Singapore to stop registrations of new diesel cars, taxis from next year

The move to phase out the more pollutive vehicles was announced in the parliament three years ago during a debate on the government’s environmental sustainability plans in March 2021.

Since then, the proportion of new diesel car and taxi registrations has remained below 1% in total, given the availability of cleaner alternatives, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on July 10.

The upcoming ban on new diesel cars and taxis comes before all new cars and taxis registered here are required to be cleaner-energy models from 2030.

While owners of diesel cars registered before Jan. 1, 2025, will be able to renew their certificates of entitlement (COE) after the 2025 deadline, they will be subject to higher road taxes to discourage renewal, LTA said.

This is part of the existing policy to charge a road tax surcharge of 10% to 50% for vehicles that are more than 10 years old, depending on the vehicle’s age.

However, LTA also said the restrictions on new diesel car registrations will not apply to the import and registration of cars under the Classic Vehicle and Vintage Vehicle schemes.

As of May this year, about 17% of all vehicles in Singapore ran on diesel.

Efforts have been made to encourage owners of commercial vehicles to move away from diesel and switch to cleaner fuels, such as the Early Turnover Scheme (ETS) and Commercial Vehicle Emissions Scheme (CVES).

Under the ETS, the owner of an older commercial vehicle can switch to a new one with cleaner emissions by paying a discounted rate of the COE price instead of having to bid for a new one.