Traditional fuel cars have long been the norm, and they may just continue being the norm for many years to come in Singapore. Hopefully, one day, we will become like some European countries, where electric cars hold between 0.3% to 6.0% of the market share. That being said, I hope that Singaporeans and the Singapore government do not wait too long before taking action. What will we do when air pollution here becomes intolerable? Judging from how the haze threw our nation into a state of panic and worry, the likely reaction to air pollution consuming our country is unlikely to be any better.
In the meantime, perhaps the Singapore government, car manucturers, NGOs and car enthusiasts should take it upon themselves to make little changes, especially with the use of “Conservation Psychology”. They should make changes to the incentives, to the taxes and slowly build up knowledge amongst Singaporeans and car users alike about the negative externalities that can arise as a result of using traditional fuel cars.
I strongly believe that Singapore has the potential to follow in France’s or Britain’s footsteps in implementing a blanket ban on traditional fuel cars. Singapore is so small compared to these 2 countries, and thus it would be much easier to emulate what France and Britian have done. Furthermore, as I had mentioned before in my blog, alt-cars are the perfect match for our city. Therefore, there is hardly anything is standing in the way of Singapore’s journey to becoming a perfectly clean and green society in the future.
As I had mentioned earlier in the section of the effects of traditional fuel cars, Singapore is encountering a typical case of the Tragedy of the Commons. Our common resource pool being clean air and, our atmosphere. Currently, everyone is using these resources with only their selves in mind. If we do not alter our usage, we will end up depleting these two resources.
Do we want clean air, blue skies and the ability to freely breathe?
Or will we be subjected to masks being a part of our daily grooming and drastic changes to our country’s weather?
It is up to us, to decide what we want for ourselves in the future (for ourselves and for future generations). If we do not act now, there may not even be a future for us.