EV drivers can use credit cards to pay for by end-2024 charging

All new chargers must now be registered with LTA, existing ones by June 2024

- Lee Nian Tjoe

By end-2024, companies providing public charging services for electric vehicles (EVS) will have to allow users to pay by credit card or by scanning a QR code, instead of only via the companies' smartphone apps or charge cards. This will make it more convenient for drivers who use EV charging services islandwide.

This is one of the conditions charging service companies must meet to be licensed under the EV Charging Act, which comes into force on Dec 8. Operators have 12 months to become fully compliant and licensed, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced on Dec 7.

Under the new law, all EV chargers bought and installed from Dec 8 must be registered with LTA before they can be used.

Owners of existing chargers, which must comply with safety standards, can continue using them but will have to register the chargers by June 7, 2024, on LTA's OneMotoring website.

Registration costs $750 but is free for applications for existing chargers submitted by June 7, 2024. Once a charger is registered, LTA will issue a sticker that must be attached to it.

From June 8, 2024, it will be a crime to use an unregistered EV charger. First-time offenders found guilty of charging an EV with an unregistered charger may be fined up to $10,000 or jailed up to six months, or both.

Registration of new chargers will cost between $150 and $750 (with differentiated subsidies), depending on their power rating and whether they are in locations such as malls or landed properties such as bungalows and terraced houses.