Horace Luke wanted to be the first person in Taiwan with a Tesla Model S when the gorgeous electric sedan debuted in 2012. Luke, the former chief innovation officer at smartphone maker HTC, is obsessed with beauty and function in all things. But his beloved Teslas were not sold in Taiwan (and still aren’t). He thought about importing one, but his girlfriend finally talked him out of it. With no home garage to charge it in, he’d have to juice it at the office and thus wouldn’t have use of it on the weekends.
Teslas and other electric sedans may be gaining ground in the U.S., where roomy garages are the norm, but Asia’s booming urban centers present a hostile environment for the clean car revolution. The cost of a Tesla is way out of the reach of the masses, and for the rising middle class in cramped apartment towers there are few good places to charge the cars, let alone park them.