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  The Straits Times 22 May 06
Cheaper green cars in pipeline
by Christoper Tan

Channelnews Asia 20 May 06
Prices of hybrid cars lower as fuel costs soar
By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : If you are one of those who think fuel prices are going way too high, the growing trend of hybrid cars may be one to watch. These are cars which use a combination of petrol and electric power to drive the car.

The take-up rate for hybrid cars in Singapore has been slow.

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), there are now close to 90 hybrid cars on the roads, including one driven by the Environment and Water Resources Minister himself, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim.

But prices of such cars are coming down by at least $20,000 for leading models like the Toyota Prius in the past few years while green tax rebates have doubled from 20 percent to 40 percent from the beginning of this year.

These are facts to bear in mind the next time you get behind the wheel of a conventional car. As Chairman of NEA Assoc Prof Simon Tay says, such conventional cars lose 80 percent of their fuel as heat, and only 20 percent is used to turn the wheels. And of that 20 percent, 95 percent is used to move the car.

The Straits Times 22 May 06
Cheaper green cars in pipeline
by Christoper Tan

MOTORISTS here may find going green less taxing on the wallet in the next few years, even if the current tax rebate for environmentally-friendlier vehicles is reduced or withdrawn.

Green cars include petrol-electric hybrids that produce as little as 20 per cent of the tailpipe emissions as conventional cars but cost as much as 50 per cent more before tax rebates.

Toyota Motor, the leading maker of petrol-electric hybrid cars, said it expects to halve the production cost of such cars before 2010.

'We think the price gap between hybrids and conventional cars will be reduced,' said Mr Satoshi Ogiso, chief engineer of the Toyota Prius, the world's best-selling hybrid. 'But the price premium cannot be completely eliminated because conventional cars do not have high-powered batteries or electric motors.'

Mr Ogiso said one of the ways to reduce production cost is to source for less expensive materials. For instance, Toyota uses nickel-metal hydride batteries for its hybrids. 'These batteries contain cobalt, which is very expensive. If we can switch to lithium batteries, production cost will fall dramatically,' he said.

The other way is to reduce the amount of materials used. For instance, the battery pack in the latest Prius is merely one-third the size of the previous one and weighs less than half as much.

Toyota is not alone. Last week, Honda Motor president Takeo Fukui declared that by 2009, Honda will have a new hybrid car that is cheaper than the Honda Civic Hybrid, which is about 25 per cent costlier than a petrol-only Civic.

In Singapore, the Government has been trying to encourage the use of greener cars through incentives. Since January, buyers of such cars have been getting a tax break that is equivalent to 40 per cent of the additional registration fee (the main car tax) - double the concession granted from 2001 to 2005.

With it, the Civic Hybrid is going for $80,500, 12 per cent more than a conventional Civic; and the Toyota Prius selling for $83,888, 20 per cent more than a Corolla Altis 1.8.

National Environment Agency chairman Simon Tay said the new tax break is good till end-2007, and may be reviewed then.

Prof Tay, who is buying a Toyota Prius for his wife, said although Singapore 'genuinely wants cleaner air', it would not make green cars cheaper than conventional cars because that would be 'subsidising'.

He said the Euro IV tailpipe emission standard for diesel vehicles, effective from October, will be applied to petrol vehicles 'soon'. The Government targeted diesel vehicles first because those in use now contribute to fine particulate matter in the air.

Singapore currently does not meet the US standard for this health hazard.

'Personally, I think diesel fuel should be taxed, like petrol. That way, businesses will be more aware about fuel consumption and plan their routes more efficiently, and not leave their truck engines running,' he said. 'Taxing diesel goes to the root of the problem.'
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