Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Singapore's electric car-sharing program hits the road

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 48 posts

Re: Singapore's electric car-sharing program hits the road

#11

Post by Someone »

nordsieck wrote: post #4
CottageCarry wrote: post #2

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

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...

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:

”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.

Re: Singapore's electric car-sharing program hits the road

#12

Post by Symbiote »

top256 wrote: post #9

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

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.

Re: Singapore's electric car-sharing program hits the road

#13

Post by yardie »

r00fus wrote: post #10

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?

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.

Re: Singapore's electric car-sharing program hits the road

#15

Post by 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.

Re: Singapore's electric car-sharing program hits the road

#17

Post by vadimberman »

gamegoblin wrote: post #6
CottageCarry wrote: post #2

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

The nicer car2go vehicles are $0.45/min in Seattle ($0.35 for the smartcars that they are deprecating). I'm not sure how the traffic in Singapore compares, though. In my experience, car2go is usually 2/3 the price of an Uber/Lyft

It's a different dollar, too.

1 SGD = 0.74 USD

Re: Singapore's electric car-sharing program hits the road

#18

Post by 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 - 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.

Re: Singapore's electric car-sharing program hits the road

#19

Post by brisance »

vadimberman wrote: post #18

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…

>* 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.Train service is one of the top electoral campaign issues for the past 3 cycles (about 12 years). I don't know the metrics for European countries but my anecdotal experience in Japan is that the Singapore system is not even worthy of discussion. Don't even get me started on the quality of Japanese roads.

Since you're a relatively newcomer, you would not have believed what Singapore was like in the 80s when LKY was in power. I never saw a pothole in my life until I went abroad. Completely serious.

>* because the cars are so expensive, driving skills are not at all universal.It's definitely tougher than in the US. Haven't sat for a license exam in Europe so unable to form a frame of reference.

Re: Singapore's electric car-sharing program hits the road

#20

Post by vadimberman »

brisance wrote: post #19
vadimberman wrote: post #18

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…

>* 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. Train service is one of the top electoral campaign issues for the past 3 cycles (about 12 years). I don't know the metrics for European countries but my anecdotal experience in Japan is that the Singapore…

> I don't know the metrics for European countries but my anecdotal experience in Japan is that the Singapore system is not even worthy of discussion.

That's strange, while I liked the Tokyo JR system, I think Singapore's overcrowding is better managed. No people pushing passengers into trains.

I know it was considered an issue and every single Singaporean complains about it. Which is really, really puzzling. You guys should be sent to New York or Boston for a tour.

Post reply on HN