Comment by ramesh31 8 months ago
>"If this can’t compete head to head (no tariffs or other import restrictions) with BYD and the like, then I don’t know why one would get excited."
Would you prefer our roads flooded with cheap Chinese EVs that are the automotive equivalent of Shein hauls? Protectionism has its place in certain areas, and I would say building a thriving domestic EV industry that isn't beholden to a single weirdo is one of them.
I’m pretty sure there are more possible outcomes than “this one truck or cheap, dangerous Chinese EVs.” False choice fallacy.
A lack of import restrictions in no way prevents safety regulations. You could also subsidize the domestic automobile industry without having tariffs, so that we protect our domestic industrial base. These things take no imagination.
European standards are tighter, and many Chinese vehicles are homolgated in Europe.
Do you think that the rest of the world needs to protect itself from Tesla then and slap tariffs on any Tesla cars exported?
>"Do you think that the rest of the world needs to protect itself from Tesla then and slap tariffs on any Tesla cars exported?"
If it were a stated policy goal of said country to develop their own indigenous EV production at scale, then yes. The same the US did for 30 years after WWII to develop its own auto industry.
The era of dumping mass amounts of cheap "good enough" products on the global market, made entirely possible by the ignored and externalized costs of dumping trillions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere via oceanic shipping, is coming to a close.
I drive a Polestar 2, which is a Chinese manufactured EV, and it's better quality than most North American vehicles.
The Munroe Live episode on it should disavow people of these biases. He ends it with a strong warning about people's weird biases about Chinese manufacturing.
Completely anecdotally from a friend who has BYD Atto3 - he had couple of issues with cameras. Plus some early rust (which is not unheard of in forums). So did his sister.
My impression of driving it - materials are nice, but overall experience (interior looks and software, aka what you use the most) was quite terrible in the context I own Tesla Model Y. I'm sure going from 15 year old Nissan you'd be ecstatic.
> cheap Chinese EVs that are the automotive equivalent of Shein hauls?
Your perception of Chinese auto manufacturing is very out of date. This makes as much sense as calling Japanese or Korean cars cheap and low quality.