Made in the USA

Found this intresting.
FORD is undoubtedly an American company. 6% Customs Fees in the USVI are applied to all products not made in the USA. A vehicle I'm intrested in (Ford Edge) is ASSEMBLED in Canada. Even though it is a product of an American company, since it's final assembly is in a Canadian factory, the 6% custom fee is applied.
HONDA is a Japanese company that produces some models in the USA. Those vehicles are not subject to the 6% fee.
Makes you think, maybe in today's "world economy" the USVI's customs rule needs to be reconsidered?

HONDA assembles them in the US to get tax breaks, since ford is a US company, it assembles them in Canada and Mexico to get employee wage breaks...

This is what a huge federal government gets you... assbackwards situations like this due to over regulation with nearly NO unintended consequences considered or worried about.

Determining an auto company's nationality based on its corporate headquarters and origin is extremely misleading. Ford is a huge multinational company, just as Honda is. Last time I checked (which I actually do periodically, since I inherited enough stock to concern myself with picky details), it was the 5th largest auto manufacturer in the world. If I try to bring a car here made by Ford Brazil, with components made or imported from elsewhere, should I consider it American made?

BTW, It's "American Honda" that assembles those American made Hondas. They do pay corporate taxes to USA for that portion of their business. I've got Honda stock, as well, so I check that too. I think the tax and tariff breaks they do get are more than compensated for by the over 29,000 (and more with peripheral business) American jobs and the tax revenue they get from that.

Not sure it's worth worrying about. Ford's a good car and will last a while. Even here.

The Trade Agreement the U.S. has with Mexico and Canada does not include the VI as territory. Hence the import tax.
The VIN gives information on where parts or assembly originates.

A tricky business indeed.
I've had several Fords over the years, Mustang, Bronco, E series vans, all great vehicles, but all made in the USA.
Very impressed by the new Edge.
Hope that holds up as well as all the others.

We live in a global economy and there is no getting around it. Corporations are now free to incorporate themselves anywhere in the world, but still trade mark themselves "American Products." Hence the added import taxes.

We all know what's going on and American's don't even want to work on American Farms anymore; most American farmers do outsourcing from neighboring countries.

The American Labor Market Pool of willing workers have diminished for some reason. I don't know the answer to this, but wish I did.......Maybe it has something to do with the failing American Dream concept and all are looking for the "better paying jobs" while leaving the American jobs for others to fulfill.

New Tesla Electric Vehicles [ 200 miles avg on a single full charge as advertised ] will be assembled in Nevada USA as announced this week to lower cost for their batteries. This will significantly lower Tesla's cost of its 2017/18 model car roll out. Est $35,000.00 this is down from what they now go for avg $70K and they have many pre-orders on their $35K proposal.

Everyone should buy Electric Cars! If Tesla can lower the price many will be willing.

USVI should be lobbying to get a re-charging station on the Islands there, because its the direction of the future. Not to mention when electric cars and bikes are on the Island there will be less need of high gas prices.

Just my personal opinion. I live in California and all are pretty excited about electric cars, solar power alternatives to lower energy costs.

I have read energy cost on USVI is high!

There is an electric car dealer on St Thomas so there must be a charging station somewhere. Why do people so often assume VI doesn't have something?

I'd be surprised if there's a charging station here yet. The cars can be plugged into a regular household outlet to charge overnight. A charging station just gets the charging done faster.

According to Plugshare there is a charging station at International Renting and Leasing at 3017 Estate Constant, Charlotte Amalie. You are correct, you can plug into your home's 120 volts, but as in my case it takes about 7.5 hours to fully charge my car's batteries. I bought a plug in station that works on 220 volts and it completes a full charge in less than 2 hours.

I generate enough energy over and above what we consume with my solar panels to easily power a Tesla. But, no, there are no free public charging stations in the Virgin Islands.

Does anyone really believe WAPA would go for that? Come on.

According to Plugshare there is a charging station at International Renting and Leasing at 3017 Estate Constant, Charlotte Amalie. You are correct, you can plug into your home's 120 volts, but as in my case it takes about 7.5 hours to fully charge my car's batteries. I bought a plug in station that works on 220 volts and it completes a full charge in less than 2 hours.

Just out of curiosity, what's the electrical cost/KwH where you live, how many Kw does a charge use and how long does a charge last?

There is a charging station in the parking lot at Emerald Beach Resort. Free?? no idea

When I bought the Ford Fusion Energi gas was at almost $4.00 gallon driving my Pathfinder getting about 16 mpg. So I thought it be a great idea to get a plug in, then gas dropped.. ouch, so know it still costs less, but no where near the savings that I thought I was going to get.
So to answer your question, we are at 11cents per KwH, depending on summer or winter, I range from 16 miles to 24 miles. I didn't realize the batteries and having to heat the car would affect it that much during our cold winters in NY. I should have completed more research.
I figure it costs about 80 cents to go 24 miles. I can almost make to work and back on one charge, so that's not to bad. The car also regenerates power to the batteries while braking as well. Being a larger car, doesn't help either, but I needed the leg room. Would I do it again? Only if I had solar power and lived in the south. I love the car and it rides amazing, especially with the batteries creating a different center of gravity, but it's not the savings I was hoping for. I do get about 40 mpg on gas when it switches over. I fill my car every 3 weeks on average (12 gallons). The new Tesla interests me though with the 120 mile run on a single charge. But have not researched it enough.

There is an electric car dealer on St Thomas so there must be a charging station somewhere. Why do people so often assume VI doesn't have something?

I guess because old timers have grown so accustomed to not being able to find something or get something on the Islands that we naturally assume you still can't get it. But that was years ago way before the Cost U Less and Home Depots came to town. Back in those days, you have Pueblo and Grand Union and that was about it except for a little grocery out in TuTu. I remember back in the late 60's and early 70's, if you waited until Saturday to do your shopping, you didn't worry about a list because what was left had already been picked over so you got what you could get and expiration dates be damned.

mike

Our current residential rate is 29.27/kWh but rates keep dropping as propane and solar come online. Doubt they'll ever go as low as the 11/kWh that you're enjoying. Gas was still around 3.50/gallon last time I looked. I imagine that even though we obviously don't need auto heating here, A/C use would also be a contributory factor to running costs. Lots of brake use here!

Just bought gas this morning.
$2.779 in STT.
You haven't bought gas for awhile, OT.

Not so much braking on STX:-) WAPA wouldn't offer free charging stations, they'd have to be sponsored by someone else with motivation. Unless--there has been consideration of using the electric car batteries as temporary storage for the grid, where they would actually feed back out to the grid when additional power was needed--that they may go for. But technology is a long ways away for that. They need to get the smart grid figured out first. On STX? May be waiting a while for that too.

Just bought gas this morning.
$2.779 in STT.
You haven't bought gas for awhile, OT.

Haven't paid attention. I overestimated as I now recall the last time I paid attention it was actually a hair under $3. I've always been really conscious of combining trips and keeping lists so I don't have to drive for 5 miles just for a bag of sugar!

New Tesla Electric Vehicles [ 200 miles avg on a single full charge as advertised ] will be assembled in Nevada USA as announced this week to lower cost for their batteries. This will significantly lower Tesla's cost of its 2017/18 model car roll out. Est $35,000.00 this is down from what they now go for avg $70K and they have many pre-orders on their $35K proposal.

Everyone should buy Electric Cars! If Tesla can lower the price many will be willing.

USVI should be lobbying to get a re-charging station on the Islands there, because its the direction of the future. Not to mention when electric cars and bikes are on the Island there will be less need of high gas prices.

The $35,000 tesla has already presold some 300,000 units... so it's a "success" already and not even one has been physically sold yet.

I think I'm the only consistent electric-only vehicle driver on the islands, STX for sure....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YW861tMRrQ
The warm weather here is concerning, I've had a couple of charging issues.. but so far so good, it's a very different way to cruse around the island... completely silent except for a slight whine.. it is the future, and the future is awesome 🙂

BTW, my bike is made by Zero ( a 100% American (Californian) company) I was not charged any import tax 😉

The new Tesla interests me though with the 120 mile run on a single charge. But have not researched it enough.

it's rated at 215miles per charge apparently.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/tesla-model-3-pre-orders-number-elon-musk-price-specs-pictures-a6966151.html

My bike goes 70miles on a charge (5.5 KWH) so that's what.. $1.60ish ?