways
recently.

Some heroics...
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn03CUt4fm4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn03CUt4fm4)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVDFcnMKNRM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVDFcnMKNRM)

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ValentineC
Just thought I'd highlight that the first video is 29 seconds long, but the
first 13 seconds is a stitched-on advertisement.

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top256
We had it in Paris and it is not a success. Cars are too slow and small for
real highway use, they are expensive and especially dirty. Hopefully they will
improvement on all these points

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Symbiote
The systems in Copenhagen seem to be fine. I've only used the DriveNow one
(BMW i3 cars), but both times the cars were clean. It's not cheap, but cars
aren't cheap here either.

They're not intended for use on motorways -- at least, you can only end the
rental within the city -- so I haven't tried, but I assume the car is fine.
I've seen non-rental BMW i3s on the motorway.

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r00fus
I haven't kept up with Autolib (first large city-wide car-sharing program) -
it's been over 5 years now, but it's hard to find progress reports.

Can anyone who lives in Paris give us an insight into how things are going?

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yardie
I moved from Paris just over a year ago. We were regular users of Autolib
almost from the start, 2012. It has been working very well. The Autolib
network has been extended to Belib. Private BEVs can use the Autolib chargers,
which are practically everywhere.

I think in a city like Singapore it should be even better. One of the
downsides of Autolib is the condition and cleanliness of the vehicles. Some
drivers simply don't care and it can take a bit of time before the vehicles
are serviced. If the streets of Singapore are any gauge of cleanliness I
imagine their vehicles will remain spotless all of the time.

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jinqueeny
There are similar electric car-sharing programs in Beijing and it is quite
popular. But it is not as popular as the Bike-sharing programs. Gosh, Mobike
(orange) or OFO (yellow) bikes everywhere! I believe this is a good thing if
the price is fair and there are enough cars.

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vadimberman
I moved to Singapore a few months ago. Frankly speaking, the venture sounds
ridiculous.

* the public transport is probably one of the best all over the world (even though the locals keep complaining), with completely driverless trains and accuracy that would make the Germans and the Swiss cry in envy.

* like elsewhere in Asia, it's mostly about the price. Nobody except for the hipster expats gives a hoot about going green, Singapore is green enough already. Grab is kicking Uber's ass, even though the app is buggy and the support is poorly organised. Uber is considered somewhat of a "luxury" service.

* Grab, Uber, and the local taxis are available everywhere at a couple of minutes notice.

* because the cars are so expensive, driving skills are not at all universal.

* again, the price. There are traditional rentals companies, SMove.sg ([https://www.smove.sg](https://www.smove.sg) \- a local equivalent of ZipCar, but integrated with the public transportation payment system), and scooter / bicycle sharing everywhere.

Now regarding the self-driving cars in SG. I was very enthusiastic and curious
about that one, but was disappointed when I learned more. These guys
(nuTonomy?) have their tests around the one-north area where all the startup
kiddies are. There is even a sign proudly proclaiming "Autonomous Vehicle test
@ one-north". They apparently let outsiders try it out. My associate took one,
and it turned out that:

* it's a closed loop, not a real street

* it's slow, golf cart style

* there is a backup car following you with a live driver and engineers at all times

Kinda sad. I was hoping these thingies will go live around 2020. I wonder why
nuTonomy even bothered coming all the way here.

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emmanuel_1234
>* the public transport is probably one of the best all over the world (even
though the locals keep complaining), with completely driverless trains and
accuracy that would make the Germans and the Swiss cry in envy.

Try Hong Kong trains. A notch better, serving a much higher density
population. I also recently moved to Singapore and must admit I'm a bit
disappointed with the low frequency, short trains that Singapore deployed.

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philliphaydon
> I'm a bit disappointed with the low frequency, short trains that Singapore
> deployed.

Could you explain this a bit more please? I've lived here for 6 years now,
been to Japan and Taiwan, consider Taiwan the best of all 3, but cannot
compare to Hong Kong as I've never been there.

Taiwan trains are a bit slower than SG, but they are much smoother, where in
SG sometimes the older lines (green / red) which still have drivers I believe,
are fast and break suddenly that you MUST hold onto something if standing to
prevent yourself falling over.

So I'm curious what you mean?

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emmanuel_1234
Hong Kong trains (and consequently, platforms) are a lot longer, meaning a
train can fit _a lot_ more people. They also run more frequently, especially
during traffic hour. Mind you, Hong Kong trains also gets full doing rush hour
(it's not rare to have to wait a train or two to get in, meaning 5 minutes
top).

What annoys me in Singapore, especially with the East West line, is that there
are so many people in the morning, yet the trains are tiny and run every 4 or
5 minutes only. You actually have to fight your way to get in and squeeze. I
know the Downtown line doesn't seem to suffer as much, as there seem to be a
lot less traffic (I assume the wealthier people who live along this line take
their car?).

Hong Kong is bound to fail at some point though. They can't add more trains
during rush hour, it's too late to make the station and trains longer, and
some station are at saturation already. One of them, Admiralty, offers to
commute on the same platform (i.e.: exit the train, walk straight to meet your
correspondence). There are so many people that you sometimes hardly can _exit_
the train, as the platform is too packed by people trying to get to the other
train.

The density of population in Hong Kong (for the actually populated area, not
the land as a whole) is staggering though, in my experience / feeling, a lot
higher than Singapore or Tokyo/Yokohama.

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grenoire
I don't really understand the use of the word 'sharing' in this context. This
is just a rental system without a preset pickup location. Same goes for
similar bike sharing services as well.

Can anybody tell me if there's an alternative meaning to it?

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rorykoehler
Rental is usually used to denote set time and location (1 hour, 1 day etc
returned to the pickup spot). Sharing is completely flexible in regards to
both time and location.

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sebleon
Singapore seems like the most likely place where self driving cars will take
off first. Easy to imagine them banning human drivers altogether, making it
much easier for autonomous cars to coordinate between eachother.

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devy
Question: are these EVs a custom built by Bollore Group or a rebadged Renault
Zoe?

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CottageCarry
$.50 / minute in Singapore sounds rather expensive. Is it not?

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nordsieck
It costs around $50k (Singaporean) to buy the right to own a car for 10 years.

[https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/dam/ltaweb/corp/PublicationsR...](https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/dam/ltaweb/corp/PublicationsResearch/files/FactsandFigures/COE_Result_2015_2017.pdf)

~~~
Someone
For those who don’t know what this is about: Singapore each month holds an
auction where people bid for the right to drive a car.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_Entitlement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_Entitlement):

 _”Before buying a new vehicle, potential vehicle owners in Singapore are
required by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to first place a monetary bid
for a Certificate of Entitlement (COE). The number of available COEs is
governed by a quota system called the Vehicle Quota System (VQS) and is
announced by LTA in April of each year with a review in October for possible
adjustments for the period of one year starting from May. Approximately one-
twelfth of the yearly quota is auctioned off each month in a sealed-bid,
uniform price auction system and successful bidders pay the lowest winning
bid.”_

For $50k, you can rent one of these cars 100,000 minutes, or 10,000 minutes a
year, or slightly less than half an hour a day. And for that $50k you don’t
even get a car, let alone gas and maintenance.

