Damning new report finds nearly all major car companies are actively sabotaging world's efforts to avoid catastrophic global warming, and Japan companies are the worst.
  • Coffee AddictOPMEnglish
    4•5 months ago

    A damning new report has shown that nearly all major car companies are actively sabotaging the world’s efforts to avoid catastrophic global warming. The lobbying strategies being used by the world’s largest automakers are putting global climate targets at risk and threatening the electric vehicle transition, according to the new report released by InfluenceMap.

    […]

    The report says Japanese automakers are the least prepared for the EV transition and have the most active, strategic engagement against it.

    This is why I am opposed to tariffs (side note - I dislike tariffs in general) on Chinese electric vehicles. While according to this article Japanese automakers are the worst offenders, the Big Three US auto companies aren’t behaving any better.

    Something needs to be done to light a fire under major auto companies and get them to produce quality, affordable, electric vehicles. Right now, they don’t want to spend the money to invest in new research and facilities and would instead prefer to keep producing cars that rely on dead dinosaurs for fuel.

    The long term solution is, of course, to invest in quality public transit and walkable cities. But cars and trucks should still transition to being electric.

    • Neblib 🥥🌴
      3•5 months ago

      @Coffee_Addict I’d rather less incentives for initial manufactures and instead incentivize conversion kits since most people shouldn’t buy new cars anyway (climate + financial reasons) as well as incentives for fleet vehicle purchases. I really wish the feds would eat their own dogfood and make all GSA purchases EV when possible. We also need to incentivize standardized battery formats, charging stations with standardized formats, power distribution networks, and the related supply chains.

      • Coffee AddictOPMEnglish
        4•5 months ago

        @[email protected] Porque no los dos?

        Conversion kits are a great idea and sound both more affordable & sustainable. I’d also bet they can be adopted more quickly too. However, I also see value in new vehicles that are designed to be electric from the get-go; I just think the auto industry will put up less resistance if there are incentives given to upgrade their facilities.

        I definitely agree on the standardized battery formats, charging stations, etc. IMO, we should be standardizing as much as possible. The easier something is to swap out, the faster it can be adopted. Battery recycling is also a huge one, too.

        I’d also like to see the fed adjust their vehicle standards to disincentivize the massive trucks and crossovers we see everywhere now.

        • Neblib 🥥🌴
          2•5 months ago

          @Coffee_Addict yeah simply removing the CAFE non-commercial truck loophole would do wonders, especially if you throw in a 2-3 year headwind to good faith allow transitioning their delivery pipelines.