Musk said Tesla had been attempting to enter the Singapore market but the federal government “does not support electric vehicles.”
On May 26, American entrepreneur Musk – who’s the CEO of electrical automotive maker Tesla – tweeted in response to a netizen’s query about whether he could “let us in Singapore buy Teslas”. Mr Musk wrote: “We’ve tried but the Singapore (government) doesn’t support electric vehicles.”
His remark reignited the talk over electric vehicles in Singapore, as netizen Joe Nguyen said in a 2016 online post that he needed to pay $11,260 in carbon dioxide surcharges for his Tesla automotive, along with a seven-month wait to get the automotive approved and registered within the country.
The scene continues when on June 2, the Straits Times published an article titled “An Open Letter to Elon Musk” by journalist Christopher Tan, through which he urged Musk to stop complaining that the Singapore government doesn’t support electric cars and explained why Singapore’s prosperity doesn’t require owning a automotive.
The Strait Times opinion piece mainly told the Tesla founder to stop conceited and realize that Singapore, a land-scarce country, is just not going to assist any carmaker sell more products.
In conclusion, the article explains that Tesla cars;
• not available to non-millionaires (prices start at S$426,800 (including certificate of eligibility) for the S 85D model);
• they’re too powerful and will likely be taxed in the identical group as cars with powerful combustion engines;
• will not be a necessity in Singapore, a rustic fighting a growing population and shrinking land area;
• it’ll eventually use electricity generated from the non-renewable fossil fuel natural gas, because that’s where Singapore gets its energy from.
Case closed? Not yet.
In response to Tesla founder Elon Musk’s claim that Singapore’s policies will not be conducive to electric vehicles (EVs), the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it’s encouraging the adoption of greener and cleaner vehicles equivalent to hybrid buses and electric cars.
LTA said in a media statement that it has adopted a three-pronged approach to addressing emissions. This includes promoting the usage of green mobility options equivalent to public transport to scale back reliance on private motorcars, improving resource efficiency by managing vehicle growth and use, and inspiring the adoption of greener and cleaner vehicles.
Authorities are also working to construct recent railway lines to enhance the reliability of the prevailing rail network, in addition to improve bus services.
The LTA also noted that “electric vehicles are not completely emission-free as the energy they draw generates emissions at the power plant.” However, most electric vehicles are quieter than conventional vehicles and don’t emit exhaust fumes, “ensuring better living conditions in a densely populated city like Singapore,” the LTA added.
In June 2016, the LTA and the Economic Development Board awarded BlueSG Singapore’s first electric automotive sharing programme, which began here in December last 12 months. Under the programme, the corporate will introduce a fleet of 1,000 shared electric cars and install 2,000 charging points by 2020.
HDT Singapore Taxi can be conducting a trial of 100 all-electric taxis to find out the feasibility of using the vehicles in its operations, the LTA said.
So, Elon, now it is your turn.
Source: The Straits Times, Mothership.sg | SCMP.com
