Problem Statement
Ever since PM Lee’s announcement at the 2015 Clean and Green Week that the government would aim for a “Car-lite Singapore”, the LTA has invested heavily into building such a future, by pouring billions into building more MRTs, buying more buses, and investing in bicycle friendly infrastructure.
Despite these investments, their messaging and infrastructure decisions suggest that cars will still take priority in the future of Singapore’s transportation.
1. Cars remain twice as fast as transportation alternatives.
The following examples show how much faster driving remains compared to taking public transport in 2025
2. Tengah, named a “car lite” estate despite being built for the car & the construction of the North South Corridor
6 lane streets/expressways are NOT an indicator of being car lite
3. Continued increase in the car population in Singapore…
…with further plans for more
To further push the concept of going car lite, we are suggesting the introduction of microcars. As a whole, they take up much less road space, allowing narrower roads. This is useful in land scarce Singapore, where 12% of land space is used up by roads.
Microcars are a relatively new concept, popular in Western Europe as well as China.
Benefits of Microcars
- Lighter, leading to huge savings in energy cost
- Smaller footprint, contributes less to congestion
- More parking space available for more people
- Environmentally friendly. Most of the time, only 1-2 people occupy a car
- Safer for pedestrians
Shortfalls — Safety
- Less safe for drivers in the event of a collision with larger vehicles
Proposed Solution
We want to contribute to this CAR-LITE VISION.
We propose the idea of a compact, economical, one-seater electric vehicle that has the added safety features of crumple zones, airbags, and collision detection. The EV should also be user-friendly with a GPS feature, long battery life, and good handling.
We aim to complete this project with a budget of $2000 and for our EV to reach a top speed of 30 km/h.