Europe just did a 180 on the commitment for no ICE cars to be sold from 2035 onwards under pressure of just a handful of big automakers.
And when I say Europe, I actually mean crooked European politicians rather than the public in general.
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Tikiporch@lemmy.world 3 weeks agoCompeting. No one really even tried.
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
InFerNo@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I personally know people who cheered for the extension of ICE cars to be sold, so it’s not only “crooked politicians”, this is an actual sentiment among people.
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Here in the US, the reasons people generally cheer for ICE vehicles boil down to how expensive EVs are here. Legacy manufacturers sell them only in premium trims and dealers tack on excessive profit to help discourage them - they truly are not affordable here.
They don’t seem to understand this is a choice by legacy manufacturers, combined with protectionism bought by those same manufacturers.
I suppose there’s a range concern but I don’t see how that has any validity. As people have more direct experience, that should mostly disappear. While there are never enough chargers, most of the population has high speed charging convenient to them and most homeowners can charge at home.
I eventually sold my brother on an EV but the only one he was willing to buy was a Silverado extended range - it’s fine if he wants that I guess but his concern about range was way overboard, especially since he lives in the DC area where there are high speed chargers everywhere and in a private house where he can charge nightly.
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
In my experience, how many people think like that really depends on the country of Europe: my own native Portugal is far more shit when it comes to Environmentalism in general - especially around cars as the country has a very 1980s mindset on them and a car is still seen as symbol of status - whilst for example The Netherlands is almost the the opposite.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Tesla is definitely “trying” by number of units produced. Volkswagen is also taking EVs very seriously, at least by current and projected manufacturing numbers.
freebee@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Lol Volkswagen, the company that actively rigged diesel cars to pass the tests… ? Dieselgate. The German car manufacturers are hopelessly late at EV because they wanted to drain every last penny out of their ICE. The EU setback to extend ICE is after German car manufacturers lobbied… They are killing themselves in the long run, for bit more production in the short run. They saw this all coming decades ago and made wrong choices. Now they’re fucked. The Volkswagen id (EV) sales numbers are so disappointing they had to lower production and make employees stay home.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Lol Volkswagen, the company that actively rigged diesel cars to pass the tests… ?
That’s the one. They’re run by absolute pieces of corporate shit, but they do still seem to recognize the market driven writing on the wall.
The German car manufacturers are hopelessly late at EV because they wanted to drain every last penny out of their ICE.
The pool in Europe is a lot shallower, especially in the wake of the Russia/Ukraine war. They don’t have the same access to cheap fossil fuels that the US enjoys, so they’re being forced to pivot to EVs entirely due to their regional limitations. They’re also competing internationally in a market with a growing Global South demand. Many of these countries are undergoing electrification far faster than they’re seeing a petrochemical expansion, in no small part thanks to the high installation costs of pipelines and processing plants relative to electric grids and renewables generation.
The Volkswagen id (EV) sales numbers are so disappointing they had to lower production and make employees stay home.
The entire EU economy has stalled out with the war. But they’ve seen a double-digit upswing in EV sales in Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific Rim.
WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 3 weeks ago
Yeah, it means giving up the current cash cow and they’ll only do that when it’s visibly dying. And then the competition has too much of a headed start so it’s already to late.