SMRT bus at Admiralty MRT Station. (Yahoo! Photo)
Commuters in Singapore may soon travel on buses and taxis powered by electricity.
This after SMRT International Pte Ltd signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BYD Company Limited on Thursday to discuss the possibility of developing, distributing and selling electric vehicles.
This initiative is in line with SMRT's commitment to environmental sustainability.
"In our day-to-day operations at SMRT, we look into air, water and energy management diligently," said SMRT executive vice-president, Teo Chew Hoon, in a statement.
"To further promote better air quality, we are exploring the use of electric vehicles in our bus and taxi fleet and are pleased to annouce our MOU with BYD, one of the world's leading green technology companies," Teo added.
In May 2008, SMRT acquired environmentally-friendly Euro V compliant buses and started trials for two environmetally-friendly buses in January this year. The two buses are the German-made MAN A22 Euro V bus and its first diesel-electric hybrid bus made by China's Zhong Tong.
For a country that depends a lot on nuclear energy, Japan might have a change of heart to go green in their energy collection efforts – through the implementation of having solar panels plastered all over new buildings and houses as a compulsory measure by the time 2030 rolls around. This plan is tipped to be unveiled at the upcoming G8 Summit in France, where it shows the world that the Land of the Rising Sun resolves to encourage technological innovation and promote the wider use of renewable energy, instead of just relying on nuclear energy. Ironically, France is the leading candidate by far when it comes to nuclear power dependence, with up to 70% of the country running on nuclear energy.
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