#Subsidies On EVs

[rcsmessaging]

Government Subsidies On EVs In India

An increasing number of people are opting for electric vehicles (EV) over petrol or diesel vehicles. This option is not only better for the environment, but is also more efficient as compared to traditional fuel-powered vehicles. Moreover, rising petrol and other fuel prices have triggered an increase in the number of customers who want to shift to electric vehicles. In India, electric vehicles are not only cost-effective, but they also have financial benefits.

Individuals who purchase EV on loan will be eligible for a tax reduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest charged on the mortgage balance under this provision. There are plenty of electric vehicle models on the market, and with increased sales, some automakers are planning to introduce new models.

This article will take you through the government subsidies on electric vehicles in India.

The Indian government has been pushing for the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the country. The government is not only providing various subsidies to buyers of EVs but also has announced schemes to promote the setting up of charging stations.

In a recent development, the government of India has decided to give significant subsidies on Electric Vehicles (EVs). The government is already giving an incentive of INR 9,000 on electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers, and the latest decision will further sweeten the deal.

India has taken a bold step forward by supporting the electric vehicle industry with generous incentives in an attempt to see a rise in electric vehicles manufactured and sold within the country. Electric vehicles in India are poised to become a major player while helping to shape the future of the automotive industry

The Electric Vehicles Policy of the Government of India was launched in 2017 with a vision to have at least 30% of vehicles on Indian roads as EVs by 2030. In order to achieve this, the government has been supporting the usage of EVs in the country through various means.

The most important support has been in terms of subsidies that are given to electric vehicle manufacturers and buyers. Listed below are the various subsidies on EVs given by the Government of India.

FAME Scheme

Fame India Scheme 2022 was launched keeping in mind the pollution which was happening due to the vehicles which are operated through diesel and petrol. The first phase of the scheme is already done by the concerned authorities of the Indian government. Now, phase two of the scheme was started under which the Government of India will be giving out 670 electric buses in the states of Maharashtra Goa Gujarat, and Chandigarh and it is also said that 241 charging stations will be provided in on the streets of Madhya Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Kerala, Gujarat, and Port Blair. This will help in the development of the areas with electrical vehicles.

The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme was launched in 2015 which aimed at encouraging adoption of eco-friendly vehicles by offering incentives on electric and hybrid vehicles. The scheme was extended up to March 2019 with an outlay of Rs 5,500 crore, out of which Rs 1,000 crore were reserved for two-wheelers.

However, the amount isn’t allocated based on the price or type of vehicle but the battery capacity. That means higher incentives go to buses and commercial vehicles compared to cars and two-wheelers. Under FAME, the government offers an incentive ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 for 2-wheelers with battery capacity less than 3 KWh, up to Rs 22,000 for 2-wheeler with battery capacity between 3 KWh and 9 KWh.

Fame India Scheme Extended Till 2024

The Government of India has launched the FAME II scheme to promote electric mobility. It is an acronym for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in India. Through this scheme, the government is going to provide subsidies on the purchase of new electric vehicles. The government has extended the FAME II scheme for 2 years. Now, this scheme will be applicable till 31st March 2024. Previously this scheme was launched from 2019 to 31st March 2022. Under this scheme, necessary charging infrastructure will also be set up for electric vehicles. Fame India scheme has been launched with the objective to address the issue of environmental pollution and fuel depletion. Under this scheme, the government has also increased the subsidy incentives from Rs 10000 per kWh to Rs 15000 per kWh.

Sales Of Vehicle Under Fame India Scheme

As of 26 June 2021, 78045 total electric vehicles have been sold through the Fame India scheme which includes 59984 electric two-wheelers, 16499 electric three-wheelers, and 1562 electric four-wheelers. The government has allocated a budget of Rs 10000 crore for the implementation of this scheme. Only 5% of the budget amount is used till now i.e. Rs 500 Crore. In terms of sales 58613 electric two-wheelers have been sold till March 2022. The target was to sell 10 lakh units so the government has decided to extend this scheme till 2024.

#Subsidies On EVs #electric car charging stations #electric charging

[veghautomobiles]

How much subsidy on electric scooter

Unsure about the exact amount of subsidy you'll receive on your electric scooter? This blog post breaks it down!  We'll explore the factors affecting subsidy amounts and how much you can expect to save depending on your location and chosen scooter.

#subsidy on electric scooter #electric scooter #ev scooter #e scooter

[gaadikey]

FICCI Submits Proposal for FAME 3 Scheme for Electric Vehicles

Emphasizing the need for enabling upfront near price-parity for Electric Vehicles vis a vis ICE vehicle, to help increase the adoption of EVs over the next few years, FICCI has submitted its proposal to Ministry of Heavy Industries, Govt of India for continuation of FAME scheme for next 5 years, with a review at the end of 3 years. The time period for the current FAME II scheme is till March…

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#Bikes in India #Electric bikes in India #Electric Vehicles #FAME3 Subsidy for EVs

[electricparivahan]

राजस्थान में ईवी कस्टमर को नहीं मिल रही सब्सिडी, अधिकारियो ने बताया कारण

इलेक्ट्रिक व्हीकल पर राजस्थान में स्टेट सब्सिडी के बावजूद अभी तक हजारों कस्टमर अपने इलेक्ट्रिक व्हीकल के लिए सब्सिडी के इंतजार में हैं। रिपोर्ट की माने तो लगभग 50,000 हजार इलेक्ट्रिक व्हीकल ओवनर को अपने इलेक्ट्रिक व्हीकल पर सब्सिडी नहीं मिली है, और इसमें इलेक्ट्रिक स्कूटर, इलेक्ट्रिक बाइक, इलेक्ट्रिक थ्रीव्हीलर और इलेक्ट्रिक कार के साथ साथ इलेक्ट्रिक बसें भी शामिल…

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#Electric Bike #electric car #Electric Scooter #Electric Vehicle #electric vehicle subsidy #ev subsidy #rajasthan ev policy

[kendrayojna]

UP EV Subsidy 2023: ऑनलाइन आवेदन एवं लाभ

उत्तर प्रदेश सरकार द्वारा प्रदेश अनेक प्रकार की कल्याणकारी योजनाओं का संचालन किया जा रहा है जिनके अंतर्गत प्रदेश के नागरिकों को लाभ पहुंचाया जा रहा है। आज हम UP EV Subsidy के बारे में बात करने जा रहें हैं जिसके माध्यम से प्रदेश में विद्युत वाहन खरीदने के लिए प्रोत्साहन प्रदान किया जायेगा। EV Subsidy UP के तहत वाहन जैसे मोटर साइकिल, कार, ई रिक्शा आदि वाहनों के लिए प्रदेश सरकार द्वारा सब्सिडी…

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#UP EV Subsidy

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Tesla's Dieselgate

Elon Musk lies a lot. He lies about being a “utopian socialist.” He lies about being a “free speech absolutist.” He lies about which companies he founded:

https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-cofounder-martin-eberhard-interview-history-elon-musk-ev-market-2023-2 He lies about being the “chief engineer” of those companies:

https://www.quora.com/Was-Elon-Musk-the-actual-engineer-behind-SpaceX-and-Tesla

He lies about really stupid stuff, like claiming that comsats that share the same spectrum will deliver steady broadband speeds as they add more users who each get a narrower slice of that spectrum:

https://www.eff.org/wp/case-fiber-home-today-why-fiber-superior-medium-21st-century-broadband

The fundamental laws of physics don’t care about this bullshit, but people do. The comsat lie convinced a bunch of people that pulling fiber to all our homes is literally impossible — as though the electrical and phone lines that come to our homes now were installed by an ancient, lost civilization. Pulling new cabling isn’t a mysterious art, like embalming pharaohs. We do it all the time. One of the poorest places in America installed universal fiber with a mule named “Ole Bub”:

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-one-traffic-light-town-with-some-of-the-fastest-internet-in-the-us

Previous tech barons had “reality distortion fields,” but Musk just blithely contradicts himself and pretends he isn’t doing so, like a budget Steve Jobs. There’s an entire site devoted to cataloging Musk’s public lies:

https://elonmusk.today/

But while Musk lacks the charm of earlier Silicon Valley grifters, he’s much better than they ever were at running a long con. For years, he’s been promising “full self driving…next year.”

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

He’s hasn’t delivered, but he keeps claiming he has, making Teslas some of the deadliest cars on the road:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/10/tesla-autopilot-crashes-elon-musk/

Tesla is a giant shell-game masquerading as a car company. The important thing about Tesla isn’t its cars, it’s Tesla’s business arrangement, the Tesla-Financial Complex:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/24/no-puedo-pagar-no-pagara/#Rat

Once you start unpacking Tesla’s balance sheets, you start to realize how much the company depends on government subsidies and tax-breaks, combined with selling carbon credits that make huge, planet-destroying SUVs possible, under the pretense that this is somehow good for the environment:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#killer-analogy

But even with all those financial shenanigans, Tesla’s got an absurdly high valuation, soaring at times to 1600x its profitability:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/15/hoover-calling/#intangibles

That valuation represents a bet on Tesla’s ability to extract ever-higher rents from its customers. Take Tesla’s batteries: you pay for the battery when you buy your car, but you don’t own that battery. You have to rent the right to use its full capacity, with Tesla reserving the right to reduce how far you go on a charge based on your willingness to pay:

https://memex.craphound.com/2017/09/10/teslas-demon-haunted-cars-in-irmas-path-get-a-temporary-battery-life-boost/

That’s just one of the many rent-a-features that Tesla drivers have to shell out for. You don’t own your car at all: when you sell it as a used vehicle, Tesla strips out these features you paid for and makes the next driver pay again, reducing the value of your used car and transfering it to Tesla’s shareholders:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/6/21127243/tesla-model-s-autopilot-disabled-remotely-used-car-update

To maintain this rent-extraction racket, Tesla uses DRM that makes it a felony to alter your own car’s software without Tesla’s permission. This is the root of all autoenshittification:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

This is technofeudalism. Whereas capitalists seek profits (income from selling things), feudalists seek rents (income from owning the things other people use). If Telsa were a capitalist enterprise, then entrepreneurs could enter the market and sell mods that let you unlock the functionality in your own car:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/11/1-in-3/#boost-50

But because Tesla is a feudal enterprise, capitalists must first secure permission from the fief, Elon Musk, who decides which companies are allowed to compete with him, and how.

Once a company owns the right to decide which software you can run, there’s no limit to the ways it can extract rent from you. Blocking you from changing your device’s software lets a company run overt scams on you. For example, they can block you from getting your car independently repaired with third-party parts.

But they can also screw you in sneaky ways. Once a device has DRM on it, Section 1201 of the DMCA makes it a felony to bypass that DRM, even for legitimate purposes. That means that your DRM-locked device can spy on you, and because no one is allowed to explore how that surveillance works, the manufacturer can be incredibly sloppy with all the personal info they gather:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/29/tesla-model-3-keeps-data-like-crash-videos-location-phone-contacts.html

All kinds of hidden anti-features can lurk in your DRM-locked car, protected from discovery, analysis and criticism by the illegality of bypassing the DRM. For example, Teslas have a hidden feature that lets them lock out their owners and summon a repo man to drive them away if you have a dispute about a late payment:

https://tiremeetsroad.com/2021/03/18/tesla-allegedly-remotely-unlocks-model-3-owners-car-uses-smart-summon-to-help-repo-agent/

DRM is a gun on the mantlepiece in Act I, and by Act III, it goes off, revealing some kind of ugly and often dangerous scam. Remember Dieselgate? Volkswagen created a line of demon-haunted cars: if they thought they were being scrutinized (by regulators measuring their emissions), they switched into a mode that traded performance for low emissions. But when they believed themselves to be unobserved, they reversed this, emitting deadly levels of NOX but delivering superior mileage.

The conversion of the VW diesel fleet into mobile gas-chambers wouldn’t have been possible without DRM. DRM adds a layer of serious criminal jeopardy to anyone attempting to reverse-engineer and study any device, from a phone to a car. DRM let Apple claim to be a champion of its users’ privacy even as it spied on them from asshole to appetite:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

Now, Tesla is having its own Dieselgate scandal. A stunning investigation by Steve Stecklow and Norihiko Shirouzu for Reuters reveals how Tesla was able to create its own demon-haunted car, which systematically deceived drivers about its driving range, and the increasingly desperate measures the company turned to as customers discovered the ruse:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/tesla-batteries-range/

The root of the deception is very simple: Tesla mis-sells its cars by falsely claiming ranges that those cars can’t attain. Every person who ever bought a Tesla was defrauded.

But this fraud would be easy to detect. If you bought a Tesla rated for 353 miles on a charge, but the dashboard range predictor told you that your fully charged car could only go 150 miles, you’d immediately figure something was up. So your Telsa tells another lie: the range predictor tells you that you can go 353 miles.

But again, if the car continued to tell you it has 203 miles of range when it was about to run out of charge, you’d figure something was up pretty quick — like, the first time your car ran out of battery while the dashboard cheerily informed you that you had 203 miles of range left.

So Teslas tell a third lie: when the battery charge reached about 50%, the fake range is replaced with the real one. That way, drivers aren’t getting mass-stranded by the roadside, and the scam can continue.

But there’s a new problem: drivers whose cars are rated for 353 miles but can’t go anything like that far on a full charge naturally assume that something is wrong with their cars, so they start calling Tesla service and asking to have the car checked over.

This creates a problem for Tesla: those service calls can cost the company $1,000, and of course, there’s nothing wrong with the car. It’s performing exactly as designed. So Tesla created its boldest fraud yet: a boiler-room full of anti-salespeople charged with convincing people that their cars weren’t broken.

This new unit — the “diversion team” — was headquartered in a Nevada satellite office, which was equipped with a metal xylophone that would be rung in triumph every time a Tesla owner was successfully conned into thinking that their car wasn’t defrauding them.

When a Tesla owner called this boiler room, the diverter would run remote diagnostics on their car, then pronounce it fine, and chide the driver for having energy-hungry driving habits (shades of Steve Jobs’s “You’re holding it wrong”):

https://www.wired.com/2010/06/iphone-4-holding-it-wrong/

The drivers who called the Diversion Team weren’t just lied to, they were also punished. The Tesla app was silently altered so that anyone who filed a complaint about their car’s range was no longer able to book a service appointment for any reason. If their car malfunctioned, they’d have to request a callback, which could take several days.

Meanwhile, the diverters on the diversion team were instructed not to inform drivers if the remote diagnostics they performed detected any other defects in the cars.

The diversion team had a 750 complaint/week quota: to juke this stat, diverters would close the case for any driver who failed to answer the phone when they were eventually called back. The center received 2,000+ calls every week. Diverters were ordered to keep calls to five minutes or less.

Eventually, diverters were ordered to cease performing any remote diagnostics on drivers’ cars: a source told Reuters that “Thousands of customers were told there is nothing wrong with their car” without any diagnostics being performed.

Predicting EV range is an inexact science as many factors can affect battery life, notably whether a journey is uphill or downhill. Every EV automaker has to come up with a figure that represents some kind of best guess under a mix of conditions. But while other manufacturers err on the side of caution, Tesla has the most inaccurate mileage estimates in the industry, double the industry average.

Other countries’ regulators have taken note. In Korea, Tesla was fined millions and Elon Musk was personally required to state that he had deceived Tesla buyers. The Korean regulator found that the true range of Teslas under normal winter conditions was less than half of the claimed range.

Now, many companies have been run by malignant narcissists who lied compulsively — think of Thomas Edison, archnemesis of Nikola Tesla himself. The difference here isn’t merely that Musk is a deeply unfit monster of a human being — but rather, that DRM allows him to defraud his customers behind a state-enforced opaque veil. The digital computers at the heart of a Tesla aren’t just demons haunting the car, changing its performance based on whether it believes it is being observed — they also allow Musk to invoke the power of the US government to felonize anyone who tries to peer into the black box where he commits his frauds.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

This Sunday (July 30) at 1530h, I’m appearing on a panel at Midsummer Scream in Long Beach, CA, to discuss the wonderful, award-winning “Ghost Post” Haunted Mansion project I worked on for Disney Imagineering.

Image ID [A scene out of an 11th century tome on demon-summoning called 'Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae sistematisatae per celeberrimos Artis hujus Magistros. Anno 1057. Noli me tangere.' It depicts a demon tormenting two unlucky would-be demon-summoners who have dug up a grave in a graveyard. One summoner is held aloft by his hair, screaming; the other screams from inside the grave he is digging up. The scene has been altered to remove the demon's prominent, urinating penis, to add in a Tesla supercharger, and a red Tesla Model S nosing into the scene.]

Image: Steve Jurvetson (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tesla_Model_S_Indoors.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #steve stecklow #autoenshittification #norihiko shirouzu #reuters #you're holding it wrong #r2r #right to repair #range rage #range anxiety #grifters #demon-haunted world #drm #tpms #1201 #dmca 1201 #tesla #evs #electric vehicles #ftc act section 5 #unfair and deceptive practices #automotive #enshittification #elon musk

[japanbizinsider]

#Japan #subsidies #Toyota #electric vehicle batteries #domestic production #economic security #key technologies #semiconductors #investment #battery parts #materials #Honda #GS Yuasa #global competition #supply chain #Ministry of Economy #Trade #and Industry #fiscal budget #EV market #semiconductor industry #technological advancements #tokyo #innovation #decarbonization #clean energy

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

My 2nd year EV Anniversary in my Peugeot e208

#Malta #Peugeot e208 #electric hatchback #fossil fuel phase out #ev adoption #ev subsidies #semi affordable ev #electric vehicle #french car #Youtube

[motogadi]

Breaking: Electric Two-Wheeler Prices Soar in India as Subsidies Plunge - Rush to Buy EVs Before June 1

🚨 Breaking News 🚨 💥 Electric Two-Wheelers in India Set to Skyrocket in Price 💥 Starting June 1, 2023, brace yourself for a shock! The government has drastically slashed subsidies for electric two-wheelers, making them way more expensive. 😱⚡

“India’s Electric Two-Wheeler Prices Skyrocket as Subsidies Hit All-Time Low – Massive Rush Expected Before June 1!” “FAME-II Subsidy Reduction Sends Shockwaves Through Electric Two-Wheeler Market – Last Chance for Bargain Hunters!” Electric Car Charging At Power Station – New alternative power energy concept Electric two-wheelers in India are slated to become more expensive starting June 1,…

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#auto news #Electric bike #electric car #EV #fame #INDIA #NEWS #PRICE HIKE #subsidy

[immaculatasknight]

Powering Nazimobiles

#Canada #Germany #VW #EV #batteries #subsidy #corporate welfare #cobalt mining #slavery #Africa

[binimom]

US EV market

Revitalization of the electric vehicle market in the US🚗

The US electric vehicle market continues to develop and grow rapidly, attracting people's attention. Several factors, including increased awareness of the importance of environmental protection, improved EV performance, and rising fuel prices, are driving the growth of the US EV market. In addition, with the development of electric vehicle technology, the establishment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure is rapidly progressing, raising consumers' willingness to purchase electric vehicles.

EV subsidies supported by the US🔋

Electric vehicle subsidies are an important policy instrument to promote the purchase of electric vehicles by consumers. The US government is operating various subsidy programs to provide a competitive edge to companies actively participating in the electric vehicle market. These subsidies vary by vehicle type and can be up to $7,500. However, subsidy support may be limited or suspended for expensive electric vehicles over a certain price.

Electric cars in the US are expected to continue to grow, and subsidies are likely to act as a factor in promoting market growth! 💡

#electric car #US EV market #electric vehicle subsidy #Eco #market growth #future car #energy conversion #electric vehicle innovation #environmental protection #sustainability

[biglisbonnews]

Thousands of EV Charge Points To Be Installed Across London To aid in London’s transition to a net-zero carbon metropolis by the year 2030, Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, and the London Councils have announced the installation of thousands more electric vehicle charge points in all 32 boroughs and the city of London. A third of the UK’s total electric charge points are located […] https://cleantechnica.com/2023/04/14/thousands-of-ev-charge-points-to-be-installed-across-london/

#Clean Transport #Electric Vehicles #EV Charging #EV Charging Stations #Policy & Politics #Subsidies #London #Sadiq Khan #UK #Tim Tyler #CleanTechnica

[amobike]

#best electric scooter in india #electricbike #electricscooter #ev bike #ev scooter #best electric scooter #best electric scooter in india 2022 #all electric scooter #best electric scooter in india 2021 #electric bike price in delhi #electric scooter #escooty #electric scooter price in delhi on road #electric scooter price in delhi with subsidy #battery scooter operated #electric scooter in delhi price #best electric scooter in delhi #battery operated electric scooter #Youtube

[evaahan]

FAME 2 Subsidy (फेम 2 सब्सिडी)

भारत सरकार ने देश में इलेक्ट्रिक मोबिलिटी को बढ़ावा देने के लिए “फास्टर एडॉप्शन एंड मैन्युफैक्चरिंग ऑफ इलेक्ट्रिक व्हीकल्स” (FAME 2) योजना शुरू की है। FAME 2 subsidy योजना को अब मार्च 2024 तक बढ़ा दिया गया है। फेम टू सब्सिडी क्या है? (What is fame II subsidy?) FAME 2 (फास्टर एडॉप्शन एंड मैन्युफैक्चरिंग ऑफ (हाइब्रिड एंड) इलेक्ट्रिक व्हीकल्स) भारत सरकार द्वारा देश में इलेक्ट्रिक वाहनों (EVs) के…

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#electric scooter subsidy #electric vehicle subsidy #ev fame 2 subsidy #ev subsidy #FAME 2 Subsidy #Fame 2 subsidy amount #Fame 2 subsidy electric scooter #Fame 2 Subsidy for two-wheeler #Fame 2 subsidy on electric scooter #Fame 2 subsidy on nexon ev #Fame 2 subsidy on ola scooter #Fame 2 subsidy on simple one #Fame 2 subsidyon electric scooter #Fame subsidy #fame2 subsidy #how to claim fame subsidy #how to get FAME 2 Subsidy #subsidy

[medicaldevicesindustrynews]

India Electric Bus Market To Reach USD 2,766.1 Million by 2030

It is stated by a market research company, P&S Intelligence, the total size of the Indian electric bus market size will USD 603.1 million in 2022, and it will grow at a rate of 21% by the end of this decade, to reach USD 2,766.1 million by 2030. India is the second-most populated nation, following China. The national population figures continued to grow and so does the count of vehicles. The…

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#" "electric bus manufacturing in India #" "EV bus charging infrastructure in India #" "EV bus tenders in India #" "FAME India subsidy for e-buses #e-bus adoption in India

[zvaigzdelasas]

You can’t buy the Seagull in the US. But I bet you wish you could.

A small hatchback around the size of a Mini Cooper, the Seagull is a fast-charging electric car and claims a range of up to 250 miles [...] BYD, its Chinese manufacturer, claims it can go from 30 percent to 80 percent charged in a half-hour using a DC plug. It’s hardly a luxury car but it’s well-equipped, with a power driver’s seat and cruise control. “If I were looking for an inexpensive commuter car … this would be perfect,” veteran car journalist John McElroy said after taking a drive.

The best part? Its base model costs about $10,700 in China.

That’s about a third of the cost of the cheapest EV you can buy in the US. In South America, it’s a little pricier, but still fairly affordable, at under $24,000 for a top-trim version. Even in Europe, you can get an entry-level BYD for under €30,000. These are absolutely screaming deals — exactly the kind of products that could turbocharge our transition away from gas and toward electric vehicles.[...]

The problem for Americans? The Biden administration is hell-bent on preventing you from buying BYD’s product, and if Donald Trump returns to office, he is likely to fight it as well.

That’s because the BYD cars are made in China, and both Biden and Trump are committed to an ultranationalist trade policy meant to keep BYD’s products out. [...] Shipments to Europe have increased astronomically; Chinese companies sold 0.5 percent of EVs in Europe in 2019 but they’re already over 9 percent as of last year. Companies like BYD make cheap, reasonably good-quality cars people are eager to buy.

In 2018, Trump imposed, and Biden has since continued, a special 25 percent tax on Chinese-made autos, on top of the ordinary 2.5 percent tax on foreign-made cars.

That has so far prevented BYD and its Chinese peers from trying to enter the US market. US customer tastes are different enough that Chinese manufacturers would probably prefer to make cars tailored to them — but US policy has been so hostile toward cheap Chinese EVs that so far, the companies haven’t wanted to bother.

So, the result is that we’re left out of the bounty of cheap EV options created by BYD and others. “If you’re a consumer right now, the best place to be right now is China, because you have the best choice of EVs,” Ilaria Mazzocco, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and an expert on Chinese EVs, says.[...]

Still, China’s price advantage is big enough that even the extreme Trump-Biden import tax might not be enough to deter companies like BYD from entering the US market. Even with the tariffs, Chinese cars might be cheaper than their rivals. “​​Subsidies most likely won’t be enough; Mr. Biden will need to impose [more] trade restrictions,” climate journalist Robinson Meyer predicted recently. The Biden administration is already making noise about imposing even more draconian taxes or trade restrictions against these vehicles. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has described Chinese-made cars as a national security threat, and recently announced an investigation into the vehicles’ data collection abilities and the possibility they could send movement data to Beijing.

On the one hand, Biden is offering Americans up to $7,500 per vehicle to buy EVs (provided they meet certain made-in-North America rules). On the other hand, he’s imposing massive taxes to keep Americans from buying EVs. It’s a bizarre policy that makes no sense from a climate perspective.[...]

[The Biden Administration] has proven shockingly willing to sabotage its own climate policy if it gets to stick it to the Chinese in the process.

“There’s almost an across-the-board apprehension about Chinese EVs, even though they would make an important contribution to [lower] CO2 emissions,” Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a veteran trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, says.[...]

Realistically, Helveston argues, BYD might not sell something like the Seagull in the US because it’s smaller than most cars Americans buy. They’d probably build plants in the US instead, or its free-trade zone partners Canada and Mexico, to build vehicles tailored for Americans. “If you’re going to really enter a market, you have to make it locally,” Helveston explains. “US automakers like GM sell and make millions of cars in China to sell in China.” BYD would do the same. Indeed, it’s already reportedly scouting sites for factories in Mexico.

If they ever were to set up shop in North America, BYD and other Chinese car companies would still have a major price advantage versus American EVs. They have years more experience and a much more successful track record of building batteries and EVs at low cost.

“Part of why they’re so successful is they’ve been thinking outside the box on cost reduction for a long time,” Mazzocco says. They took the “opposite of the Tesla approach”: starting not with luxury vehicles but ultra-cheap cars fit for taxi fleets and not much else, and constantly improving their early inexpensive prototypes. The result is that Chinese firms have gotten extremely good at making inexpensive EVs, at a time when Ford, by contrast, lost $28,000 for every EV it sold in 2023.[...]

“If you have more affordable EVs in the United States, no matter where you come from,” Gopal says, “that’s better for the climate.”

Still, the Biden administration reportedly wants to restrict Chinese car companies’ access to the US even if they do set up shop in North America. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the Biden administration is formulating rules that would limit US sales of Chinese-made parts, even if they’re in vehicles ultimately assembled in the US or Mexico.[...]

But the Biden administration’s objections to Chinese EVs are also ideological. The Biden administration represents the victory of a protectionist, trade-skeptical wing of the Democratic party that was relegated to the sidelines during the Clinton and Obama years.[...]

[O]ver 90 percent of American households have a car, and surging car prices were a huge contributor to the 2021–2023 rise in inflation.

Barriers to importing cheap cars make inflation worse and reduce the real incomes of the middle class.

Not only are the administration and other left-leaning institutions opposed to Chinese EVs, but hardline conservatives at places like the Heritage Foundation are calling for outright bans on Chinese EVs as well. Their rationale is security, another theme the Biden administration evokes often. On Thursday, the Commerce Department announced it was beginning a process to “investigate the national security risks of … PRC-manufactured technology in [internet-connected] vehicles.”

6 Mar 24