Electric vehicle demand is collapsing with the expiration of the tax credit.. While EVs were never going to be the silver bullet, it is remarkable how–its appears to me–that the mainstream conversation around climate change has evaporated. Or maybe I’m just missing it.
@todd It sure would be nice to have functional public transportation and safe bicycle infrastructure in Indiana…
@jabel While politicians aren’t talking about it, I think people continue to, especially after Bill McKibben’s great book “Here Comes the Sun.” In my opinion, people inclined toward EVs (and solar panels and batteries) bought it this year. I also think (and this is just me) people are waiting for the Chinese cars to get here after Trump is gone.
@drwalt The Chinese cars thing is interesting. Have they been making better/more affordable EVs than their American counterparts?
@jabel @drwalt The Chinese EV market is unbelieveably sophisticated and advanced. BYD is bigger than Tesla by revenue. Check out this CNBC story. The US auto manufacturers and oil companies are doing everything they can to keep these cars away from US consumers. This YouTube video also has very comprehensive and detailed information on the Chinese EV revolution.
@apoorplayer Thanks for the info, Tom. Good stuff. Right now, China dominates the EV and solar panel market.
@JohnPhilpin That was implied since auto and oil companies have massive lobbying efforts in DC, but yes…and government.
@drwalt the Chinese cars weren’t exactly arriving in the years between Tяump 1 and Tяump 2.
Down here in NZ there SEEM to be a lot of BYD - though the actual numbers for the country are relatively low - as high as 7% a few months ago - but typically around 2%. (I am Auckland - which might be why the bias of perception?_
Chinese manufacturers as whole - around 10 to 15 percent - month by month - US manufactures sit in the 5 to 10 percent range.
@JohnPhilpin Right – I mean, Biden raised the tariffs on Chinese cars to 100%. All the free market believers seem to become protectionist warriors on this issue. I feel like I’m back in the 70s, when US automakers continued to make gas guzzlers while gas prices skyrocketed, and it took Honda and Toyota to right-size the market.
@JohnPhilpin No, they are not arriving in the US due to excessive tariffs, which will not go down until Trump is gone. China is likely to ignore the US market until then, and instead move more fully into the EU market. For the US consumer (like me), we’ll need to figure out what to do until we have a more forward-looking administration in relation to EVs (and the environment in general).