If you got upset at me for pointing out that more people died of Covid under Biden than Trump, in large part because Biden rolled back common sense restrictions that were in place under Trump...
Then you'll hate me pointing out that Trump introduced a 25% tariff on Chinese EVs, and Biden is upping that to 100% tariff.
https://insideevs.com/news/719283/chinese-ev-tariffs-biden-quadruple/
We can't allow the US to get off of fossil fuels... unless US billionaires win!
Fear the BYD Dolphin! (an EV car for $12K)
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/T3nfyO_UHjk
The US hasn't even tried to make an ultra affordable EV. Not even an attempt!
Instead, we make Cybertrucks that no one wants, and then work the refs to kneecap better, smarter companies, to try and prevent anyone else from being successful at doing it.
Every day, I hear people prattle on about how the US Venture Capital industry is so innovative and forward-looking. Yet of all the billions spent (wasted), none of them were smart enough to fund a company making ultra low cost EVs.
Ultra low cost EVs will be the vast majority of all cars sold in the world by 2060. Look at how big the global auto industry is! That's a huge opportunity! And almost every US VC passed on it!
Warren Buffett was smart enough to see where this was all headed, and invested heavily in BYD back in the day. But Berkshire Hathaway is more of a private equity / diversified holding company, than a VC.
18 percent of all cars sold worldwide in 2023 were EVs.
https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024/executive-summary
But in the US, it's only 6.5%.
https://www.edmunds.com/electric-car/articles/percentage-of-electric-cars-in-us.html
Why? Because Americans are by and large offered the most expensive EVs.
Those of us with more modest means get priced out, and the more affordable EVs aren't allowed into the US.
Because profits.
@CelloMomOnCars @mekkaokereke
Sales prices of new cars are not a good explanation for why EV market share is so low in America, because Americans are buying expensive ICE vehicles.
The economics are even less of an excuse in terms of the all-in cost, including fuel and maintenance.
Unfortunately Americans are carbrains incapable of acknowledging any of the harms of their lifestyle choices, especially the rich ones who are buying new vehicles.
Most Americans aren't rich. Most Americans could not afford a Cybertruck or Model S, even if they wanted one.
Consider a 22 year old woman that needs to buy a car to work. She only has a budget of $15K to buy a car. She's scared of used cars, because she's lost a job before when her car needed expensive repairs that she couldn't afford. Which car should she buy?
In Australia or Brazil, she could buy a new EV. In the US, she can't.
@mekkaokereke @WeeDramAtic @CelloMomOnCars wonder if car prices are higher in the US because there is frequently no safe alternative
@luxmoore @mekkaokereke @WeeDramAtic
I think having a captive audience in a Drive Or Die society helps you sell cars period. And I suppose you could in that case get away with leaving the smallest cars out of your lineup, because people must buy *a* car anyway.
But American lawmakers have been complicit in that outcome for decades.
David Zipper: "The reckless policies that helped fill our streets with ridiculously large cars"
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24139147/suvs-trucks-popularity-federal-policy-pollution
@CelloMomOnCars @mekkaokereke @WeeDramAtic there are multiple factors for sure including the light truck BS. However, you couldn't get away with larger more expensive lineups if there was the real possibility of low end disruption.