[Mister Dave]

The Hong Kong government's decision to scrap a tax break for electric vehicles has had a dramatic effect on sales of Tesla cars in the city, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Data analysis from The Journal has shown that zero new Tesla Model S sedans and Model X SUVs were registered with the transport department in April, after the vehicle-registration tax waiver for electrics was discontinued at the start of that month.

Following that, just five privately owned electric cars were registered in May.

http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-sales-stopped-in-hong-kong-tax-break-for-electric-cars-scrapped-2017-7

A year ago Musk said Hong Kong would be the 'beacon city' for electric cars.

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/may/26/elon-musk-hong-kong-electric-cars-beacon-city

 

[llninja]

with a 40%-115% tax on personal vehicles, of course people are running away. The tax break made the Tesla into a bargain compared to similarly priced Mercedes, BMWs, Jaguars, etc. This high tax is necessary to discourage people from flooding the crowded streets with even more cars. NYC, LA, Chicago, and Dallas should consider doing similar things to reduce the traffic jams.

http://www.td.gov.hk/en/public_serv...mportation_and_registration_of_mot/index.html

 

[Mister Dave]

NYC, LA, Chicago, and Dallas should consider doing similar things to reduce the traffic jams.

All a city tax does is drive business outside of the city. This in turn raises the unemployment rate in that city, and lowers its tax revenues.

http://www.nber.org/digest/feb04/w9686.html

The bigger concern here should be a slump in EV sales when government incentives dry up. You yourself have lamented Illinois' suspension of the EV rebate.

As I understand it, as with Denmark, China's withdrawal from EV incentives is putting the hurt on sales. In the US the price difference is negligible compared with these two countries, so we may not see such dramatic drops.

 

[llninja]

Yes, I lamented the loss of the IL EV rebate, but it didn't affect my purchasing habits as I got my rebate in under the wire.

Governments have introduced incentives or taxes to steer people towards or away from behaviors (solar, energy efficiency, smoking, gas guzzling luxury cars). I worry that the early adopters (GM, Tesla, Nissan, Toyota) will get punished by the latecomers (VW, Ford, Volvo) as battery tech improves, prices drop, and fed tax credit limits are used up. I'm still waiting for an affordable SUV/CUV PHEV. I was almost resigned to getting a Silverado or Subyukonade, but now I'm leaning towards a diesel Land Rover (amazing towing capacity, seating for 7, and cargo with seating for 5).