SINGAPORE – TotalEnergies Charging Services Singapore is shutting down its electric vehicle (EV) charging operation here, with all its charging points set to be transferred to other operators by Dec 31.
From Nov 28, 63 of its charging stations will be switched off and handed over to rival SP Mobility, an e-mail to customers sent on Nov 27 said.
As at end-October, data from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) showed that TotalEnergies had 1,465 charging stations, out of 11,282 charging stations in Singapore. Some of these stations have more than one charging point.
SP Mobility is taking over TotalEnergies’ chargers located in Housing Board carparks in areas such as Bedok, Bishan, Punggol, Sengkang, Pasir Ris, Tampines and Toa Payoh. These chargers will not be operational until further notice by SP Mobility.
In a statement to The Straits Times, TotalEnergies confirmed that it had signed a termination agreement, which came into effect on Sept 30, to transfer its network of charging points to LTA.
These charging points will be transferred progressively to other LTA-designated operators by Dec 31, the company added.
It said the decision was taken after electric car-sharing service
BlueSG
announced in August that it was pausing its business.
The chargers operated by TotalEnergies started as Blue Charge, which was an integral part of BlueSG’s car-sharing service.
The charging stations were also where BlueSG users would pick up and return the EVs.
TotalEnergies
acquired the chargers in 2021 when Bollore, the French engineering group that introduced BlueSG, was exiting Singapore.
Even after the car-sharing service was sold to Goldbell, a Singapore commercial and industrial vehicle giant, BlueSG cars continued to use the charging stations under an agreement between TotalEnergies and BlueSG.
Around 500 of TotalEnergies’ charging stations were open to non-BlueSG cars.
Following BlueSG’s announcement that it was pausing its operations, TotalEnergies had told ST that it was making around 90 per cent of its chargers available to the public while it assessed the impact of BlueSG’s decision.
TotalEnergies said on Nov 27 that the decision to terminate and transfer its network of charging points has no impact on TotalEnergies’ existing activities in Singapore, which is an important hub for the region.
“We remain committed to supporting the Singapore Green Plan and the region’s energy transition needs,” it added.
Mr Dean Cher, SP Mobility’s managing director, said the company is aiming to complete the transition and have the chargers in operation by Dec 19.
The work includes opening new electricity accounts, rebranding the chargers, integrating them into SP Mobility’s system and testing before the chargers go live, he said.
The majority of TotalEnergies’ chargers are rated at 3.7kW, which is the slowest among those accessible publicly. On average, such chargers take up to 16 hours to juice up a typical EV – twice as long as the 7.4kW chargers commonly found in HDB carparks.
EV charging operator Charge+ said it will take over 63 charging stations from TotalEnergies.
ComfortDelGro-owned CDG Engie will take over 66 charging stations from TotalEnergies in December and it aims to incorporate them into its network in January.
Mr Doong Shiwen, general manager of Shell Mobility and Convenience Singapore, said around 80 charging stations under TotalEnergies will be transferred to the Shell network over the next few months. Work to incorporate and commission the chargers is expected to start from mid-December.
Mr Doong said that depending on the site, Shell Mobility will upgrade the chargers, where possible, including switching to faster chargers to improve the user experience.
ST has contacted LTA for comment.
Electric and hybrid vehiclesLTAPrivate car sharing
