'They were afraid I would charge the car in a public place' 'He had to pledge/guarantee to only recharge his EV at his home'
https://vulcanpost.com/542341/guy-legal-person-drive-tesla-spore-went-lot/ This Guy Is The Only Legal Person To Drive A Tesla In S'pore, And He Went Through A Lot For It [20160301] Jacky Yap [images https://az598155.vo.msecnd.net/wp-uploads/2016/02/pm-lee-tesla.jpg PM Lee getting a tour of the Tesla Factory, where Tesla cars are built from scratch. PM: “It is a huge space — 500,000 sq m, depending more on robots than workers.” Image Credit: Facebook http://az598155.vo.msecnd.net/wp-uploads/2016/03/genimage.jpg (VICOM) http://az598155.vo.msecnd.net/wp-uploads/2016/03/tesla-model-s-interior.jpg Image Credit: Stuff Singapore shares https://www.facebook.com/chargedhongkong/photos/a.357934691078884.1073741828.325719637633723/463828477156171/?type=3 Charged Hong Kong February 13 First and only Tesla Model S in Singapore Photo credits: Siti Hazmima https://www.facebook.com/vulcanpost/posts/801449826665575 We would have thought the electric car industry in Singapore is a lot more progressive than this? http://az598155.vo.msecnd.net/wp-uploads/2016/03/Screen-Shot-2016-03-02-at-1.41.48-pm.png This Guy Is The Only Legal Person To Drive A Tesla In S'pore, And He Went Through A Lot For It "They were afraid I would charge the car in a public place." ... ] Tesla is probably one of the sexiest automobile brand right now, at least in this part of the world where the brand is not available yet. In his recent tour to San Francisco, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also spent some time visiting Tesla. With its popularity, one would expect to see Tesla on the roads of Singapore, especially since Tesla is equipped with smart driving system, and is an electric car which produces zero emissions – in line with Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative as well as green city aspiration. In a recent article published on Stuff Singapore, the team spoke to an IT-professional Joe Nguyen, who managed to get a Tesla Model S licensed to be on the roads of Singapore. But that was without all the red tape and long approval process he had to go through first. How long? Seven long months. How It All Began According to the article on Stuff, Joe purchased the 2014 model S from Hong Kong more than a year back ... Once he managed to buy the car, he shipped it back to Singapore, and paid the necessary customs duties on it. However, Joe revealed to Stuff Singapore that that was the easy part. The tough part followed where he had to deal with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) for the necessary approvals so that he can drive his Tesla S in Singapore. “The first few weeks, the car just sat in a warehouse gathering dust while the LTA asked me for lots of paperwork,” Joe told Stuff Singapore. Paperworks from LTA to EMA to VICOM What started from the paperworks requirement from LTA soon saw Joe providing various paperwork requests such as emissions, certificate of conformity, vehicle specs and more. After the paperworks, LTA then required Joe to check in with the Energy Market Authority (EMA), since Tesla is an electric car and EMA is the agency in charge of the energy sector in Singapore. ”I was told to call them (EMA) so I called them and they thought that I was an importer. And I said, “No, I’m just a normal individual importing a car,” Joe told Stuff Singapore. Shortly after that, there were no news from EMA, and Joe was then referred by LTA to VICOM in order to get his Tesla tested for emissions. VICOM is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited, and is in charge of technical testing and inspection services for vehicles in Singapore. However, the whole inspection process with VICOM took a few months as the checking was put on hold. According to its website, VICOM, a publicly listed on Singapore’s stock exchange since 1995, claims to be the first in the world to employ a computerised and integrated vehicle inspection system more than 25 years ago. Over 300,000 vehicle checks are conducted at their centres annually. “I figured they had a process for electric cars because there are actual electric cars in Singapore, there’s the Nissan Leaf, RND cars, there’s Mitsubishi electric cars. But since my Tesla was not brand new, it had to go to VICOM and they admitted that they had never tested an electric car before so they did not know how to proceed,” Joe told Stuff Singapore. Since a testing on Tesla has never been done before, LTA and VICOM then did a discharge test to see how much electricity the car consumes and needed Joe to sign a declaration that he will only be charging his Tesla at home. “They were afraid I would charge the car in a public place,” Joe told Stuff Singapore. Only Legal Tesla Car In Singapore The whole process from shipping his car into Singapore, getting the approval, checking the emission requirements, and finally signing a declaration, took seven months, and Joe is now probably the only person that can drive a Tesla in Singapore legally. It is also bizarre how there are no procedure in place to legalize or test electric cars in Singapore. We thought Singapore should be a lot more progressive than this by now? Aren’t there hybrid automobile roaming the roads of Singapore now? Stuff Singapore also pointed out that back in 2011, Tesla did open an office here in Singapore, however, it closed its operations 6 months later. Tesla came to Singapore believing they would be able to secure some kind of ‘green tax incentive’ from the Singapore Government which would make their car considerably cheaper than the petrol powered competition. Without incentives, Tesla was too expensive even for automobile enthusiasts. The official reason from the Economic Development Board of Singapore in 2011 was that the Tesla had ‘not met technical requirements’ for the tax incentive. So will we see other Teslas on the roads of Singapore soon? It will probably take at least a while before that happens. Hopefully after PM’s recent ride on Tesla’s Model S in San Francisco, things will change for the better soon. [© vulcanpost.com] ... http://www.stuff.tv/sg/features/be-prepared-these-roadblocks-if-you-want-drive-tesla-in-singapore Be prepared for these roadblocks if you want to drive a Tesla in Singapore 01 MARCH 2016 ... https://sg.news.yahoo.com/open-letter-singapore-penalty-electric-135408775.html Singapore’s Penalty for Electric Cars – The First Tesla Model S in Singapore March 2, 2016 This open letter is republished with permission from the author, Joe Nguyen, on the frustrations he encountered trying to get the first Telsa Model S electric car into Singapore. ... http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/electric-car-tesla-slapped-with-15000-tax-surcharge Electric car Tesla slapped with $15,000 tax surcharge [March 4, 2016] Christopher Tan [image http://www.straitstimes.com/sites/default/files/styles/x_large/public/articles/2016/03/05/ST_20160305_CTTESLA_2116354.jpg?itok=WMcd-gjQ Mr Nguyen with the used Tesla Model S, which he sourced from Hong Kong for close to $400,000. The Model S is granted tax breaks in several countries - for example, in Britain, buyers get a $8,800 grant.PHOTO: LINDA CHOO ] Electric car is the first tailpipe emission-free vehicle to be penalised thus in Singapore An electric car which attracts tax breaks in several countries has been slapped with a tax surcharge in Singapore. The Model S - a sedan made by California-based Tesla Motors - is the first tailpipe emission-free car to be penalised this way here. Mr Joe Nguyen, 44, registered a used Model S he sourced from Hong Kong just before Chinese New Year. He was shocked that the car - for which he paid close to $400,000 - was liable for a $15,000 carbon surcharge. "Honestly, it's stupid," said the senior vice-president with an Internet research firm. "I went back to them (Land Transport Authority), and they cited a UN emission test regulation. They also factored in carbon emissions at the power station. We don't apply a carbon penalty to people charging their iPhones, do we?" In response to queries, an LTA spokesman said: "Based on tests conducted under the UNECE R101 standards, the electric energy consumption of his imported used Tesla car was 444 watt-hour/km." To "account for CO2 emissions during the electricity generation process", the spokesman said, "a grid emission factor of 0.5g/watt-hour was also applied to the electric energy consumption". From this, it was determined that Mr Nguyen's Tesla produced 222g/km of CO2, putting it within the $15,000 surcharge band under Singapore's Carbon Emission- based Vehicle Scheme. The LTA applied this grid factor once previously to an electric Peugeot Ion (a subcompact hatchback), and it was granted a carbon rebate of $20,000. The BMW i3 electric hatchback and i8 plug-in hybrid both qualify for a $30,000 carbon rebate. Mr Nguyen, married with three sons, said he paid the surcharge because he "didn't want to wait any longer". It had taken him more than half a year from the time he imported the car last July to get it approved and registered for use on the road. He had to shuttle between LTA, the Energy Market Authority and vehicle inspection centre Vicom in the process. Before the car was approved, he had to give an undertaking that he would recharge it only at his home - a cluster housing. On the long process, LTA said "this is the first time a Tesla Model S has been tested for emissions". The Model S is granted tax breaks in several countries. In Britain, buyers get a £4,500 (S$8,800) grant, and in the United States, they get a US$7,500 (S$10,400) income tax credit. Hong Kong waives registration tax for electric cars, which can be as high as 115 per cent of value. In Norway, a Model S gets a tax exemption of around US$135,000. Mr Nguyen has posted an "open letter" online outlining his difficulty in registering the Tesla as well as his beef over the tax surcharge. "I've given up on getting the money back," he told The Straits Times. "I just want LTA to improve. There is a lot of interest in the Model S." Commenting on the case, Nanyang Business School adjunct associate professor Zafar Momin said: "Given Singapore's land size, great infrastructure and commitment to sustainability, we would not only have been the perfect test bed for electric vehicles (EVs), but also an ideal market for their wider application and usage. While we have initiatives and incentives for EVs, we may already have missed the big opportunity to be a leader in EVs as a nation. The Tesla importation case is perhaps indicative of why we may have missed the opportunity." [© 2015 Singapore Press] 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/EVLN-15k-surcharge-tax-my-on-Joe-s-400k-used-2014-Tesla-S-EV-tp4680831.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)
