How about they give us that money, and EV manufacturers will be scrambling to provide us with cars /technology / infrastructure. Let that cash “trickle down” to the manufacturers.
Not a bad idea, but it sounds like these are supply chain subsidies. It is critical to maintain domestic sourcing for critical supplies.
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How about we stop pussyfooting around and mandate % ZEV sales? Government keeps fossil fuels going with MPG, emissions, etc. so research money goes into ICE. Now they subsidize batteries - which can be hybrid and PHEV.
Two good reasons:
- The cars are expensive and not everyone can afford the models currently available. Government can’t really change this
- Every mandate to buy more of something is instantly opposed, regardless of how rational it might be. This is feeding a _lot_ of irrational EV opposition already.
Better to use the carrot and balance subsidies relative to subsidies in other industries. Get EVs closer to a level playing field and things will shift naturally.
Thats really not the much
“funneled”, “wean off”. Why so negative just from the title?
Yeah. Big oil and gas has been getting billions in subsidies since forever. Why shouldn’t clean energy get some. Seriously.
What is clean ?
Tariffs and subsidies in China and the US are getting ridiculous. The EU needs to get on the same level.
France will stop it again.
ICE bans and funds for the battery industry are mainly symbolic support from the government for this sector. Like all technology, it’s going to develop rapidly on its own, outpacing and bans and becoming self-sustainable quickly until it’s supplanted by some other form of technology.
That is a very tiny fraction of what the fossil fuel industry gets in subsidies, and not nearly enough to prevent catastrophe.