Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) recently purchased 360 electric public buses for S$166.4 million.

This is LTA's biggest electric bus purchase in five years. The previous, and also incidentally the first, time was in 2018, when LTA bought 60 electric buses for some S$50 million during a pilot scheme.

The new additions bring up the total number of electric public buses in Singapore to 420, or about seven per cent of the overall public bus fleet currently.

New electric buses and charging systems

According to LTA's Nov. 25 news release, all the new electric buses will be single-deckers with three doors.

"Each new three-door electric single deck bus will be equipped with a passenger information display system to provide commuters with audio and visual information about their journey, integrated closed-circuit television (CCTV)-collision warning system, driver anti-fatigue system as well as a tyre pressure monitoring system."

240 will be the B12 model from Chinese automaker BYD while the remaining 120 will be from Cycle & Carriage Automotive, which has partnered with Chinese bus manufacturing company Zhongtong Bus.

LTA said the awarded contracts allow them to buy up to 60 more electric buses if needed.

LTA also purchased EV charging systems to support the new electric buses, spending S$46.1 million for them to be deployed at bus depots at Sengkang West, East Coast and Gali Batu.

The systems will have "smart" functions to optimise charging speeds and duration, as well as features for real-time monitoring, diagnostic, control and reporting.

More to come

From December 2024 onwards, the buses will be progressively rolled out to replace diesel buses that are reaching the end of their statutory lifespan while the new charging systems will be progressively installed.

LTA said the recent electric bus and charging system purchase is the first batch of large-scale tenders.

The government aspires for half of Singapore's public bus fleet to be battery-powered by 2030, and for the fleet to be fully electric by 2040.

LTA said: "More tenders for electric buses and infrastructure upgrades to support their operation and maintenance will be called in the coming years."

Electric buses rolled out for the first time in 2020

Electric buses were rolled out for the first time in Singapore in 2020.

15 single-deck electric buses were deployed in April that year, followed by 10 double-deck electric buses around six months later in October.

After the launch of the double-deck electric buses, the then-Senior Minister of State for Transport Chee Hong Tat said that the 60 electric buses will be fully deployed by mid-2021.

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Top image by Joshua Lee