We’ve all seen them cruising silently around Sai Kung, but is the government’s tax increase the end of the line for the electric vehicle boom? In an announcement that will have shaken many car owners in Sai Kung thinking of changing over to an electric vehicle (EV), on 22 February, in his maiden budget address, the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan Mo Po, announced that the first registration tax (FRT) concessions for private electric vehicles (EVs) for the period from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018 would be capped at $97,500.
As at the end of January there were 7,434 electric vehicles on the road among more than 810,000 registered vehicles, up from less than 100 at the end of 2010, and from looking around Sai Kung, many of them on our roads.
From April 1, a Tesla Model S, which costs HK$800,000 under the current full tax waiver, will now set buyers back about HK$1.5 million. A BMW i3, currently HK$430,000, will cost HK$635,000.
Clearly, the manufacturers and potential buyers of EVs are not happy. And neither are the environmentalists. As part of their campaign to get the FS to change his mind, one of the campaigning groups, electrify hong kong – https://www.facebook.com/electrifyhk/ – are running an online survey for both electric and petrol/diesel car owners to determine the impact of this change. The results will be communicated to legislators as well as government departments. You can take the survey at https://goo.gl/forms/gxC8JfY6ED4yAfhb2
Buzz spoke to Clearwater Bay resident Mark Webb-Johnson, Chairman of Charged.HK. Mark told us that for many in Hong Kong, a private car is a luxury. But for residents of Sai Kung’s remote villages, and many parts of the New Territories, public transport is significantly less reachable. These vehicle ownership taxes unfairly disadvantage such residents.
“Whilst the majority in Hong Kong experience difficulties installing charging facilities for Electric Vehicles, we in Sai Kung are generally fortunate to have an easier time. That, along with the FRT incentive, has resulted in a tremendous switch from petrol/diesel to electric vehicles in the Sai Kung area. It is disappointing to see that end with our Government’s withdrawal of support”.
According to Mark, backed up by Gordon Lam, Chairman of EV Club Hong Kong, the FRT waiver was successful in persuading people to switch to electric, without disproportionally affecting the growth in numbers of vehicles. Abandoning that policy will simply increase the number of polluting petrol vehicles on our roads. It would be more effective to limit the growth of the 99% that are petrol/diesel, without stunting the growth of the 1% that are Electric Vehicles (perhaps by a tax based on emissions, along with FRT waiver for car owners who switch from petrol/diesel to electric vehicles).
Last year our air pollution resulted in 1,686 premature deaths, 113,000 hospital bed days, and 2.6m doctor visits – with a total economic loss of HK$21 billion. Nothing in this budget adequately addresses these issues.
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