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The US auto industry is in big trouble. China now makes 75 percent of all electric vehicles sold anywhere on earth. US automakers make around 5 percent. (www.nytimes.com)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world
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[–] 34 points 2 months ago (28 children)

There just aren't that many domestic automakers actually attempting the market the way China is. I think part of the reason for that is the adoption rate of American drivers of EV's. Especially without the tax credits to subsidize the cost. The US is struggling to sell new cars and EV's make up only 10% of new cars sold.

https://autonews.gasgoo.com/articles/news/global-rankings-of-ev-adoption-by-country-china-ranks-only-8th-2033893523282092033

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  • [–] 34 points 2 months ago (12 children)

    Especially without the tax credits to subsidize the cost.

    Too bad the US doesn't have access to cheaper non-US made EVs.

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  • [–] 23 points 2 months ago (8 children)

    Yep. Politics is part of the reason too. But only part of it. Most Americans can't afford a new car even if it's cheap. That's why new car sales are so low. The tax credits helped a lot of people buy EV's. Now that the current Admin has gotten rid of the credit people aren't buying or leasing them but people can't afford the pre-owned vehicles either.

    So what I'm saying is, people can't afford to buy used EV's either.

    https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a70020914/why-2026-will-be-a-great-time-to-buy-a-used-ev/

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  • [–] 11 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Just saying, but people not being able to afford a new vehicle is because of politics. Not Republican vs Democrat politics, but capitalist vs worker politics.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    Yeah. I wasn't clear. I meant like. Not due to car manufacturers lobbying against EV's or tax credits etc to encourage people to by them/make them more affordable. That kind of thing. I wasn't thinking about the socioeconomics of why people can't afford cars.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (5 children)

    Don't forget all the infrastructure that goes with EVs and an additional cost to add charging to your home or even having your own house to plug them in.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    This is largely an out of proportion concern. As long as you're like most people and park your car at home overnight for 8+ hours a standard extension cord and outlet is sufficient. If you need rapid charging then your life follows an irregular schedule or you got the absolute largest battery for the largest SUV/truck available.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago* (1 child)

    Totally.

    I'm in a rental townhouse and only have a 110v standard outlet and it absolutely is enough is most cases.

    I was determined to drive at least mostly electric even if it cost somewhat more and the best I could afford was an Outlander PHEV. So if I do have to do more in a day than the battery it just swaps to engine. Daily job commute and other household driving and we are still floating between 75-90% electric drive.

    My wife wasn't convinced in talking through it with her. However she had never driven either an EV or PHEV. I got her to drive a Kia EV9 and she loved how it felt but it was just too expensive and she still at that point felt like it was only a pure EV thing to drive like that.

    Then we test drove the Outlander and she immediately wanted it. It is an electric first design and you can feel it.

    In my opinion we should have been doing traditional hybrid and/or PHEV back in the late 80s. Built up the battery manufacturing and quality and be on full electric for basically all home use vehicles by now.

    For heavy load and construction it should be bio diesel hybrids. Not that those are ideal either but still the best we can do in short term tech swap.

    And then of course trains. More trains.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    I know a lot of people in NYC that can't run a cord to the streets, they would have to go to a charging station and their jobs don't provide charging either. I do have a garage with a 240v hookup, so I'm good and can do a charging station with a backup battery. A lot of people don't have access to convinient charging.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    They're not cheaper. They're just being sold below cost for the express purpose of putting their competitors out of business.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

    My side does it: necessary and just subsidies in the national interest.

    The other side does it: flooding the market with unfair subsidies!

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  • [–] 15 points 2 months ago* (7 children)

    The US is struggling to sell new cars and EV's make up only 10% of new cars sold.

    I would love to buy an EV but a brand new car is too expensive and there’s not much in the way of reasonably priced, used EVs available so I’m currently sticking with the internal combustion engine.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 months ago* (5 children)

    I’m sticking with my ICE cars because they have buttons and switches and only a tiny screen and won’t be selling my data to my insurance company and aren’t SUVs.

    Though I did put a deposit down on a Slate truck.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    I put a deposit down too. Living somewhere kind of remote, I do worry about how far away a trained service shop will be. They’ll have less maintenance requirements for sure, but there will still be maintenance required.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago

    FWIW, my local shop claim they can handle state Inspection, brakes, tires, and suspension work on my Tesla. The most likely to wear items are also more generic.

    Of course an accident or some other breakdown is an entirely different story

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    I have bad news for you about modern cars.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    One of the main reason a country's government will subsidize or otherwise encourage green energy and EV adoption is as a geopolitical strategy to reduce dependence on oil, due to the fact that most oil-producing nations are deeply unstable for one reason or another. The USA's problem is that it is one of those deeply unstable oil-producing nations, and so it wants to keep the renewables market suppressed and the oil and oil derivatives market boosted.

    Here in Ireland we don't have one jot of domestic oil production, so renewables are seen as a way to not be held hostage by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (and idiotically unnecessary wars in the Middle East, and idiotically random tariff wars) because we do have our own water, wind and sunshine. America doesn't have that natural incentive to the same extent that we do.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    There just aren't that many domestic automakers actually attempting the market the way China is.

    I don't want to nor think we should try to compete with a country that employs slave labour.

    Exploitative labour practices in China may have paid dividends for us westerners, but I don't want to work the way they work.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Okay, but here's what I mean. Ford decided at the end of 2025 to cut back on manufacturing and far scale back it's plans for producing more electric versions of their vehicles. They did that because the demand for their EV's isn't there because the price point for them is ridiculous.

    There's a lot of EV's sitting on dealer lots, so much so they were last I checked giving incentive programs to get employees to buy them.

    That hasn't got anything to do with China or BYD and everything to do with the fact that their cars arent selling because potential buyers don't have money.

    My comments had nothing at all to do with the labor practices of China.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

    There's a lot of EV's sitting on dealer lots….

    And there’s one of the major problems; using the stealership model. Buying from Tesla or Rivian or Slate is/will be a breeze because it’s all online. No haggling with a stack of shit in a suit about cost or going somewhere to be told “we don’t sell the EV models here”.

    Bitch, you’re a dealership. You sell cars.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    Tesla's sales are in the dumps too. Last I checked they were down 9%. Rivian's sales were down to something like a 3 year low as of the beginning of this year. The fact is, the vehicles cost too much for the average American.

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