SINGAPORE, Sept 27 — About 80 electric cars will hit the roads progressively from December, under Singapore’s first large-scale, islandwide electric car-sharing programme, announced developer and operator BlueSG today. And it has ambitious plans to build the world’s second-largest electric car-sharing service in the Republic, after Paris.

Groundbreaking works to install the first 30 charging stations, which will offer 120 charging points, will start by end-September.

Eighteen stations will be rolled out in public housing estates such as Tampines, Bishan, Punggol and Queenstown. Ten stations will be situated in the city-centre and its fringes, and the remaining two stations at one-north and the Science Park.

The Republic’s 10-year electric car-sharing programme, announced in June last year, is being developed and run by BlueSG, a subsidiary of the Bollore Group, which operates the largest fully electric car-sharing programme in the world, with operations in cities such as Paris, Bordeaux and Indianapolis.

Said Marie Bollore, managing director of Blue Solutions, BlueSG’s parent company: "We’re committed to making Singapore the second-largest electric vehicle car-sharing service worldwide, after Paris.”

A total of 1,000 electric cars will be rolled out in Singapore by 2020, including 500 charging stations armed with 2,000 charging points — 400 of which will be for public use.

Land Transport Authority chief technology officer Lam Wee Shann said December’s launch will make BlueSG’s car-sharing scheme integral to achieving Singapore’s ambition of being a "car-lite” city-state, giving the public another convenient option to commute and cutting the reliance on private vehicles.

Today, BlueSG also unveiled officially its Asia-Pacific headquarters at the Science Park.

The hub, which will be the focal point of its e-mobility, energy management and system integration business in the region, will house more than 30 staff members by year’s end.

These will include technical staff members and field technicians. The company, which will also set up a global innovation centre here for research and development in mobility and energy management solutions, aims to create 250-odd jobs in Singapore by 2021. — TODAY