[ref http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-15k-surcharge-sg-on-Joe-s-400k-used-2014-Tesla-S-EV-td4680836.html EVLN: $15k surcharge.sg on Joe's $400k used 2014 Tesla-S EV ]
'If Tessie the Tesla.sg could speak' 'Tesla working to test EV again' http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/elon-musk-claims-pm-lee-would-investigate-singapores-tesla-situation Elon Musk claims PM Lee 'would investigate' Singapore's Tesla situation Mar 7, 2016 | Priscilla Tan ... The long and arduous process that Nguyen went through has caused a major uproar in Singapore ... [share https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/705687267684159488 Elon Musk @elonmusk We spoke earlier today and he said he would investigate the situation. 1:32 AM - 4 Mar 2016 ] ... [© 2016 Singapore Press] http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/tesla-boss-calls-pm-lee-over-co2-levy Tesla boss calls PM Lee over CO2 levy Mar 7, 2016 Tesla boss Elon Musk has contacted Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong over the case of an electric Model S car that was given a $15,000 carbon tax surcharge in ... http://themiddleground.sg/2016/03/11/tesla-car-speaks/ Tessie the Tesla car speaks… to TMG Mar 11, 2016 Yoong Ren Yan [image / Natassya Diana http://themiddleground.sg/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/tessie.jpg tessie ] OH, TESSIE. Everyone wants a piece of you. Your owner Joe Nguyen, 44, has spoken – and tweeted. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has said its due. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who has promised to “investigate“ [ http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/tesla-boss-calls-pm-lee-over-co2-surcharge-levied-on-first-model-s-here ]. And yesterday, the international media picked up your story [ http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/08/tesla-model-s-owner-protests-singapores-carbon-emissions-surcharge.html ]. In this exclusive interview, we ask Tessie what it’s like to be the only Tesla Model S electric car on Singapore’s roads – and about the long journey it took to get here. TMG: How’re you feeling? Forsaken? Misunderstood? Tessie: Frankly, I’m just relieved to be on the road again. My first seven months in Singapore weren’t fun at all. Sure, Joe took good care of me, but cars aren’t made to be kept at home – or at Vicom, ugh. They didn’t even know how to charge me. It took a full week because they had to switch off the power whenever they went home. Then they drove me for 11km, and that was it. Boring. TMG: Your owner, Mr Nguyen, told us straight: “I love the car.” Tessie: Joe’s great. He’s been showing me off a fair bit, and says things like “this is the future of cars.” I’m not complaining. I’m green, I can perform, I’m beautifully designed, and I make cool sounds – what more do you want? TMG: But not everyone agrees, of course. Tessie: Oh, sure. Those testers at LTA. Mr Musk and the US government said I consume 237 watt hours per km, but somehow LTA got a much higher figure: 444 watt hours per km. What’s going on? Maybe it’s because I’m second-hand. Maybe their test was wrong, because they haven’t really had to test electric cars before. Bureaucrats find it hard to deal with new things sometimes. All I know is I’ve always been told I’m efficient, so I don’t get it. TMG: And LTA slapped on that $15,000 surcharge because of that difference. Tessie: Yeah, Joe bit the bullet and paid up, but he doesn’t like it. He’s appealed to LTA many times but they won’t have it. So finally he wrote that open letter and it’s gotten a lot of attention. He doesn’t think it’s fair that electric cars are treated the same as those with normal internal combustion engines. It’s very frustrating. I don’t generate any emissions. If Singapore wants to be environmentally conscious, how can it make owners pay more for a green car? They’re supposed to have given Joe a rebate. TMG: But according to LTA, although “tail-end” emissions are zero, you still need to be charged, and generating electricity causes emissions too, no? The economic principle is that you pay for whatever externalities you cause, even if they’re way upstream, right? Tessie: Well, yes. And based on those standards, they calculated that I wasn’t so efficient after all. But if they’re concerned about electricity causing emissions, why aren’t they taxing all users? How is charging an iPhone different from charging me? They should be implementing a carbon tax [ https://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2016/03/05/tesla-new-technologies-need-new-ways-of-thinking/ ] or something like that, across the board, not penalising cars like me. Joe won’t mind that his electricity bill goes up as a result of a carbon tax. And I’ll be treated like the, uh, appliance that I am. TMG: But you’re just not an appliance, right? You’re a car. And Singapore doesn’t like cars. That’s why you’re so much more expensive here than in Hong Kong, for instance! Tessie: Yeah, things are rough for cars in Singapore. This $15,000 surcharge is nothing compared to the $215,000 in certificate of entitlement and other fees Joe had to pay. All in all the taxes were three times what I cost in Hong Kong.That wouldn’t change much even if Joe got a $15,000 rebate instead. Having said that, I suppose owners value us far more because they paid so much! TMG: So to the G, if there must be cars on the road, it would rather they be green; but it still prefers fewer cars to more cars. Tessie: That’s what it looks like. But should its objectives be so skewed towards discouraging ownership? If it wants to be serious about climate change and lowering Singapore’s emissions, then several things should be different. Incentives to choose greener cars shouldn’t just be marginal – owners should feel it in their pockets when they choose a gas-guzzler over a Tesla. And electricity should be taxed based on emissions. Electric cars are great, in my very biased opinion, but we can only be as efficient as the electricity we use. Why am I causing as much emissions as a gas-guzzler here, but much less in the US? Because Singapore still, overwhelmingly, uses fossil fuels to generate electricity.That’s not my fault! TMG: You’re one smart car. Tessie: Thanks. I did a lot of reading up in those seven months. TMG: So what happens now? Tessie: Well, Joe’s still hopeful, especially after this call between Mr Musk and PM Lee. He wants, at least, for future electric car-owners to have it easier, but it’d be great if he could get his $15,000 back too. TMG: Ah, but that call. Some people are worried it means big business has power over a small country. Tessie: Has Singapore ever caved to international pressure? I doubt it. If the G changes its mind, it won’t be because it wants to maintain good relations with Tesla. And Joe and I would much rather it change its mind because it sees that one policy is better than the other. TMG: We hope it chooses the better policy too. But don’t you like the attention you’ve been getting? If we make electric cars cheaper there’ll be more of you around. Tessie: I have to admit, being the only Tesla in the country is nice. But sometimes company is nice, too. In the meantime, if you see a white Tesla Model S on the roads, be sure to say hi! [© 2016 THE MIDDLE GROUND] http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/tesla-looking-test-car-slapped-15k-levy-again Tesla looking to test car slapped with $15k levy again Mar 12, 2016 ... TESLA is working with Singaporean authorities to conduct tests again ... "We believe the test was likely not properly conducted, and we are working cooperatively with LTA to test the car again," said Scarlett Au, a spokeswoman for Tesla ... For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Musk-sez-PM-Lee-would-investigate-the-Singapore-Tesla-EV-situation-tp4680960.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
