SINGAPORE will begin trials for battery charging and swapping and mobile charging systems for electric heavy goods vehicles (e-HGVs) in the second half of 2024, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Tuesday (Jun 11).
Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment, as well as Transport, said in a social media post: “Insights from these trials will allow LTA to understand technical, operational and safety requirements of such technologies and to consider incorporating them in upcoming Technical Reference 25 review to improve our electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Singapore.”
Technical Reference 25 (TR25) is Singapore’s national electric vehicle (EV) charging standard established in 2010. All new charging technologies – such as battery swapping and mobile charging – would need to be ratified in TR25 before widespread or commercial adoption.
There will be four sandbox trials and they will run for four years.
PSA Corporation will operate one battery charging and swapping station at its Pasir Panjang port terminal, serving six terminal electric prime movers and two on-road electric inter-gateway hauliers.
A consortium formed by SMRT-owned Strides Frontiers and Ecoswift will operate a battery charging and swapping station in Tuas. The consortium will partner with local logistics firms to provide e-HGV battery swapping services for up to 10 vehicles.
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Two entities that already provide mobile EV charging services to passenger EVs will also participate in the trial.
Power-Up Tech will provide up to 10 sets of mobile charging equipment with one charger each, to support the charging of electric vehicles including vans, trucks, and buses.
Beecharge Innovation Group will deploy up to eight sets of mobile charging equipment to support shared EV providers and commercial fleet operators.
Battery swapping involves EVs changing to a fully charged battery at a swapping station, which takes far less time than conventional plug-in charging.
In mobile charging, a charger is brought to a vehicle for on-the-spot charging.
“E-HGVs are very large and require larger batteries which take a longer time to charge. Mobile charging for e-HGVs could help companies reduce downtime, especially if they face infrastructure constraints or don’t have enough space or access to chargers,” said Michael Chin, the CEO of Power-Up Tech.
Mobile charging for passenger EVs and electric light goods vehicles already exists, while there is one remaining battery-swapping sandbox trial for motorcycles currently operated by Taiwanese company Gogoro and Cycle & Carriage.
Earlier this year, Mo Batteries, which ran the other sandbox, bowed out, citing increasing costs and complexity as barriers to commercialisation.
While the numbers of electric passenger cars and light goods vehicles have increased in recent years, the electrification of heavy goods vehicles – which include prime movers, large lorries and garbage trucks – has not kept pace.
