If only the EU was like "you can save money and our environment by buying Chinese EVs instead of smokey German, Italian & French diesels" in the same spirit. Oh well.
It's pretty easy to regulate things that aren't made by your domestic companies.
This is oversimplifying; European EV tariffs are company specific and (formally) aim to counteract state subsidies.
From a an average voter perspective, "sacrificing" local industry for a (temporary?) 20% discount on EVs is not too popular anyway, and neither is it gonna meaningfully save the planet IMO.
Tariff levels are basically the same as US import tariffs on pickup trucks, so not especially high, either.
I personally think tethered caps are fine, pretty sure they objectively reduce wild trash/lead to less cleanup requirements behind tourists and the like.
Do you think that the cost/benefit tradeoff in untariffed Chinese cars would be significantly better than tethered caps or deposits on bottles, or banning throwaway plastic straws?
Because this is far from clear to me; sure, introducing more, cheaper electric cars would help much more than reducing plastic waste, but the cost/risk to local industry is also MUCH higher, and a situation like the one with agriculture (a whole industry sector running basically on subsidies, in every industrialized country) is worth trying to avoid, too.
The choice isn't between a Chinese EV and an Italian diesel car. There are plenty of EVs by EU based manufacturers, including affordable ones from e.g. Renault/Dacia.
Sacrificing the European automakers for a temporary discount would be very foolish.
The tariffs on Chinese EVs are very unserious at the same time as subsidies are being withdrawn while the alleged deadline for phaseout of ICE is still in place.
VW showed which side they were going to bet on with Dieselgate and should get no further sympathy.
> everyone who could afford an EV probably already has one
Obviously not: this depends on the price of EVs, which is a constantly moving target and is determined by .. the import tariffs I just mentioned. Not to mention that cars have a long product lifecycle. I could afford an electric car, I have a space to park it, but for the time being I'm using my elderly petrol car because my annual mileage is low.
Sort of. They came out with some tiny city cars that are cheaper but everything else has maintained and increased price.
Where's my cheap all electric mini suv with awd [1] that i can take for a holiday when i rent a cabin in the woods without worrying if i can make it up there and make it back home?
Where are the charging stations on the way to the mountains and back? How much of my weekend do i need to sacrifice for charging time instead of hiking?
When I last bought a car 5 years ago, the used car marked for EVs was very small and EVs were very expensive. Since then, they became much cheaper, there are a lot of new models and a lot of used cars on the market.
I'm not planning to buy a new car though, as mine is only 8 years old and still working fine. I'll check again when repairs start to get more expensive, maybe in a few years.
A lot of people also just keep their cars for a decade or more, and buy cheaper used cars mainly-- you can not expect such a market to completely switch in a fraction of product lifetime (especially while new tech is still rapidly improving).
Not even China will switch overnight. I'm asking if China is better at EV incentives.
I'm driving a 15 year old car :) I want to replace it some time in the next 2-3 years. Right now I wouldn't consider an EV or PHEV because I don't think I can charge one regularly and the price premium is not worth it to me, especially compared to the hassle.
