Singapore minister criticizes tesla for pushing ‘lifestyle’ over climate

In January, Tesla CEO Elon Musk accused the government of Singapore of being ‘unsupportive’ of a shift to electric vehicles. Now, the Singaporean minister for the environment fired back in a statement that accuses Musk and Tesla of wanting to promote a lifestyle over actual solutions to climate problems.

“What Elon Musk wants to produce is a lifestyle,” minister Masagos Zulkifli said on Wednesday. “We are not interested in a lifestyle. We are interested in proper solutions that will address climate problems.”

Masagos stated that while it would be possible for Singapore to convert entirely from fossil fuels to electric vehicles, the infrastructure needed to support those vehicles would be hard to develop when 85% of Singapore’s population lives densely packed in urban areas.

According to a study by Royal Dutch Shell, which maintains Singapore’s first charging station and plans for nine more, 52% of Singaporeans avoid electric cars due to concerns about having places to recharge.

Additionally, the vast majority of Singapore’s electricity comes from high carbon sources, and the 720 square kilometer island has little room for the development of alternative power sources.

Mass transit, particularly trains and buses, have been a focus of Singapore’s development in recent years, with such options aimed at reducing travel time to any point on the island to 45 minutes by 2040.

Singapore also has strict limits on the number of vehicles allowed onto its roads, and in 2017 banned any growth in that number, a decision which is up for review in 2020.