USA could have spent money developing an electrified economy but the republicans are focusing on bringing back coal mining and reshoring shoe manufacturing instead.
This isn’t exclusively a problem of the new administration, or the previous. All administrations since the late 20th century have been compliant in allowing the offshoring of most industry
It’s not just industry. Now they’re killing the development of skills and knowledge in engineering (hardware, software) and design
The problem is systemic, it didn’t start with Trump. He’s just way more flagrant.
Which kind of blows my mind. Coal miners should love EVs. There was a story in the news a few years ago about how nice it was for the miners to help someone in an EV, as if they should be mortal enemies.
Non-EV cars don’t run on coal, they run on gasoline. EVs on the other hand can run on coal, natural gas, solar, wind, you name it - and still are more energy efficient than cars burning gasoline. In a sane world, coal miners would be throwing their support behind electric vehicles. The utility companies seem to understand this, but seems like the support hasn’t made its way up the supply chain.
Of course US trucks run on coal. I see them rolling coal all the time! They cant roll coal if it wasnt coal. Duh…
This admin has set the USA back 100 years.
Again. They already enshrined “billionaires get all the money” in the one legislative victory of trumps first term.
Especially when you see some of the tech being rocked in Asian cities
i hate musk, but i am not wild about our dependence on china either, so i am not really sure who to root for in this fight…
I would say go with whatever company that doesn’t have a CEO throwing Nazi salutes.
Yeah, the Chinese manufacturers are out to make money, and at least we know what to expect from them.
Besides, being profitable usually means making a better product than your competitors.
i am afraid it is just that most CEOs are sane enough to keep their embarrassing moments for their private life. do you think musk is the only narcissistic psychopath on drugs in the business world?
this is not advocating for musk, but it is important to be grounded in reality ;)
I have no doubt most CEOs are psychopaths, but they also don’t own a global Nazi mouthpiece like twitter, or have more money and resources than several small nations.
Feet firmly planted in reality, thanks. You definitely sound like your advocating for musk.
I would say go with whatever company that doesn’t have a CEO throwing Nazi salutes.
I have no doubt most CEOs are psychopaths, but they also don’t own a global Nazi mouthpiece like twitter
So did you mean “CEOs not throwing a Nazi salute” or “CEOs whose Nazi salutes don’t show up on your twitter feed”?
It seems you forgot what your argument is in a span of two rebuttals
You definitely sound like your advocating for musk.
You should work on your reading comprehension then
To be fair, I think most of USA is on recreational drugs, legal, illegal, or “prescription”. That shouldn’t matter as much compared to his other actions.
what he does in his free time is one thing (i don’t care about that), being high when he is
working for a governmentruining people’s lives and jobs is another.
So support the country committing a genocide against the uyghurs? Because you think a salute is worse than a Holocaust, got it.
If you don’t see musk as one of the singular greatest threats to this planet, I dunno what to tell you. It is certainly not just the salute, that was just the most public he’s been about his true self. If I recall those Nazis had some thoughts on the Holocaust as well.
Competition is good for the consumer. More options from more players will encourage more charging infrastructure and (ostensibly) more innovation. It’s not just Elon Musk vs China. Every automaker that wants to sell cars in the USA is on notice. If they want to compete in the EV subcategory, they need to focus on price and performance. People want budget-conscious EVs.
Not super into cars but is there even any reason other than environmental friendliness to get an EV? Where I’m from, EVs are all wildly expensive compared to their combustion peers and they all frankly look really ugly to me. The coil whine of the EVs also drive me crazy.
Even the cheap ones accelerate faster, ride smoother, and are quieter. You don’t have to get oil changes, and the brakes don’t wear down as fast. Plus I can recharge at home, which is loads cheaper than buying gasoline.
And this is all with a relatively ancient Nissan Leaf, the new vehicles are all far better.
Oh, and let’s not forget that even very small air quality improvements have noticeable improvements in lung health! Humans were not meant to be breathing gasoline fumes or combustion exhaust.
My government just added a controversial extra tax on EVs because they tear up the roads and cause additional particles, because they are really heavy and most of them have a better than usual torque.
You can really see how road quality went to shit after EVs became mainstream.
Making batteries is also a really ugly business and far from environmental.
I can’t find anything on such a tax?
I feel like there has been an uptick in pro oil bots in the past week. Oil is a pretty ugly business too? What is wrong with you people.
Root for better public transport and active cities instead of car dependency :)
I don’t want to be like China though /s
Everywhere is depndent on China, buy the car that isnt overtly a fascist car. They also suck.
buy the car that isnt overtly a fascist car.
that isn’t really an argument in favor of china 😂
China famously doesn’t have a far-right problem, unlike the EU or the USA, what are you talking about?
unless you for some reason like leftist dictator who would like to rule the world more than the right one, there isn’t really practical difference in this
China would love so much to rule the world, that’s why it hasn’t entered any war in the past 40+ years, and that’s why all countries in the global south are happy to enter the comparably advantageous economic deals and infrastructure investments that China offers in comparison with the magnificent western democracies.
How many countries has China bombed in the past 40 years? Let’s now make a list for the USA, see who wins!
As for “dictator”, look at the approval rates of Xi in China and compare them to those of Kid Starver in the UK, Trump in the US, or Macron in France. I guess democracy is best represented by the system that lets you choose which hateful ghoul will apply social austerity policy and invest 5% of GDP in NATO.
I agree until the last part. Democracies have more freedoms allowing for more accurate polling. There is also less fear of consequences for being open. Countries should be able to defend themselves, 5% is a step toward peace. The cold war never became hot because of the investment in defence.
The cold war never became hot
Tell that to the millions of people the west murdered through bombing of Korea, Vietnam or Laos, the millions more murdered though US support of military dictators such as Suharto or Pinochet, or the millions who died through the de-stabilization of their countries such as Mosaddeq’s Iran, Guatemala or the outright invasion of Iraq. Ask those people what they think of the west’s military expenses over the past century.
Democracies have more freedoms allowing for more accurate polling. There is also less fear of consequences for being open
Literally two days ago Mamdani won the mayoral elections against all polls, polls in the west are heavily manipulated. And literally last week a man was denied entry in the country due to having a picture of bald Vance. I happen to be Spanish, and in our super-democratic state we have literal political prisoners who had to free the country such as Carles Puigdemont due to political persecution and risking their lives in jail. The west is NOT more democratic than China at this point, and the trend is towards openness in China and towards fascism in the west.
Chinese electric cars are just better. BYD is what Tesla wanted to be, but actually fulfills its promises. Plus it isn’t ran by a dictator.
Watch the RichRebuilds review of Chinese EVs. There is a lot of “make it look good” in their engineering, like massive painted brake calipers…that are a single piston. The cars probably aren’t as quality as other EVs, but the prices, specs, and niche features are very compelling. I’d definitely consider one in the US. Anything that isn’t a Tesla or a massive crossover would be great.
I uh… you sure about that dictator thing? xi jinping enters the chat
If you think Xi Jinping is dictating what BYD does with their cars then you don’t understand the fundamentals as to why China managed to attract so much foreign investment and got to where they are now in the first place.
Foreign investment was because of cheap labor and companies being subsidized by the communist government…
BYD might make a better car than Tesla, but saying that a Chinese company isn’t “under the control of Xi Jinping”, the guy who crushed Hong Kong for having too much independence and wants to do the same with Taiwan, is laughable.
That’s actually a bit of a myth you know. Labour in China used to be dirt cheap 30 years ago but that’s not the case now. You need experts to build cars and they demand an appropriate salary. They probably don’t get paid as much as they would in the west but they’re not being paid pennies an hour either. However the idea that China is cheap has persisted.
There’s a reason that Apple doesn’t make the iPhone there anymore. It was getting too expensive ie they were being asked to pay for a decent wage, and they weren’t prepared to.
And in the US we just block foreign options because it is gov policy to artificially support specific corporations.
the country of free market capitalism…
I used to like and look up to SpaceX for the interesting stuff that they build,
but nowadays i don’t care anymore. The company can fail for all i care. Musk spoiled it.
The tipping point, for me personally, was when Musk seriously threatened to slash public spending in February this year. It shows a clear disrespect to the people, and frankly, a sociopathic attitude.
Musk had everything, lots of money, lots of fame, lots of influence, but he threw it all away when he decided to threaten the wellbeing and lifelyhood of a lot of people just so that rich assholes can make an extra buck through tax cuts.
I wonder what continues to motivate the uber rich to seek more wealth-you simply can’t buy any more tangible amount of happiness through material or influence after a point.
Once you have enough money, anything you do makes you money.
Elon blew 44 billion or Twitter, axed the servers, staff, and the name, and he was able to leverage that into a government job where he could kill investigations into his companies years later. You could say it’s intelligence, but I’d say it’s a combination of luck, and the resources to blow 44 billion and not have it affect you personally in any way.
Here in the UK Musk is just seen as an idiot. Some decent European EV solutions coming along but the Chinese cars are so much better value than Tesla OR the main European makes. Couldn’t happen to a nicer megalomaniac and as a plus I love seeing the monthly SpaceX explosions
Even before the current political situation I wouldn’t have bought a Tesla. They have a documented quality problem and not very good customer service at least outside of the US.
Why would I buy a car that is not only more likely than most to break but when it does break it’s hard to get fixed. Spare parts are notoriously hard to get hold of and you usually have to deal with Tesla directly which is a problem because they don’t have a lot of dealerships in the UK. Also they won’t come to you, so if your car won’t start you have to arrange a pickup.
They have terrible customer service in the US too. I think it’s their business model: find people who enjoy being treated like an asshole and sell them overpriced shit.
Hitler was “incendiary” and “political” but I think there’s a four-letter word so much better, so much more concise, that this wording is actual disinformation.
Journalists do Nazi what you’re talking about.
I own BYD and it is a great car. Very pleased with it.
how many cameras does it have? be pleased about all your, and your neighbourhoods everydays be uploaded to china, to train face recognition and whatever else
I hate teslas, but byd’s are not even slightly better in my eyes.
I don’t like the feeling that we may never see a consumer friendly EV anymore, but only ones that exploit their users in any ways they can
Don’t know why exactly are you downvoted but this is exactly what is going on as cars get more ”connected”, following Tesla & BYD lead. Just like with phones at the moment, everything tries to spy on you a little to tap into that sweeet targeted ad revenue, or something else.
For example I bet the insurance companies love to have some driver behaviour data about you, and the big retail likes to know where/what time you are on the move (though they already get it from the dozens of apps on your phone that have access to location data, like Google Maps).
This is one of the reason that the USA being heavy handed with Chinese is going to bite us in the ass. While in the USA, we bury our heads in the sand and GM, Tesla and etc. all crank out $95,000 giant trucks/SUVs, some companies in China are making very, very affordable vehicles. These aren’t necessarily garbage either – there’s models available for almost any price point.
What WOULD be really smart and forward thinking is if in the USA, the domestic brands also make some affordable models to get EV more popular. However, they are addicted to fat profit margins, and thanks to all the protectionism, they don’t need to worry about offshore models being “better”.
While other nations either develop and/or import affordable EVs, we’re effectively banning them. This is all going to end up with a giant wake up call for American auto-manufacturers when the protections/tariffs are ultimately lifted and they HAVE to compete.
I think it would be great if the tariffs came with huge incentives for domestic manufacturers and motivated them to be competitive. Instead, it’s just letting them segment the market for a few years and make a killing. Who loses? The people…
These cars are passing EU safety tests which are generally more demanding than the USA.
They are definitely getting good, fast.
Not just people, the economy will end up paying the price.
Tariffs have horrible second order effects.
Every companies outputs is some other companies inputs.
American companies end up locked out of more affordable vehicles as inputs. That cost then gets baked into its output, which is some other company’s input. Then just keep following that chain.
The best broad blanket tariffs can hope to do is trade long term competitiveness for some short term price increase.
Americans will wonder why other nations eat our lunch in the coming decades. Well that foreign company could buy the cheaper machine to produce the widget, their raw materials cost less to deliver because the transit company that ships it in charges a better rate because they have lower vehicle overhead. Since they have 2 dozen suppliers for their components both foreign and domestic they are forced to compete on quality and price.
American companies will become even more bloated and inefficient
I think it also has to do with the economy, not just nazi salutes. Its a bad job market, people dont have money, so luxary cars are not going to be attractive.
Also there is hardly any reason to buy a Tesla… Volvo recharge and others are better cars, made by actual car companies with a good reputation for quality.
Idk why are you being downvoted. Musk being a nazi is the last of the problems for Tesla. They had being outcompete by BYD in every measure.
Me, my friends, my colleagues are the target audience for Model 3/Y’s. I drive a Model 3 and some colleagues do as well. Pretty much all of them and myself say the same thing: The cars top the list in terms of value versus price and has the features we want and need, but we will not buy or (company) lease a Tesla (again) due to the nazi in charge. Simple as that.
At this point, people don’t even take Tesla’s into consideration anymore due to the nazi. So I would say that’s far worse than the competition with BYD.
Exactly the same for me and my circle. I got a model 3 and got at least 3 colleagues and friends to buy one after a test drive.
I won’t sell it now because it’s still a good car and I would lose a ton of money to replace it with something equivalent, but I put a fuck elon sticker on it, canceled the connectivity, avoid superchargers when possible and no longer recommend it to people.
I’m looking for a second car and used Teslas are crazy value right now but out of principle they are out of the question. Probably will go for a Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe, VW ID.3 or BMW i3.
The mentioned cars are somewhat outdated.
You might also want to consider newer models like Renault 5, Skoda Elroq or Hyundai Ioniq.
Fair point, but I’m looking to buy used (i3 hasn’t been made for a few years already).
We bought a second hand i3 (2014) model for my SO to drive to work and back (short distances). The range is objectively horrible (about 100 km), but sufficient for my SO’s needs. Overall, we love the car! It’s so much fun to drive, and very efficient due to its light carbon fiber chassis. The car does everything we expect of it and we run it very cheap.
Such a waste BMW didn’t iterate on the i3/i8 sooner. They would’ve knocked Tesla out of the water before they could even learn how to swim.
as customers switch to Chinese EVs
Sure. That’s the reason.
I don’t think that’s what they meant. I think they are just saying that people are still buying EVs, but they are just going to Chinese and other manufacturers instead of buying a Tesla. The article specifically calls out the stupid shit Elon has been doing.
Not even sure it’s that true though. Afaik BYD is only the 14th most popular car in Denmark, and European brands have risen from around ~28% last year to ~40% this year. Sure, Chinese carmakers have had some growth - but we’re talking in the order of something between 2 - 4% of the market. Might be more popular in other countrues
I wonder where you’re getting this information. BYD alone is second worldwide if you account for the US market, and 1st if you don’t.
59% of all EVs sold in January of this year were Chinese.
Currently only proper options for EV is either Tesla, Korean EV’s (KIA, Hyundai) or Chinese. European and japanese EV’s are imo shit at the moment. Teslas I will avoid like plague, due to Nazis. KIA’s and Hyundai’s are so hard to get, so I am really considering getting BYD, Polestar or XPeng.
The small Renault’s are actually more than decent EVs and can be compared to the Hyundai Inster.(With the later being the closest to a “high quality EV for everyone” I have seen. Fantastic car, small, comparable cheap, secure. They need to get a bit cheaper still,but we are getting closer)
If you are filthy rich the Porsches are decent, same goes for some of the BMW. The Nissan Arya is also okayish, so are Mercedes.
But yeah, Korea has the absolute king of the hill atm. I drive an EV6 (pre facelift). And honestly? It’s the most “fun” and “comfortable” car I ever had - and I used to have lots of expensive company cars in the past (Audi A4,A5,A6, BMW 5, Volvo), often with "lights and sirens " installed and drove Seat,Skoda,Hyundai, Volvo privately.
None of them were as fun. None of fhem were as versatile and comfortable. And funny enough I safe enormous amounts of money.
And all the downsides people worry about? So far I didn’t have any.
Charging? Absolutely no issue - beside the fact that my sparky is shit and I still don’t have a home box (but a 200 bucks mobile box off Amazon helps). Even with long distances it’s no issue - even in remote locations I had a chance to charge,often easier to find than petrol. And on regular trips it takes as much time to go to the toilet and get me a coffee. Which I would also do with petrol… So in fact I save a few minutes. Even under these circumstances I pay half compared to what I payed for petrol.
Battery issues? The car is used. So far: Zero degradation. We had it assessed by a professional company recently.
The only two issues it has: Preconditioning is somewhat random (which has been solved with the facelift) and the fact that the drivers profile is not based on the key sucks.
EV6 is probably the best in tech, like the 800V system.
Have you had the issue with iccu? They are unfortunately quite common, friend of mine had it. They will fully fix it, but it takes up to month to fix because they don’t have spare parts.
I have Seat Mii, and I also think it is best car purchase that I have ever made
