I think one of the underdiscussed things is how in the last couple of decades industries like car manufacturing have become steadily more state controlled.
Today, to be a successful car company you need to be producing cars whose safety features are incredibly tightly regulated by government bodies to the point of doing actively user hostile things (try and get a new car in the UK that won't actively beep at you for going faster than it thinks you should drive).
You need to be producing them at government mandated price levels (cars listed for more than £40k pay an additional £2.5 tax, except electric vehicles for whom the tax only kicks in at £50).
You need to be using a propulsion method approved by government, not only the Euro 6 emissions standards, but also the labyrinthine Benefit in Kind regulations that accidentally gave every small business owner massive incentives to buy a Porsche Taycan.
Oh and on top of that the UK government runs a charity that purchases 20% of all the new cars sold in the UK each year (with that number climbing to 50% in Northern Ireland).
What makes it worse is that governments are doing this somewhat unintentionally.
The US CAFE standards that effectively push large turbocharged vehicles were never intended to do so, the UK salary sacrifice rules were never intended to push PHEV range rovers, and the European emissions rules were never intended to be so harsh on Toyota hybrids.
Indeed: promote electric cars: it's fine if they will be massive, if consumers love them, why force them to do otherwise? Tax ICE powered SUVs and trucks heavily but spare electric ones and give people one more incentive to switch.
Larger vehicles tend to have reduced visibility which can cause accidents, tend to more seriously injure pedestrians in accidents, and tend to wear down roads faster. If a government is taxing/restricting ICE vehicles to account for their negative externalities, then the same should be done for all larger vehicles, including large EVs.
Living in a big city none of my practical problems with cars have that much to do with combustion really. I'm sure I would appreciate a lower particulate level or whatever but it's not the case that "at least it was electric" is consolation when another of my neighbors' children is killed in traffic.
I think one of the underdiscussed things is how in the last couple of decades industries like car manufacturing have become steadily more state controlled.
Today, to be a successful car company you need to be producing cars whose safety features are incredibly tightly regulated by government bodies to the point of doing actively user hostile things (try and get a new car in the UK that won't actively beep at you for going faster than it thinks you should drive).
You need to be producing them at government mandated price levels (cars listed for more than £40k pay an additional £2.5 tax, except electric vehicles for whom the tax only kicks in at £50).
You need to be using a propulsion method approved by government, not only the Euro 6 emissions standards, but also the labyrinthine Benefit in Kind regulations that accidentally gave every small business owner massive incentives to buy a Porsche Taycan.
Oh and on top of that the UK government runs a charity that purchases 20% of all the new cars sold in the UK each year (with that number climbing to 50% in Northern Ireland).
What makes it worse is that governments are doing this somewhat unintentionally.
The US CAFE standards that effectively push large turbocharged vehicles were never intended to do so, the UK salary sacrifice rules were never intended to push PHEV range rovers, and the European emissions rules were never intended to be so harsh on Toyota hybrids.
What is that scheme called? (The gov buying new cars one I mean).
What a great thing, right?
Indeed: promote electric cars: it's fine if they will be massive, if consumers love them, why force them to do otherwise? Tax ICE powered SUVs and trucks heavily but spare electric ones and give people one more incentive to switch.
Larger vehicles tend to have reduced visibility which can cause accidents, tend to more seriously injure pedestrians in accidents, and tend to wear down roads faster. If a government is taxing/restricting ICE vehicles to account for their negative externalities, then the same should be done for all larger vehicles, including large EVs.
The smaller the EV, the more efficient it becomes because it takes less battery, which means it's hauling less etc.
What we need is to normalise small about-town cars for groceries, commuting, and dropping off kids. Something like an e-Citroen.
For long-haul you still want ICE with hybrid.
Sounds like nice car marketing: sell everyone two cars instead of one.
Efficiency doesn't matter much with EVs: only ~28% of power is produced with fossil fuels in EU and that's expected to further halve by 2030.
There's enough fast chargers here in EU to travel any distance with an EV.
Living in a big city none of my practical problems with cars have that much to do with combustion really. I'm sure I would appreciate a lower particulate level or whatever but it's not the case that "at least it was electric" is consolation when another of my neighbors' children is killed in traffic.
> Cars are steadily becoming longer,
frontal crash protection
> wider
side crash protection
> and heavier in the UK and across Europe
electric batteries.