It looks like the OBBB ended the CAFE standards which have been blamed for the increase in car sizes over time (e.g. https://www.thedrive.com/news/small-cars-are-getting-huge-ar...). Also personally although I would prefer that people purchase EVs rather than ICE cars, I think it’s best not to subsidize cars at all, since it only benefits those who can afford cars, and it’s better to encourage other forms of transit.
parineum•5mo ago
> since it only benefits those who can afford cars
Ostensibly, it would benefit everyone by helping to address climate change.
smegma2•5mo ago
True, I would be interested to hear to what extent EV subsidies sway people who are already planning to buy a car vs people who would otherwise not buy a car. The former category is almost definitely larger but to what extent?
parineum•5mo ago
If automakers are losing billions in revenue as a result, quite a few apparently.
vrighter•5mo ago
not american, but we had decent ev grants here. Never really factored them in. I needed to buy a new car one day, and the only small one i could find was electric. The grant on top of that was just a happy bonus, i would have bought it anyway (and it's an electric quadricycle, which has a smaller subsidy, I could have gotten an actual car for cheaper, wibh a bigger subsidy too). Before my old car crapped out, I never even thought I'd buy electric or not, I was just planning to buy the one i liked best. The subsidy had no sway over me.
adrianN•5mo ago
Subsidizing other forms of transport probably helps climate change more per dollar.
bigbadfeline•5mo ago
Big diesel trucks pollute much more than everything else. Nat gas isn't even considered around here. Maybe in California?
Larrikin•5mo ago
If there isn't a subsidy that makes building subways cheap it doesn't help anyone.
bigbadfeline•5mo ago
Whatever it is, subsidies are a corrupt way of financing manufacturers, the money goes to them and a few car buyers. If you want to help an EV manufacturer, buy a stake in it, so the general public gets something in return for their investment.
appease7727•5mo ago
This take is precisely as juvenile as "taxation is theft"
cyanydeez•5mo ago
Small footprint EV should still be subsidized. You have 30 years of polluters, especially egregious. SUVs in the used market. The goal of subsidies is to shape long term outcomes where individuals must react to short term.
bigbadfeline•5mo ago
Subsidies are pure corruption, there is no argument in favor of corruption. Buy a stake in the manufacturer, control their prices, same as some utilities companies, if the taxpayers pay, they should get their stake's worth as a group.
cyanydeez•5mo ago
No, conceptually.
Yes, like everything in government, they can be twisted. Your logic is fill in the blank, so we should just not have government.
If you put crooks in charge, of course, everything becomes a con.
bigbadfeline•5mo ago
> Your logic is fill in the blank
True, in short consider Tesla, jack up the prices as much as the market can bear, as usual. A bunch of people, who don't need subsidies, get them to buy at luxury prices. Little to no investment in low cost, mass production, chase capitalization instead. Environment... who cares, large trucks still pollute the most. LNG bad, etc.
> If you put crooks in charge, of course, everything becomes a con.
That's true too, but some schemes are easier to con than others. I don't see why we should act in ways that help the cons.
> so we should just not have government.
That's not my opinion. Utilities are government controlled or used to be anyways, I consider that necessary.
RainyDayTmrw•5mo ago
Public transit is ideal, but electrification of private cars is still significant harm reduction.
smegma2•5mo ago
parineum•5mo ago
Ostensibly, it would benefit everyone by helping to address climate change.
smegma2•5mo ago
parineum•5mo ago
vrighter•5mo ago
adrianN•5mo ago
bigbadfeline•5mo ago
Larrikin•5mo ago
bigbadfeline•5mo ago
appease7727•5mo ago
cyanydeez•5mo ago
bigbadfeline•5mo ago
cyanydeez•5mo ago
Yes, like everything in government, they can be twisted. Your logic is fill in the blank, so we should just not have government.
If you put crooks in charge, of course, everything becomes a con.
bigbadfeline•5mo ago
True, in short consider Tesla, jack up the prices as much as the market can bear, as usual. A bunch of people, who don't need subsidies, get them to buy at luxury prices. Little to no investment in low cost, mass production, chase capitalization instead. Environment... who cares, large trucks still pollute the most. LNG bad, etc.
> If you put crooks in charge, of course, everything becomes a con.
That's true too, but some schemes are easier to con than others. I don't see why we should act in ways that help the cons.
> so we should just not have government.
That's not my opinion. Utilities are government controlled or used to be anyways, I consider that necessary.
RainyDayTmrw•5mo ago