Singapore hits back at Elon Musk, saying electric cars are a ‘lifestyle’ and mass transit better for climate
- The Tesla boss has criticised Singapore for not being supportive of electric vehicles, and it only received its first charging point at a fuel station this month
- But Singapore’s environment minister says Musk ‘wants to produce a lifestyle’ while they are interested in better solutions, such as better public transport and hydrogen vehicles
Musk has criticised the country for being slow to adopt EVs and said in a January tweet the government “has been unwelcome”. In May last year, he replied to a tweet asking when Singaporeans would be able to buy a Tesla by saying: “We tried, but Singapore govt is not supportive of electric vehicles.”
“What Elon Musk wants to produce is a lifestyle,” Zulkifli said when asked about the entrepreneur’s comments.
“We are not interested in a lifestyle. We are interested in proper solutions that will address climate problems.”
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Singapore’s trains and buses cover much of the island’s 720 square kilometres, with the newest subway routes featuring driverless carriages and several of the most-popular bus routes traversed by double-decker carriers.
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The country, with a population of about 6 million, is aiming to enhance mass transit options so that by 2040 any trip within the country will take no longer than 45 minutes.
Even though Singapore is focused on public transport, the nation is still uniquely positioned to transition to plug-ins, according to Zulkifli. That is because the state controls car ownership licences, which it gives out on a 10-year basis and could be used as an instrument of change.
“If there’s any country which can convert from petrol cars to 100% EVs, it will be Singapore,” he said. But, he added, it would be difficult to develop adequate charging stations with 85 per cent of the population living in high-density, government-supported housing.
“Just choosing a parking spot is already problematic,” Zulkifli said. “And now you want to say who gets the charging point. We do not have the solution yet.”
Singapore received its first charging point at a retail fuel station earlier this month, according to Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which plans to open nine more by October. The company commissioned a study that showed about 52 per cent of Singaporeans are deterred from buying an electric car because they think there aren’t enough places to plug in.
In Zulkifli’s estimation, hydrogen is a better long-term solution than electric vehicles for decarbonising transport, in part because of the carbon footprint from mining the metals needed to produce car batteries and the issues around their eventual disposal.
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