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In Singapore they have monopoly on car servicing and distribution. C&C takes care of Benz and Performance motor for BMW. Then Japanese and Korean cars are also

In Singapore they have monopoly on car servicing and distribution. C&C takes care of Benz and Performance motor for BMW. Then Japanese and Korean cars are also by single distributor entities. They control the price and the market. Also Oil and Gas is core industry for Singapore economy. So when anyone fills gas it helps government revenues and generate jobs. Climate is not the primary concern given the small footprint of Singapore. Also if Tesla comes in Singapore as it is perfect place for its range BMW, Benz which are the primary brands will suffer heavily. Also thousands of jobs repairing gasoline engine, oils, filters will be lost. Since electrical car do not have as many mechanical moving parts as traditional gasoline car it will reduce maintenance costs and car servicing and parts related business. So Singapore won't let Tesla setup up easily. It will be taxed higher than other electrical car companies which works on fringes and do not threaten the oil and gas related automobile jobs and taxes.

agent008t 7y ago
>Climate is not the primary concern given the small footprint of Singapore. I would have thought that given its geographical location, climate would in fact be a primary concern of Singapore. So why is it not? One could hardly accuse Singaporean government of short-sightedness.
- dragonsh 7y ago
  Car in Singapore is already more expensive than a house in USA. So numbers are already limited. So emissions produced by them is not as bad as other large cities in Asia. One more point is that majority of the cars are discarded when they finish 10 years. So newer car with better technology produce lesser emissions. Singapore government is far sighted that's the reason they focus more on public transportation.
  - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
    The cars are not really discarded after 10 years, they just wind up in Malaysia or Indonesia. That impact should be considered as well.
- input_sh 7y ago
  > ...climate would in fact be a primary concern of Singapore. So why is it not? Literally the second sentence in an article that was submitted: > The city-state, which has said its efforts to cope with climate change are as crucial as military defense, has prioritized greater use of its trains and buses, Masagos Zulkifli, minister for environment and water resources, said in an interview Wednesday.
  - agent008t 7y ago
    But climate change is global, not local. So it would seem that worldwide adoption of electric cars would be in Singapore's national interest, assuming they genuinely see an existential threat to Singapore from climate change. And yet, they make statements like this which seem counterproductive. So, why?
    - adamors 7y ago
      It's in TFA. In their opinion good public transport has a much larger impact on climate change than personal cars. Which has been proven to be the case countless times.
    - input_sh 7y ago
      > But climate change is global, not local. And Singapore can't do shit to the way the rest of the world combats climate. It can have an impact within its own borders. It (correctly) identified that the public transport makes more sense in a city-state. It incentivizes public transport while de-incentivizing car ownership in general (electric or not) because there's not enough space for the supporting infrastructure. You'd learn all of this and more by reading the article before commenting.
    - SuoDuanDao 7y ago
      I would guess Singapore wants to encourage a local electric vehicle industry and will shelter it from competition in the early years.
      - k3nt0456 7y ago
- gquiniou 7y ago
  It is a priority because the country is threatened by rising sea level (about one third of the country is on reclaimed land).
dominicr 7y ago
I think the control of Singapore's cars is a reason why they can make a shift away from petrol/diesel cars, not against it. Electric vehicles primarily move pollution from the daily usage in dense urban areas, to remote production and recycling. For Singapore this is ideal as it means cleaner air. The local environment is very much a concern for Singapore. The market effect on BMW, Mercedes, etc... is probably not much of a concern on them as most car manufacturers are introducing electric models, with BMW having a major share of the electric car market in some places. Tesla currently has a good market share in the prestige range but that is decreasing. The oil & gas companies are also getting in on the act, so they're reducing the impact on the introduction of electric cars. The first charging station in Singapore is in Shell petrol station. They might prefer hydrogen fuel cell cars as it maintains the need for their distribution network, but they'll adapt either way. As to maintenance, Tesla's quality issues mean there's no shortage of work. I used to live near a Tesla workshop and it was always overfull with cars needing expensive repairs.
- dragonsh 7y ago
  > The market effect on BMW, Mercedes, etc... It will have an impact, moreover for BMW and BENZ electrical line up to come close to Tesla in quality, range, reliability might take another decade. > Oil and gas industry Singapore oil tax is not same as electricity. Moreover electrical charging station is not a competitive advantage any decent company do it, indeed blueSG and SP Utilities have more charging station than Shell in Singapore. EV and Tesla will affect this industry directly. > Maintenance In general, AEVs require less maintenance than conventional vehicles because there are usually fewer fluids (like oil and transmission fluid) to change and far fewer moving parts.[1] [1] https://www.energy.gov/eere/electricvehicles/electric-car-safety-maintenance-and-battery-life https://www.energy.gov/eere/electricvehicles/electric-car-sa...
  - dominicr 7y ago
    > for BMW and BENZ electrical line up to come close to Tesla in quality, range, reliability might take another decade Whilst I admire Tesla's ambition, the work they've done to advance electric cars, plus they certainly make nice cars, a lot of people fail to see Tesla's fallibility and the potentially weak position they're actually in. - BMW plans to have 25 models with some battery capabilities by 2023, at least 4 all electric. Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) are aiming for 10 all-electric models by then. - On dollar for mile range basis most manufacturers are catching up with Tesla with their new models (or are premium Jaguars, where that's less of a factor). The Chevy Bolt is about equal to the (yet to be released) standard Model 3 in price and range. - Consumer Reports in the US calls Tesla's reliability "weak" and does not recommend the Model 3. - Legacy car manufacturers can scale up the bulk of the manufacturing process for an electric car quicker than Tesla, which is still struggling to run a production line that meets expectations. I like Tesla but it is by no means the clear winner of the electric vehicle race.
bouncycastle 7y ago
Singapore already has an excellent public transport system (such as the electrified subway & light rail), so the "threatening the oil and gas industry" theory doesn't make sense. Owning a private vehicle is in fact usually a status symbol there. Source https://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/31/asia/singapore-cars/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/31/asia/singapore-cars/index...
- dzhiurgis 7y ago
  So what. Just because they have good public transport system they don't seem to be urging to ban cars. Cars will exist and it's way better to have them electric than gasoline. They don't seem to be in any urge to get electric buses either.
  - Barrin92 7y ago
    >They don't seem to be in any urge to get electric buses either. In that very article we are commenting on is a photo of an autonomous electric bus being tested at Nanyang university and as the article points out they're planning to build out an extensive bus and train network throughout the city up until 2040, to shorten any trip from A to b down to 45 minutes. Singapore is very much in the e-mobility business, they're just not in the habit of encouraging every citizen to carry around two tons of steel wherever they go.
  - Arnt 7y ago
    Uhm, Singapore not banning cars? Wasn't there some news recently... and the top search result is https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=377d8c25-638e-4f53-956e-53fd1a43e67c https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=377d8c25-6..., which starts "In line with Singapore’s move towards a car-lite society, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will introduce" and goes on to describe with various new rules. Singapore is also one of the places where paying money isn't enough to buy a car. You have to purchase a license to drive that car, which currently costs about €25000 for a ten-year, one-car license, and you have to show that license when you buy the car. https://dollarsandsense.sg/complete-guide-buying-car-singapore/ https://dollarsandsense.sg/complete-guide-buying-car-singapo... FYI.
mrtksn 7y ago
So you say that it's a conspiracy? The first line reads: Taking mass transit is a better climate-change solution than tooling around in one of his Tesla vehicles. I don't know, I can't really see how this can be a conspiracy aganinst Tesla by BMW and others when they argue that it is better to use mass transit that also runs on electricity. How can anybody argue that it is more efficient to transfer people in 2 tons, 3 metres long 2 metres wide boxes with chemical batteries instead of much more denser electric systems like metro trains and no chemical batteries. I like what Tesla is doing to the car industry, I want dinosaur smoke out of my living space ASAP but please stop gunning towards public transport. Poblic transport is great and it doesn't make any sense whatsoever to replace it with private vehicles no matter how dinosaur free they are. So yes, electric cars are a lifestyle choice. Maybe a health choice too if we are to ban the fossil fuel from the cities. I recall Elon Musk bad-mouthing public transport but public transport is great and cannot be replaced by Tesla vehicles. Maybe he will finally come to that realization when Hyperloop's final version inludes ride-sharing :) I cannot wait for fancy looking metro syst... I mean Hyperloop ride sharing.
computerex 7y ago
Your argument is speculative at best and ad hominem at worst. > Also if Tesla comes in Singapore as it is perfect place for its range BMW, Benz which are the primary brands will suffer heavily. Citation needed. Model 3 has performed very poorly beyond initial demand from early adopters/fans. > Since electrical car do not have as many mechanical moving parts as traditional gasoline car it will reduce maintenance costs and car servicing and parts related business. And yet Tesla repair and maintenance costs are astronomical.
Allower 7y ago
>Also thousands of jobs repairing gasoline engine, oils, filters will be lost. Since electrical car do not have as many mechanical moving parts as traditional gasoline car it will reduce maintenance costs and car servicing and parts related business. Sounds great, lots of available labor to put toward improving peoples lives instead of perpetuating a less efficient, more damaging system. Sounds like these people arguing for a lose-lose scenario.
zemnmez 7y ago
it is ridiculously expensive to drive in Singapore. The saying is always that the license to drive a car in Singapore can cost twice what you paid for the car itself. As a result, driving is an absolute luxury. For its population of 5.6 million, there are only 600,000 cars licensed to drive on Singaporean roads[1]. Even if all of those cars started running on electricity it would be a drop in the ocean compared to the ~ 68,100,000 tons of oil SG exports[2]. [1] https://money.cnn.com/2017/10/24/news/singapore-car-numbers-limit/index.html https://money.cnn.com/2017/10/24/news/singapore-car-numbers-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_industry_in_Singapore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_industry_in_Singapore

agent008t 7y ago

>Climate is not the primary concern given the small footprint of Singapore. I would have thought that given its geographical location, climate would in fact be a primary concern of Singapore. So why is it not? One could hardly accuse Singaporean government of short-sightedness.

dragonsh 7y ago
Car in Singapore is already more expensive than a house in USA. So numbers are already limited. So emissions produced by them is not as bad as other large cities in Asia. One more point is that majority of the cars are discarded when they finish 10 years. So newer car with better technology produce lesser emissions. Singapore government is far sighted that's the reason they focus more on public transportation.
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  The cars are not really discarded after 10 years, they just wind up in Malaysia or Indonesia. That impact should be considered as well.
input_sh 7y ago
> ...climate would in fact be a primary concern of Singapore. So why is it not? Literally the second sentence in an article that was submitted: > The city-state, which has said its efforts to cope with climate change are as crucial as military defense, has prioritized greater use of its trains and buses, Masagos Zulkifli, minister for environment and water resources, said in an interview Wednesday.
- agent008t 7y ago
  But climate change is global, not local. So it would seem that worldwide adoption of electric cars would be in Singapore's national interest, assuming they genuinely see an existential threat to Singapore from climate change. And yet, they make statements like this which seem counterproductive. So, why?
  - adamors 7y ago
    It's in TFA. In their opinion good public transport has a much larger impact on climate change than personal cars. Which has been proven to be the case countless times.
  - input_sh 7y ago
    > But climate change is global, not local. And Singapore can't do shit to the way the rest of the world combats climate. It can have an impact within its own borders. It (correctly) identified that the public transport makes more sense in a city-state. It incentivizes public transport while de-incentivizing car ownership in general (electric or not) because there's not enough space for the supporting infrastructure. You'd learn all of this and more by reading the article before commenting.
  - SuoDuanDao 7y ago
    I would guess Singapore wants to encourage a local electric vehicle industry and will shelter it from competition in the early years.
    - k3nt0456 7y ago
gquiniou 7y ago
It is a priority because the country is threatened by rising sea level (about one third of the country is on reclaimed land).

dominicr 7y ago

I think the control of Singapore's cars is a reason why they can make a shift away from petrol/diesel cars, not against it. Electric vehicles primarily move pollution from the daily usage in dense urban areas, to remote production and recycling. For Singapore this is ideal as it means cleaner air. The local environment is very much a concern for Singapore. The market effect on BMW, Mercedes, etc... is probably not much of a concern on them as most car manufacturers are introducing electric models, with BMW having a major share of the electric car market in some places. Tesla currently has a good market share in the prestige range but that is decreasing. The oil & gas companies are also getting in on the act, so they're reducing the impact on the introduction of electric cars. The first charging station in Singapore is in Shell petrol station. They might prefer hydrogen fuel cell cars as it maintains the need for their distribution network, but they'll adapt either way. As to maintenance, Tesla's quality issues mean there's no shortage of work. I used to live near a Tesla workshop and it was always overfull with cars needing expensive repairs.

dragonsh 7y ago
> The market effect on BMW, Mercedes, etc... It will have an impact, moreover for BMW and BENZ electrical line up to come close to Tesla in quality, range, reliability might take another decade. > Oil and gas industry Singapore oil tax is not same as electricity. Moreover electrical charging station is not a competitive advantage any decent company do it, indeed blueSG and SP Utilities have more charging station than Shell in Singapore. EV and Tesla will affect this industry directly. > Maintenance In general, AEVs require less maintenance than conventional vehicles because there are usually fewer fluids (like oil and transmission fluid) to change and far fewer moving parts.[1] [1] https://www.energy.gov/eere/electricvehicles/electric-car-safety-maintenance-and-battery-life https://www.energy.gov/eere/electricvehicles/electric-car-sa...
- dominicr 7y ago
  > for BMW and BENZ electrical line up to come close to Tesla in quality, range, reliability might take another decade Whilst I admire Tesla's ambition, the work they've done to advance electric cars, plus they certainly make nice cars, a lot of people fail to see Tesla's fallibility and the potentially weak position they're actually in. - BMW plans to have 25 models with some battery capabilities by 2023, at least 4 all electric. Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) are aiming for 10 all-electric models by then. - On dollar for mile range basis most manufacturers are catching up with Tesla with their new models (or are premium Jaguars, where that's less of a factor). The Chevy Bolt is about equal to the (yet to be released) standard Model 3 in price and range. - Consumer Reports in the US calls Tesla's reliability "weak" and does not recommend the Model 3. - Legacy car manufacturers can scale up the bulk of the manufacturing process for an electric car quicker than Tesla, which is still struggling to run a production line that meets expectations. I like Tesla but it is by no means the clear winner of the electric vehicle race.

bouncycastle 7y ago

Singapore already has an excellent public transport system (such as the electrified subway & light rail), so the "threatening the oil and gas industry" theory doesn't make sense. Owning a private vehicle is in fact usually a status symbol there. Source https://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/31/asia/singapore-cars/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/31/asia/singapore-cars/index...

dzhiurgis 7y ago
So what. Just because they have good public transport system they don't seem to be urging to ban cars. Cars will exist and it's way better to have them electric than gasoline. They don't seem to be in any urge to get electric buses either.
- Barrin92 7y ago
  >They don't seem to be in any urge to get electric buses either. In that very article we are commenting on is a photo of an autonomous electric bus being tested at Nanyang university and as the article points out they're planning to build out an extensive bus and train network throughout the city up until 2040, to shorten any trip from A to b down to 45 minutes. Singapore is very much in the e-mobility business, they're just not in the habit of encouraging every citizen to carry around two tons of steel wherever they go.
- Arnt 7y ago
  Uhm, Singapore not banning cars? Wasn't there some news recently... and the top search result is https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=377d8c25-638e-4f53-956e-53fd1a43e67c https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=377d8c25-6..., which starts "In line with Singapore’s move towards a car-lite society, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will introduce" and goes on to describe with various new rules. Singapore is also one of the places where paying money isn't enough to buy a car. You have to purchase a license to drive that car, which currently costs about €25000 for a ten-year, one-car license, and you have to show that license when you buy the car. https://dollarsandsense.sg/complete-guide-buying-car-singapore/ https://dollarsandsense.sg/complete-guide-buying-car-singapo... FYI.

mrtksn 7y ago

So you say that it's a conspiracy? The first line reads: Taking mass transit is a better climate-change solution than tooling around in one of his Tesla vehicles. I don't know, I can't really see how this can be a conspiracy aganinst Tesla by BMW and others when they argue that it is better to use mass transit that also runs on electricity. How can anybody argue that it is more efficient to transfer people in 2 tons, 3 metres long 2 metres wide boxes with chemical batteries instead of much more denser electric systems like metro trains and no chemical batteries. I like what Tesla is doing to the car industry, I want dinosaur smoke out of my living space ASAP but please stop gunning towards public transport. Poblic transport is great and it doesn't make any sense whatsoever to replace it with private vehicles no matter how dinosaur free they are. So yes, electric cars are a lifestyle choice. Maybe a health choice too if we are to ban the fossil fuel from the cities. I recall Elon Musk bad-mouthing public transport but public transport is great and cannot be replaced by Tesla vehicles. Maybe he will finally come to that realization when Hyperloop's final version inludes ride-sharing :) I cannot wait for fancy looking metro syst... I mean Hyperloop ride sharing.

computerex 7y ago

Your argument is speculative at best and ad hominem at worst. > Also if Tesla comes in Singapore as it is perfect place for its range BMW, Benz which are the primary brands will suffer heavily. Citation needed. Model 3 has performed very poorly beyond initial demand from early adopters/fans. > Since electrical car do not have as many mechanical moving parts as traditional gasoline car it will reduce maintenance costs and car servicing and parts related business. And yet Tesla repair and maintenance costs are astronomical.

Allower 7y ago

>Also thousands of jobs repairing gasoline engine, oils, filters will be lost. Since electrical car do not have as many mechanical moving parts as traditional gasoline car it will reduce maintenance costs and car servicing and parts related business. Sounds great, lots of available labor to put toward improving peoples lives instead of perpetuating a less efficient, more damaging system. Sounds like these people arguing for a lose-lose scenario.

zemnmez 7y ago

it is ridiculously expensive to drive in Singapore. The saying is always that the license to drive a car in Singapore can cost twice what you paid for the car itself. As a result, driving is an absolute luxury. For its population of 5.6 million, there are only 600,000 cars licensed to drive on Singaporean roads[1]. Even if all of those cars started running on electricity it would be a drop in the ocean compared to the ~ 68,100,000 tons of oil SG exports[2]. [1] https://money.cnn.com/2017/10/24/news/singapore-car-numbers-limit/index.html https://money.cnn.com/2017/10/24/news/singapore-car-numbers-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_industry_in_Singapore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_industry_in_Singapore