@notjustbikes I'll remember this the next time I see pithy spare tire cover on the back of a Toyota shopping cart, I mean, SUV. The ones that profess support for nature 🤨
@notjustbikes They are owned by oil. People have been saying this for decades. 🤦
Which is why we still don't have sensible mileage or emissions.
Every catalytic converter is packed in the tube with friable asbestos which dislodges over time due to vibration.
Alcohol may not have the same horsepower as gasoline, but it burns cleaner (not perfectly) than gas and is renewable and can now be made from air using nano materials.
@notjustbikes seems like every time an established interest with existing investments in the status quo sees a change coming they resist it for some reason. Can't quite put my finger on why...
It will remain a mystery, and each time it occurs we will remain surprised.
@notjustbikes “Aside from Tesla, only Mercedes and BMW have EV production forecasts that align with the IEA’s updated 1.5°C scenario which requires 66% of all new car sales to be EVs by 2030.”
Oh cool, so the expensive brands are the only good ones (in this specific statistic).
@notjustbikes Who would have thought that producing way way WAY WAAAAAY more cars than anyone could ever buy is not a good business practice and you will have to actively torpedo policies to get rid of all those fossil fuel powered trash bins before transitioning to a newer technology. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT 🤨
What's crazy is that China is subsidizing the shit out of EVs, but also that Chinese EVs are also just way the fuck better than everybody else's.
Legacy manufacturers are just handing the market over the China. They're going to try to ban them with import taxes, but eventually the Chinese automakers will take over.
Of course, all of this will ultimately suck for cities where we need fewer cars, not different cars.
@notjustbikes tbh. I am still a bit miffed that BYD won't release the Seagull model in Europe and only offers the luxury SUVs and Super SUVs - a cheap, small car for communiting on days the public transport broke down and the weather is awful for biking would be the best in the metro region I live in. (but instead of a 6k to 8k car, EVs start at aroung 30k - and car dealers from French and German brands refuse to suggest EVs to you.
@notjustbikes Maybe if GM ends up a wholly owned subsidiary of SAIC or something, maybe racist congresscritters will finally conclude that what's good for GM may not necessarily be what's good for America and decide to start designing cities properly...
@notjustbikes not only EVs, asia is absolutely styling on on everyone else in terms of mopeds as well.
Gogoro is making mopeds that are borderline scifi and have deployed a really good battery swapping system in like 10 countries, it's despicable that the EU hasn't even started working on its own battery swap standard..
@notjustbikes „Of course, all of this will ultimately suck for cities where we need fewer cars, not different cars.“
This is the basic truth for most European cities and towns. Even the biggest ones – as Paris is currently demonstrating. If the US or Canadian Cities would imitate that then the question would be, what to use all that space for which is currently under the wheels of obnoxiously massive cars (95% of which are not even in use, and the 5% are statistically at maybe 1/8th capacity).
@notjustbikes That makes me think: since there are not any national automakers in Brazil, the relationship with China is somewhat good, and the demand for EVs is steadily increasing here, Chinese is sure to find a Brazilion potential customers.
@notjustbikes and those import taxes are only going to go to making more space for cars, especially bigger and bigger suvs, which in some cases already require the space of a small house. sigh
@notjustbikes it's frustrating that regardless of the Chinese government support, Tesla (and other) has billions from its bonkers stock valuation to invest in making better cars, but they don't have a grip on the social skills to run a successful group project, losing talent from engineering and manufacturing, whereas the Chinese companies have just worked harder and smarter with the funds invested in them. Make a better car by making a better car.
@notjustbikes Well, eventually is the key word here. Last year, China produced about 9.58 million EVs and 9.49 million of them were sold domestically, leaving a surplus of about 90,000. Meanwhile, US consumers bought about 1.2 million EVs; even if all of China’s surplus was bought up by Americans, that accounts for only about 7.5%.
The US Secretary of Treasury is either just plain wrong or is really bad a basic maths.
@notjustbikes Fact check: China has stopped new energy vehicle subsidies in 2022. Now Chinese automakers are expected to be on their own. US tariffs on Chinese cars are mostly symbolic now because there are not many cars made in China being exported to North America and most Chinese automakers are not interested in foreign markets. The only exception is BYD who is trying to break into Japan but only time can tell if they can survive there.
Speaking of BYD, they are under more and more intense scrutiny from the general public now because in the past few years, there has been a substantial increase in fires in BYD stores and all EV dealerships across China. In December 2023, there were four fires in four different cities within one month and a few days ago there was another one. Many suspect BYD's lithium-ion batteries may be the culprit. These things have made me question the whole EV boom; we cannot consume our way out and a switch away from car-centric society is the only solution.
@notjustbikes Western car companies are combining all the worst things about their ICEs with all the worst things of Chinese car design: No buttons or switches, combined with uncontrollable „assistants“ waving and breaking without reason constantly and designs which scream „this is not a normal car!“
IMO it would be trivial to design a normal car with physical buttons and the minimally required amount of assistants, which also happens to be an EV. But this would probably be too successful
@notjustbikes that last part. Electric cars don’t change the inherent ecosystem destruction, poor zoning, and still are the least efficient at moving at any decent rate of throughout.
@notjustbikes Maybe with german car producers going belly-up finally the weird carbrain protectionism will ebb off and Germany can reclaim its cities from cars.
@notjustbikes China puts huge subsidies on anything they think will give them an strategic advantage, rare earths for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sb-GYt7HFI
I'm unsure why they would subsidize electric cars though, I think trains are the future.