Petrol prices in Singapore hit a new high once again.
Shell’s V-Power 98-octane was at $4.04 per litre, a record for smashing past the $4 mark in Singapore.
Popular 95-octane is at $3.33, a 5% increase from $3.16. The increase is even more shocking if we compare to a year ago where the price was $2.48 – a 34% rise!
Diesel, which affects taxi drivers and delivery trucks, is up 3% from $3 to $3.08. It was $2 a year ago and this means the price has risen 54%, even more than the increase in 95-octane.
Fuel cost is typically 10% to 20% of a car operating cost, depending on fuel consumption of the car as well as the average distance travelled per month.
Hyundai Avante was one of the best selling car models in 2021. Its fuel consumption is around 16km/l (officially at 18km/l but usually overstated). Using the national average distance per day of 55km, the daily fuel cost for Avante would be around $9.16 if 95-octane was used and a 20% fuel discount applied.
A month of driving would give a fuel cost of about $284. A year ago, the cost would have been $211.
A Mercedes-Benz C200 would have a poorer fuel consumption of 10km/l. Daily and monthly fuel cost would be $17.78 and $551 respectively, if using Shell’s V-Power.
Taxis in Singapore travel 280km per day on average and the most common model is Hyundai i40 with a fuel consumption of 13km/l. That would be $53 per day of fuel cost after a 20% discount. Used to be $43 a year ago. It is equivalent to losing revenue on one short trip per day.
Honda Vezel is a common car model used by Grab drivers. Its fuel consumption is estimated to be about 17km/l. Assuming same daily mileage with a taxi, the daily fuel cost would come to $44 if using 95-octane plus 20% discount. It would have been $33 a year ago. This is slightly cheaper than taxi.
The costs are rising and drivers are definitely feeling the pinch. But the prices are not crippling our transport system yet. We haven’t hit that point whereby drivers don’t make any money after fuel costs. I don’t think it will ever happen because fares will rise in tandem (which already did).
Rising fuel prices doesn’t seem to be abating anytime soon. This is one watch area as it is with food prices.
