Speakers

Udo Loersch was born in Germany on 20 September 1949. He is married with children. He studied machine tool engineering at the Technical University in Aachen, Germany and holds a Doctorate in Engineering.

Between 1983 and 1987, Dr Loersch worked as a Manager in the assembly and process planning department at the Daimler-Benz Bus Assembly in Mannheim, Germany. In 1987, he was appointed Assistant to the Board Member for Production, for commercial vehicles worldwide. From 1989, Dr Loersch was Director for production engineering at the strategic planning department of  Mercedes-Benz.

In 1993, he took over responsibility of corporate planning and business development for Middle East and the former Soviet Union as Director. Between 1996 and 1999, Dr Loersch was Director for Business Development, Southern Africa and Latin America.

In April 1999, Dr Loersch was given responsibility for External Affairs, covering the ASEAN countries, as Vice President of DaimlerChrysler South East Asia, located in Singapore.

Gerard Ee, an accountant by training, has been actively involved with the community for the last 30 years, serving on boards and committees of many grassroot and voluntary organizations, including juvenile rehabilitative centres, schools and various programmes for the elderly and youth. He was a Nominated Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2002.

Mr Ee is also currently the President of the Automobile Association of Singapore, National Kidney Foundation as well the National Council of Social Services as well as the newly appointed Chairman of the Public Transport Council. He also chairs the Medifund Advisory Council, ITE College East Advisory Council, Hai Sing Catholic School Management Committee and is actively involved in the Governing Council of Singapore Institute of Management and the North East Community Development Council as Chairman of the Finance Standing Committee.

Abstract

Transportation accounts for about 60% of Singapore’s oil consumption and contributes to about 25% of carbon monoxide emissions. With oil and gasoline prices on the rise and a greater focus on air pollution and global warming, fuel economy has taken on increasing importance. New transportation technologies are sought to improve the efficiency and emissions of vehicles using petroleum-based fuels, to provide cleaner-burning alternative fuels, and to reduce the quantity of miles individual vehicles travel on our roads and highways. In 2001, Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) have implemented the green vehicle rebate (GVR) scheme to promote the use of green cars although the take up rate is still low. Singapore has also been the testbed for hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars by DaimlerChrysler and BP. This forum will discuss fuel efficiency from the perspectives of the car manufacturer and consumer.

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