iReaditEU to ‘push back petrol car sales ban to 2040’
www.thetimes.com/article/55fddbda-b150-48b6-a16…
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/31155841
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smegFailure of leadership. That's what the history books are going to say about this era.
Absolutely pathetic by EU leadership. We’re still 10 years away, with plenty of time for them to retool their factories, and come out with new models, and they’re already giving up (“””pushing the date back””” lol).
UnrelatedI wonder if it will result in the desired outcome for the German car industry. The benefits of BEV cars are broad and the economies of scale are picking up. I could see their resistance to electrifying only strengthening the Chinese car brands.
If the German car industry wants to survive they should Lobby the government to make it illegal to bring new non-electric models to market. Force them to do electric cars and they might survive
DandomRudeYes, I cannot for the life of me understand how this decision is supposed to save the German automotive industry. It will not stop the rapid development of BEV cars, which already perform very well in many respects today.
Perhaps the reasoning is that the industry has fallen so far behind that there is no longer any prospect of catching up with the technological lead of way more innovative manufacturers.
However, further lobbying by this influential industry could well continue to hold back the expansion of the charging infrastructure. This would then provide arguments in favor of combustion engine models for some time to come. Of course, this would severely hamper the future viability of Germany and probably also Europe, but this clique is certainly capable of it despite the massive negative effects.
I mean, until around 2003, Germany was the world market leader in photovoltaic systems—today, the country hardly plays a role in this industry anymore because it never received the support it needed to remain competitive. The same parties that are now at work here again were responsible for this - and there was of course massive lobbying involved.
I consider this not only a failure of political and economic leadership, but also unscrupulous cronyism at the expense of Europe's future viability in favor of large corporations that have no interest in innovation whatsoever and even actively prevent it in order to protect their core business.
MrMakabarThe German car industry is more then just the big car brands. They are aware of the Chinese competition and they have invested a lot to be able to compete. However for parts suppliers this is much more difficult. If you are a making some metal engine casts for example, you really do not have expertise, which translate well to EV production. So you probably go down. Those sort of ICE car part suppliers have fired 50k workers in Germany this year already. The transition is hurting them badly and they would love five more years.
The good news is that Germany is at 30% BEV production and rising fast. So those companies are already in a very bad place and so is their lobbying power long term. For Germany Spain and France blocking this is probably the best thing to happen. Oh and the EV industry did get buyers subsidies in Germany for the next five years.
Doesn't matter.
The initial suggestion was of a ban in 2030 from 10 countries that already had plans of banning fossil fuels from 2030 or sooner.
The 2035 deadline was a compromise to allow the car manufacturers to get up to speed.
If they try to prolong that, some countries might just go back to their local legislation and ban the cars even sooner.
EU can potentially claim that such bans are against the free trade in EU and force it through, but they can never actually force anyone to buy the cars.
The decision of switching to EVs is entirely up to the local drivers, regardless of what arbitrary deadline the manufacturers try to lobby through EU.
Even in France and Germany, who produce fossil fuel cars, there are cities with environmental zones banning fossil fuel cars. Just as it today doesn't make any sense for people near Berlin to buy a diesel car that they can't drive in Berlin, every potential car buyer in all of EU are going to have to consider if they can even use or resell a fossil fuel car in their local area within the expected lifetime of a car.
This entire article imho stinks. Some insurance company boss from the UK says that the EU, which the UK is no longer a part of is going to do something. Sure some actors would like that, but this seems strange. Especially with France and Spain being against it.
Cowards, they had plenty of time to adapt and prepare themselves.
With this change they would only harm the companies that did in fact prepare.
It this point I'm not sure what will happen. They might announce something which actually changes nothing (there never was a ban after all) or could throw the automotive industry into an even greater chaos than they already are.
I would not be surprised, if this was just meant to get subsidies for EVs. The none Chinese competition outside the EU is mostly pretty weak. Hyundai is doing well, but the Japanese do not have good EVs and the Americans only Tesla. In China the EV market is a blood bath. The companies surviving that will be strong, but who cares if the competition is called BYD or Toyota.
Oh and most of the chaos is getting rid of combustion engine related stuff. It seems stupid to me to close those factories now, when you expect the market to be open until 2040.
Too late, we shifted to 100% electric last week. 😀
We bought the first electric we tried, because it's such an amazing drive, we didn't feel a need to look any further. 😋
What did you buy and which member state, if you feel comfortable telling us?
We bought a 4 year old VW ID.4 Performance Pro Tech with 77 kWh battery.
We live in Denmark.
The number of included extras is insane, The Tech version of the car is the highest in included extras, like "phantom pedal" to open the rear hatch, premium sound system, sound and IR insulated windows, heated front window to avoid fogging, super comfortable electric adjustable front seats, tinted rear windows, heat pump, IQ Matrix light, 360° camera, HUD, Electric trailer hook, area lighting, panorama roof.
Absolutely amazing car, and being 4 years old it's less than half price! 😀
And the car still feels as new!
Thanks for all the info! I've heard good stuff and seen a few id.3s, this one's a bit larger?
Damn, I'd love that.
One of my bosses used to say "never buy a new car. The mere act of buying it reduces its value significantly."
Incidentally the first EV owner I had a long conversation with was Danish as well. That was almost 10 years ago, and it was a Tesla :(
It's quite a bit larger than the ID.3, and the ID.3 body isn't built for pulling a trailer.
https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/volkswagen-id3-2019-5-door-hatchback-vs-volkswagen-id4-2020-suv/
If we didn't need the ability to have the trailer, we could have had an ID.3 for about half what this one cost. The ID.3 is very good value.
Yes we have a lot of Swasticars (Tesla) driving around here, I think we are only beat by Norway in that regard. But Tesla sales have halved this year, and Tesla just dropped the price of the model 3 by 15%! From what I hear Tesla cars have very expensive insurance, more than twice what our car, my guess is they have to many accidents, because their assist systems are faulty.
Unless you are loaded. 😋 One of my neighbors bought a new BMW i4 2 years ago, that can do 0-100 km/h in about 5 seconds. The insurance for that car is about 40% more than our car! Something to consider IMO, except of course if you are loaded.
We examined the market pretty thoroughly before buying this car, but Tesla was absolutely 100% excluded. But almost every other brand was considered.
Pulling a trailer is a valid concern for many people around me (rural Finland). I don't quite see the need (until I move I guess) but I decided to buy something slightly larger than an id.3/Yaris (wider, longer, but not higher) because it should be safer to drive on snow.
Different people different priorities, it's nice we have so many options to choose between.
Personally I feel privileged that we can afford what I consider a luxury car. Our neighbors drive even more expensive cars, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo. But they also use their cars way more than we do, and to be honest I like our car better, because we bought it to meet our needs and wishes.
Practical needs first, wishes second within how much you are willing to spend. That's what we did, and I think it worked out super well for us.
The article is from Saturday, but it seems like none of the large EU news source have managed to confirm it with their own sources.
So the only thing that is confirmed is that there will be a revision.
The rest is "senior industry leaders" spreading rumor that suits them.
That said, the scenario unfortunately isn't unrealistic with Germany going the way it's going right now, and the EU-wide ongoing USA bootlicking.
Yay!
Fuck the planet! I only care about profits that don't go to me!
That's the worst part about our corrupt politicians: they are crazy cheap.
Like, come on, if you're already selling our future for your personal gain, make it expensive. Show me that that future was worth something.
They take some crumbs, still cannot go pissing with the billionaires who pay them off.
Related: https://youtu.be/Mb6H7trzMfI
Scene: half of the world is underwater:
Announcement by governments: "bOaTs WiLl Be PeTrOl FrEe By 2153 wE pRoMiSe!!1"