Reader Response Draft 4

According to a blog post titled, “Smart Road Technology: Digital Highways of The Future” (2020), roads are usually neglected in discussions about the digital transformation of transportation. Safety, efficiency and sustainability can be improved by upgrading roads with Smart Road Technology (SRT). SRT enhances visibility, generates energy and allows communication between vehicles, improving driver’s experience on roads. The blog post also describes innovations such as solar powered roadways, weather and traffic detection help to boost safety and road efficiency. Glow in the dark roads and interactive lights will aid in visibility while supporting sustainability. Smart roads and electric priority lanes allow electric vehicle charging on the road and vehicle communication. The blog post states that governments and transport authorities understand the importance of adopting SRT. While the development of these innovations at scale can be expensive, leaders can initiate smaller scale projects before spearheading large-scale efforts. Having SRT drives the future of transportation and provides governments with the power over road traffic.

The Vrio blog post highlights the potential that digital revolution can have on roads and discusses the future development and digital transformation of the modern transport infrastructure. The article claims that using SRT to upgrade and improve roads would greatly benefit and transform the driving experience for road users. In the context of Singapore, I believe that the adoption of the innovation on electric priority lanes for charging electric vehicles will be crucial and beneficial for road users.

According to Land Transport Authority (2021), Singapore plans to adopt the use of electric vehicles and have all internal combustion engine vehicles converted to electric vehicles by 2040, meaning that the use of electric vehicles would be inevitable.

Electric priority lanes are a concept where cables and wires are embedded in the road which generates electromagnetic fields that transmit energy to a receiver that supplies the vehicle’s battery, charging the vehicle while in motion (The Ray, 2019). Once electric priority lanes are adopted in Singapore, there will be numerous benefits that drivers can experience when society moves towards electric vehicles.

One benefit that EV drivers can enjoy is the convenience that electric priority lanes can provide. According to Carty (2021), electric vehicles tend to have a short range as compared to gas-powered vehicles. The distance that an electric car can cover on a full charge is roughly around 60 to 100 miles, which is significantly less than a gas-powered car that can cover up to 400 miles on a full tank of gas. This would be a concern for drivers that travel long distances as there is a lack of charging stations for them to recharge their electric vehicles (Abudheen, 2021). By travelling on electric priority lanes, electric vehicles can charge their batteries while travelling.

Another benefit that EV drivers can experience from electric priority lanes is the amount of time saved during charging of the vehicle. Carty (2021) also states that electric vehicles' battery recharging duration is rather lengthy compared to filling up a gas tank, which only takes up to 3 minutes. An electric car of an older model can sometimes take up to 20 hours for a full charge. These prolonged charging durations can be greatly reduced by having electric priority lanes. This allows electric vehicles to charge their batteries while moving on the road.

While there are clear benefits in the use of electric priority lanes, implementing such lanes at a large scale can be very costly. According to Suomalainen (2019), a cost analysis case study has been conducted on a highway in France. The cost of an electric charging lane infrastructure along the highway was more than $150 million. The installation and material cost for the highway was about half a million dollars per kilometre. In Singapore’s context, there is about an average of 1100km of highways (Statista, 2021). Therefore, having to adopt electric priority lanes on Singapore’s highways will be a project with a big budget.

In conclusion, due to electric vehicles’ lack of ability to travel long distances and lengthy charging duration, adopting electric priority lanes in Singapore is crucial and beneficial. Doing so would enhance the driving experience for EV drivers, as they can potentially save plenty of time and also provides great convenience to their daily lives. Although adopting this technology can be expensive, the government and transport authorities can start with smaller scale projects before developing it at a nationwide scale.

 

 

 

 

References

Abudheen K, S. (2021, February 8). ‘Singapore isn’t ready for mass adoption of EVs yet; hybrid may be better for the present.’ E27. https://e27.co/singapore-isnt-ready-for-mass-adoption-of-evs-yet-hybrid-may-be-better-for-the-present-20210208/

 

Carty, S. (2021, July 7). Why Should I Care about EVs? and 19 Other Things You Want to Know about Electric Vehicles. Car and Driver. https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a36876962/20-questions-about-evs/

 

Land Transport Authority. (2021). Electric Vehicles. https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltagov/en/industry_innovations/technologies/electric_vehicles.html#:%7E:text=Our%20EV%20Vision,to%20electric%20vehicles%20(EVs).

 

Suomalainen, E., & Colet, F. (2019, October 28). A corridor-based approach to estimating the costs of electric vehicle charging infrastructure on highways. World Electric Vehicle Journal, 10(68). https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Emilia-Suomalainen/publication/336852862_A_Corridor-Based_Approach_to_Estimating_the_Costs_of_Electric_Vehicle_Charging_Infrastructure_on_Highways/links/5db7057d4585155e270d3f57/A-Corridor-Based-Approach-to-Estimating-the-Costs-of-Electric-Vehicle-Charging-Infrastructure-on-Highways.pdf.

 

Statista. (2021, September 21). Length of Expressways Singapore 2009–2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1003220/singapore-total-expressways/

 

The Ray. (2019, January 3). EV Charging Lanes: Future Vision. https://theray.org/tech/ev-charging-lanes/

 

Vrioeurope. (2020). Smart Road Technology: Digital Highways Of the Future. https://vrioeurope.com/en/smart-road-technology-digital-highways-of-the-future/

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