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  Today Online 13 Dec 05
Green Taxis on The Roads

The first fleet of 30 commercially-run, compressed natural gas (CNG) taxis is on the roads. The Mercedes Benz limousines, run by Smart Automobile, can be distinguished from the limousine cabs already on the road by a large logo of a green leaf on the side of each vehicle.

While cabbies are expected to save $10,000 a year driving these environmentally-friendly taxis, the savings will not be passed on to commuters just yet.

Although natural gas costs less than petrol or diesel, it will cost 40 cents more to hire a CNG limo cab than a diesel-run Mercedes cab. The higher cost is due to the fact that there is only one refuelling station available to these cabs--on Jurong Island.

The National Environment Agency Ministry is working with Smart Automobile to set up three more stations by the end of next year.

To support this, $2 million will be used from the Innovation for Environmental Sustainability Fund. Smart Automobile expects to have about 100 taxis on the roads by the end of the year. 938Live

Channel NewsAsia 12 Dec 05
SMART Automobile launches Singapore's first fleet of CNG-powered taxis
By Yvonne Cheong, Channel NewsAsia

SMART Automobile has launched Singapore's first fleet of CNG-powered taxis. It'll also set up at least two compressed natural gas (CNG) refuelling stations by the end of next year.

The Mercedes Benz E200 CNG-powered limousine taxis are bi-fuel and are environment-friendly as they emit pure water when running on natural gas. The vehicles automatically switch to running on petrol when it runs out of gas.

But each of these taxis costs $115,000, a few thousand dollars more than its regular counterpart.

Thirty CNG taxis hit the road after the launch on Monday, the rest will do by year end.

The flag-down rate for a CNG taxi is $3, which is 60 cents more than the usual $2.40.

Steven Heng, a CNG taxi driver, said: "We haven't had any complaints so far. In fact, customers say it's quiet, stable and comfortable." The cabbies stand to save some $10,000 each year, as the fuel for gas-powered taxis costs at least 30 per cent less. But it has a drawback. It needs refuelling twice a day, and the only natural gas station is on Jurong Island. So SMART plans to set up two or three refuelling stations - in east, north and central Singapore - using the National Environment Agency's (NEA) innovation grant. Each refuelling station could cost $2 million.

SMART Automobile's managing director, Johnny Harjanto, said: "To set up the station, NEA has granted us a total of $2 million for the entire project, the criterion is to have to set up two refuelling stations by the end of the year, next year."

Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, who was at the launch of the CNG-powered taxis, said: "This move will be something that the government welcomes because it will help to set in place a viable system and I hope other fleets will consider doing a similar changeover towards CNG vehicles or even diesel vehicles which have the Euro 4 standards that we have set for ourselves." - CNA/ir
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