Even after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong held discussions with Elon Musk — the boyfriend of art-pop producer Grimes and the dude who apparently runs some startup called Tesla — Singapore’s electric dream looks to be fizzled out, if the latter is to be believed.
On Twitter last Saturday, the American business magnate, investor, engineer and real-life Tony Stark stated that the Singapore government is “not supportive of electric vehicles” despite alleged attempts by Tesla to break into the market. The statement was Musk’s reply to a tweet by Cesare Tagliaferri, a tech entrepreneur based in Singapore who’s been dreaming of owning a Tesla electric car for years.
We tried, but Singapore govt is not supportive of electric vehicles
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 26, 2018
At first glance, Musk’s claim seems to ring true. Two years ago, a local Tesla Model S owner described the little-known challenges and steep costs of driving his electric vehicle here. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) later clarified they pegged the Tesla Model S as a gas guzzler because they were simply staying true to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe R101 standards.
“Driving an electric vehicle does not mean that you are not leaving a carbon footprint,” said LTA. “CO2 is emitted during the electricity generation process to power up the EV. This has to be taken into consideration when evaluating the carbon emission of an electric vehicle.”
But then again, the government is supportive of electric vehicles — just maybe not the ones manufactured by Tesla. Last year, Singapore’s first electric car-sharing programme was launched by French outfit BlueSG, in an agreement with the Land Transport Authority and the Economic Development Board. Subscribers are able to drive around the electric cars for a fee and park ‘em at various charging stations across the country.
This article by Business Times also points out that there has been a sharp surge in the electric car population in Singapore, with companies such as BMW, and Mitsubishi leading the push for electrification in the industry.
Razer cuts in
A day after Musk’s tweet, fellow celebrity technopreneur Min-Liang Tan chimed in to offer his help to “move things along” in Singapore. Tan has a stake in this of course — the man has a Tesla Model 3 on pre-order.
Thanks for offering to help. I will check with my team.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 28, 2018
The Singaporean chief executive of gaming hardware brand Razer is no stranger to getting involved in national matters, of course. Last year, he delivered his promise to come up with a proposal for a unified e-payment system for Singapore after an exchange on Twitter with PM Lee.
Thanks @minliangtan! Make me a proposal, and I will study it seriously.
— Lee Hsien Loong (@leehsienloong) August 23, 2017
Not long after, Razer partnered up with telco Singtel to create the largest e-payment network in Southeast Asia, with RazerPay due for launch later this year.
So if all the stars align, Tesla cars could be a common sight around these parts. We’re not keeping our out hopes up though, considering there’s a freeze on car numbers in Singapore right now.
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