BlueSG vs CarShare

BlueSG vs CarShare

Since 12 Dec 2017, the first electric car rental has started business in Singapore and there is no need to pay for petrol anymore.  BlueSG has launched 80 cars and 30 charging stations all around Singapore with overwhelming responses of more than 2000 users.

BONUS: If you are a first time user of BlueSG, you may wish to click HERE for the unofficial user guide of BlueSG.

HOW TO CHOOSE?

So which provider should you choose? Let's compare the differences.

COLLECTION AND RETURN

The unique part is the option to return the car in other location apart from the collection point.  The locations of the BlueSG seems more convenient as compared to other car share.  Conventionally, cars from CarShare are parked on the high storey and it waste time with longer distance just to drive up to the 5th or 6th floor of Multi Storey Car Park (MSCP).  BlueSG seems to be located at level 1 of MSCP or along the road.

ELECTRIC VS PETROL

This is obvious as BlueSG needs no petrol to run its fleet.  However, electric car needs longer time to charge so turn around time for electric car is not immediate.  When the battery of the electric car is 30%, the user will be prompted to return the car to its charging station bearing in mind the maximum distance the car can run is 200 km for a full charge.  Since Singapore is burning coal to generate electricity, electric car may not be environmentally friendly but this is beside the point.

SUBSCRIPTION FEES

The subscription model is as follows:
Annual plan - S$15/month - S$0.33/min for a minimum of 15 minutes
Weekly plan - S$0/month - S$0.50/min for a minimum of 15 minutes

FEATURES OF ELECTRIC CARS

There are few distinct impressions after driving an electric car. The first being speed pickup is great but the speed can decrease rapidly when the accelerator is not stepped. The second impression is you must use handbrake on a slope else you will slip backward.  The surprising fact is the full electric car is not as silent as expected without the engine as compared to a hybrid car.  Due to the drag, the car feels heavy and solid.  Perhaps this is the intention of the car manufacturer as it is capped at a speed limit of 90kmph.  Although it is a four seater car, it is tight to sit behind as the 3rd and 4th passengers due to the small confined space and the lack of the hind doors.

AVAILABILITY

It is interesting to note that it is nearly impossible to book BlueSG near the city after dark (and vice versa).  Apparently, many, living far from city, drive the cars back to home.

Only 1 car to book near city at 3am

  Therefore, during office hours on weekdays, it may be challenging to get a BlueSG car from Woodlands, Punggol or Jurong as all the cars are in the city areas.

There are parking issues at few locations after dark.

The other booking issue is the accessibility of BlueSG cars as most of the locations are not situated near MRTs or LRTs.  They are well hidden inside HDB car parks and it may take 15 minutes to locate the charging station as the locations of BlueSG are somehow misleading (for example: Blk 73 Redhill Road is marked at Blk 74 Redhill road).

The location of Blk 73 is wrongly indicated.
The correct location is indicated by the RED CROSS CIRCLE.

Due to the geographical limitation and the number of parking spaces, it will be foolish to just book and ignore the parking consideration.  You may reserve a car easily but when you intend to return the car, you find that there is no space in the vicinity of 10km radius.  By parking at a distance, you may need to take a taxi back and it defeats the purpose of renting a car altogether.

USAGE CHARGES

At first glance, BlueSG is more expensive than any other car share services offered since it is charged by the minutes.  If you are driving for more than 1 hour, it is better to select car share over BlueSG to save costs.  Car share services also offered special promotions (business hours on weekday or owl special) which are superior over BlueSG plan which is charged by minutes.

DURATION

BlueSG offers shorter duration as compared to Carshare. Since BlueSG charges by the minute, it is increasingly expensive to keep using their service as they do not offer promotions like Owl special or Business Promo in weekdays.  Their focus and strength lies in below 1 hour of driving from Point A to Point B. This begs the question why should user choose BlueSG over Taxi, Grab or Uber?

CONCLUSION

BlueSG may not have the absolute advantages over other Car Share services, it must offer competitive pricing to attract users to stay with the service.  In the end, the winners will be the consumers who have another choice when the MRT breaks down again.