Guy in Singapore forced to pay $15 000 for tax on imported tesla, Elon Musk intervenes and contact t - Polidicks

[QUOTE]Last week, we wrote about an IT-professional who's the only legal person to drive a Tesla in Singapore. Joe Nguyen purchased a Tesla Model S from Hong Kong more than a year ago. Much to his dismay, he had to forked out a whopping $15,000 tax for having a non-fuel-efficient car. The long and arduous process that Nguyen went through has caused a major uproar in Singapore. Last Friday, 22-year-old Valdric Lim, who has caught wind of the situation, tweeted his frustration to Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk. The good news? Elon Musk replied to his tweet.[/QUOTE] See more at: [url]http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/elon-musk-claims-pm-lee-would-investigate-singapores-tesla-situation#sthash.fzKlaApA.dpuf[/url] That's how ridiculous it is to live here [editline]8th March 2016[/editline] Also, a prius cost 150k Excluding the COE

[QUOTE=usaokay;49888639]As Elon Musk gives out a long presentation about why a Tesla is the greatest thing ever, the Singapore Prime Minster lets out a long sigh, aching stands up after three hours of listening to Musk, and says to him in slightly broken English, "Nguyen."[/QUOTE] As stupid as I think this whole situation on electric vehicles is, I feel obliged to point out that our Prime Minister speaks perfect English, has a degree from Cambridge, and in fact was Senior Wrangler for his year.

Before anyone freaks out too badly, keep in mind that the way the S's emissions were calculated were based not on what [I]it[/I] emits, which is zero, but what the grid itself emits in CO2 in order to charge it. Which based on their numbers was equivalent to a V6, and taxed as such. Yes its silly, but its not some conspiracy to destroy Tesla in singapore.

[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;49889174]Before anyone freaks out too badly, keep in mind that the way the S's emissions were calculated were based not on what [I]it[/I] emits, which is zero, but what the grid itself emits in CO2 in order to charge it. Which based on their numbers was equivalent to a V6, and taxed as such. Yes its silly, but its not some conspiracy to destroy Tesla in singapore.[/QUOTE] also the average yearly income in Singapore is $100,000 vs the $50,000 yearly average in the US.

[QUOTE=Foda;49889242]also the average yearly income in Singapore is $100,000 vs the $50,000 yearly average in the US.[/QUOTE] you do realize this does not mean anything significant right a loaf of bread might be 6$

[QUOTE=Foda;49889242]also the average yearly income in Singapore is $100,000 vs the $50,000 yearly average in the US.[/QUOTE] That's S$100,000, which is about US$72,000, and it's the median family income. Income inequality in Singapore is pretty high so you end up having a good number of people earning fairly little. Daily cost of living (e.g. food, water, electricity) isn't high, but house and car prices are onerous. If you go for public housing, a new 3-room, 780 sqft apartment that is roughly 20-30 minutes away from the city centre (by public transport) will cost S$300,000 (US$217,000). An equivalent 5-room, 1,100 sqft apartment will set you back S$500,000 (US$361,000). Private housing is even worse. Condominiums go for anywhere between S$1,000 to S$2,500 per sqft. A decently sized condominium apartment in a decent location will cost roughly S$1.1 to S$1.6 million (US$795,000 to US$1.16 million). Houses cost upwards of S$2 million (US$1.45 million), all the way up to S$30 million (US$21.7 million). Cars are subject to a registration fee equivalent to a progressive tax of 100 to 180 percent of the import value of the car. On top of this, one must have a Certificate of Entitlement (COE), which allows one to drive a car in the first place. This costs around S$50,000. All this leads to pretty eye-watering prices for cars in Singapore: BMW 520i: S$272,000 (US$197,000) Mercedes-Benz S400L: S$480,000 (US$347,000) Range Rover 5.0 V8 Vogue: S$747,000 (US$540,000) Ferrari 488 GTB: S$1 million (US$723,000) Rolls-Royce Ghost: S$1.73 million (US$1.25 million) It's pretty expensive to live here.

The tax for Model S here is 17000€ / ~18760 dollars (for the cheapest version you can get) and 24500€ / ~27030 dollars for the performance-version. Around 100k€ / 110321 dollars either way. And this is if you order directly from Tesla. I bet it's even more if you use one of the local stores here. I want a Tesla but I can never, EVER afford one.

[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;49889174]Before anyone freaks out too badly, keep in mind that the way the S's emissions were calculated were based not on what [I]it[/I] emits, which is zero, but what the grid itself emits in CO2 in order to charge it. Which based on their numbers was equivalent to a V6, and taxed as such. Yes its silly, but its not some conspiracy to destroy Tesla in singapore.[/QUOTE] They also calculated that with the Model S consuming double what other governments have tested it to consume. 440 Wh/km is insane. I don't know how they would make a Model S consume that much unless they left the AC on, turned off regen and just floored it for ages.

[QUOTE=Headhumpy;49889858]That's S$100,000, which is about US$72,000, and it's the median family income. Income inequality in Singapore is pretty high so you end up having a good number of people earning fairly little. Daily cost of living (e.g. food, water, electricity) isn't high, but house and car prices are onerous. If you go for public housing, a new 3-room, 780 sqft apartment that is roughly 20-30 minutes away from the city centre (by public transport) will cost S$300,000 (US$217,000). An equivalent 5-room, 1,100 sqft apartment will set you back S$500,000 (US$361,000). Private housing is even worse. Condominiums go for anywhere between S$1,000 to S$2,500 per sqft. A decently sized condominium apartment in a decent location will cost roughly S$1.1 to S$1.6 million (US$795,000 to US$1.16 million). Houses cost upwards of S$2 million (US$1.45 million), all the way up to S$30 million (US$21.7 million). Cars are subject to a registration fee equivalent to a progressive tax of 100 to 180 percent of the import value of the car. On top of this, one must have a Certificate of Entitlement (COE), which allows one to drive a car in the first place. This costs around S$50,000. All this leads to pretty eye-watering prices for cars in Singapore: BMW 520i: S$272,000 (US$197,000) Mercedes-Benz S400L: S$480,000 (US$347,000) Range Rover 5.0 V8 Vogue: S$747,000 (US$540,000) Ferrari 488 GTB: S$1 million (US$723,000) Rolls-Royce Ghost: S$1.73 million (US$1.25 million) It's pretty expensive to live here.[/QUOTE] But if cars were actually affordable traffic would be a pain in Singapore, isn't that the whole point of this tax and these certificates? The MRT is good and taxis are relatively cheap plus the whole place isn't so big so you don't really need a car.

[QUOTE=Morgen;49891639]They also calculated that with the Model S consuming double what other governments have tested it to consume. 440 Wh/km is insane. I don't know how they would make a Model S consume that much unless they left the AC on, turned off regen and just floored it for ages.[/QUOTE] Its entirely possible they did, in order to calculate its worst case consumption. I mean, dyno emissions testing is done with the car being held at certain RPMs for several stages of like, 20 seconds each.

[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;49889174]Before anyone freaks out too badly, keep in mind that the way the S's emissions were calculated were based not on what [I]it[/I] emits, which is zero, but what the grid itself emits in CO2 in order to charge it. Which based on their numbers was equivalent to a V6, and taxed as such. Yes its silly, but its not some conspiracy to destroy Tesla in singapore.[/QUOTE] That's retarded. You don't include the emissions from the entire petroleum industry from drilling to refining in the calculations for the emissions of a regular vehicle why the fuck would you include the emissions of power generating stations for the tesla? It's supposed to be an indicator of what the VEHICLE emits, nothing else. The Tesla emits nothing it has literally the best possible emission scores.

[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;49891705]Its entirely possible they did, in order to calculate its worst case consumption. I mean, dyno emissions testing is done with the car being held at certain RPMs for several stages of like, 20 seconds each.[/QUOTE] Yeah, a lot of tests conducted for emissions really aren't representative of real life conditions at all, which can also be a point to consider in the VW scandal

[QUOTE]he had to forked out a whopping $15,000 tax for having a non-fuel-efficient car.[/QUOTE] I dunno, using exactly zero litres of fuel per mile sounds pretty efficient to me.

[QUOTE=Snoberry Tea;49891929]That's retarded. You don't include the emissions from the entire petroleum industry from drilling to refining in the calculations for the emissions of a regular vehicle why the fuck would you include the emissions of power generating stations for the tesla? It's supposed to be an indicator of what the VEHICLE emits, nothing else. The Tesla emits nothing it has literally the best possible emission scores.[/QUOTE] Oh I agree, I just posted that so that people didn't freak out [I]too[/I] badly. Still retarded.

[QUOTE=ScottyWired;49891992]I dunno, using exactly zero litres of fuel per mile sounds pretty efficient to me.[/QUOTE] Sure it may be using no fuel at the car side, but it still needs to get it's energy from some place. Singapore does not really have much renewable energy sources, she's still using natural gas (Non-renewable energy) to generate most of it's electricity. It's just that Tesla car point of emission moved to the power plant, instead of the car itself. (which is a good thing considering power plants are generally more efficient and pollutants are easily monitored and controlled)

[QUOTE=Snoberry Tea;49891929]That's retarded. You don't include the emissions from the entire petroleum industry from drilling to refining in the calculations for the emissions of a regular vehicle why the fuck would you include the emissions of power generating stations for the tesla? It's supposed to be an indicator of what the VEHICLE emits, nothing else. The Tesla emits nothing it has literally the best possible emission scores.[/QUOTE] I full on agree with Snoberry, especially as we're getting more and more green energy these days so there's practically no CO2 at all, which means even if it was calculated properly then it'd still be next to nothing in CO2 output.