Singapore grants a maximum tax rebate of $30,000 for electric cars, but “claws back” part of this in the form of significantly lower scrap rebates.
The Land Transport Authority also applies a grid emission factor to account for CO2 emissions during the electricity generation and distribution process. Such a factor is not applied to the production and distribution of petrol or diesel.
Singapore’s road tax treatment of these green vehicles is also controversial. A BMW i3 with a power output of 125kW is subject to an annual road tax of $1776, while a 266kW BMW i8 enjoys a lower annual road tax of $1232.
Meanwhile, a 310kW electric Tesla Model S attracts a road tax of $6202 – more than 21/2 times the amount levied on an equally powerful 309kW petrol Porsche 911 Carrera S ($2362).
In contrast, Hong Kong’s road tax for electric cars is weight-based, while the levy for conventional cars is based on engine size. A 2.2-tonne Tesla Model S 85D would attract a tax of about HK$911 (S$168), versus HK$5794 for a 1500-2500cc petrol car.
In Hong Kong, electric vehicles (EVs) are granted a waiver of the First Registration Tax – a tiered levy ranging from 40 to 115 percent of a car’s taxable value. The tax is similar to Singapore’s Additional Registration Fee (ARF, or the main car tax).
The waiver, which ends in March next year, makes an electric car like the Tesla Model S about 40 percent cheaper than a Mercedes-Benz E200. (In Singapore, a Model S is nearly 50 percent costlier than an E200.)
Businesses in Hong Kong which purchase EVs are also allowed to deduct the capital expenditure incurred under its profits tax.
There is a HK$300 million Pilot Green Transport Fund to subsidise public transport and goods vehicle owners, and HK$180 million is allocated to bus companies to trial 36 electric buses.
Tesla, which accounts for some 70 percent of electric cars in Hong Kong, offers owners a guaranteed buyback scheme at 75 percent of a car’s purchase price.
Finally, there are more than 1400 public charging stations in the territory.
With all these in place, Hong Kong’s electric car population swelled from 178 units in 2011 to 6298 in September this year, according to Hong Kong Transport Department statistics.
The latest figure translates to 1.1 percent of Hong Kong’s total car population of 579,104. In comparison, Singapore’s 129 electric cars represent a mere 0.02 percent of its total car population.
Still, with electric cars accounting for 4.8 percent of new car sales in Hong Kong last year, the territory’s EV adoption rate is far behind Norway (22.4 per cent) and the Netherlands (9.7 per cent) – countries with arguably less generous EV incentives.
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