Singapore - The Land Transport Authority (LTA) today announced efforts to train and certify automotive technicians in the servicing and maintenance of electric vehicles (EVs), the better to prepare Singapore for the mainstream future of EVs as part of the Green Plan 2030.
The LTA, together with 21 other organisations (listed at the end of this story) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish standards for the safe handling of EVs, help create training courses and certification for technicians, and promote their upskilling/re-skilling.
In essence, this move creates a pipeline for the creation of new EV-able automotive technicians through school training and the upskilling of existing ones.
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First of all, the LTA (with its partners) will establish ‘baseline competencies on safe handling of high voltage systems, as well as electrical troubleshooting and diagnostics’ which will become a set of fundamental skill/knowledge set for EV competency.
Based on this, the LTA and schools/institutes including SkillsFuture Singapore, Singapore Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, various Institutes of Technical Education (ITEs) , will create training courses that are expected to be available in the second half of the year. SkillsFuture Singapore’s involvement will allow up to 70 per cent subsidies for these courses.
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Following this, a ‘national-level certification programme’ will be founded to recognise those who have achieved certification, which can then be a basis for advanced or future EV training.
Participants in the MOU include major players in the car industry, including car brands and dealerships : BMW Asia, BYD, Cycle & Carriage, Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore, Inchcape Motors, Komoco Holdings, Performance Motors, Porsche Asia Pacific, Tesla, and Volkswagen Singapore.
Jasmmine Wong, CEO for Inchcape, told CarBuyer: “We are extremely privileged to be a valued partner of LTA in raising the bar for EV knowledge in Singapore. Grooming the next generation of talent is a shared responsibility and Inchcape Singapore is committed to play our part in people development.”
All this doesn’t just apply to electric cars, but also electric buses and commercial vehicles. As part of Singapore’s Green Plan, the island state will also transition to a cleaner bus fleet by 2040, amongst other things – and just as it is with current internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle fleets, these efforts require skilled support workers/technicians.
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List of parties included in the MOU
1 BMW Asia Pte Ltd
2 BYD (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
3 ComfortDelGro Engineering Pte. Ltd.
4 Cycle & Carriage Automotive Pte Limited
5 Goldbell Corporation Pte. Ltd.
6 Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center In Singapore Pte. Ltd.
7 Inchcape Motors Private Limited
8 Institute of Technical Education (ITE)
9 Komoco Holdings Pte Ltd
10 Land Transport Authority of Singapore
11 Ngee Ann Polytechnic
12 Performance Motors Limited
13 Porsche Asia Pacific Pte Ltd
14 Singapore Motor Workshop Association
15 Singapore Polytechnic
16 SkillsFuture Singapore
17 Strides Mobility Pte. Ltd.
18 Tesla Motors Singapore Private Limited
19 Trans Eurokars Pte Ltd
20 TÜV SÜD PSB Pte. Ltd.
21 Volkswagen Group Singapore Pte Ltd
22 Workforce Singapore
