this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
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ok so i want to pick your brain here. What would be the most effective way to prevent these idiots from buying these large trucks, but still allowing these larger trucks on the market for the few rare instances where people actually need them.
I've had a few thoughts, notably just making smaller trucks alongside these larger trucks, they're going to be a lot cheaper and more efficient so market forces should do quite a bit of work there. Aside from there, i've considered just selling super duties and deleting the normal line, probably just leaving the duallies in all honesty. I've also considered just yeeting the bed and throwing a fifth wheel there as a standard feature, making it impractical for anything other than hauling heavy trailers.
Outside of this, i'm not sure, but i'm also not convinced most people that use these trucks even need them in the first place, even if they're doing work.
may I propose periodically inspecting and auditing if the subject needs the truck and if not they are shot on the spot?
Or, for a serious answer: ban them but not the trucks like those used in Europe (have same or better bed length but look uglier). Make trucks back into work vehicles instead of status symbols. And firebomb GM.
either one of these would work, i'm more curious as to what market forces would need to be manipulated to make it a thing.
Maybe we just have to wait for new EV manufacturers to pop up making a small truck. It would actually benefit them as well.
market forces trend towards using people's fragile masculinity to sell them big truck to make money.
The only way we can get these shitstains out of our society is to completely and violently maim said free market with an axe.
i doubt it. Market forces trend towards selling cheap products with high margins, which smaller vehicles would easily fit the bill for.
Then car companies wouldn't be making bigger and bigger cars
yeah, and it seems to be mostly because of regulations surrounding wheelbase and emissions. I think it's a secondary market effect where people are buying them because its the only real option.
If we were to restrict or remove them, and fix the apparent issue with regulations, i would imagine people would go back to buying smaller cars as they're cheaper and more economical.
It's not the only real option tho. First of all a vast majority of those buying big trucks and cars don't need a truck and aren't hauling shit, they are buying them for a status symbol, second of all vehicles that are legal in Europe, with their stricter safety standards etc, are legal in the US, you can buy the smaller vehicles I'm talking about in the US or other places, they are available, yet market forces still push towards the shittier massive vehicles, because it makes more money to market these vehicles to insecure men.
that's not what most truck owners say, but maybe they're coping hard. The second technicality here would be vehicle safety, but these vehicles are obviously more dangerous, so maybe they should be or are more expensive to insure than the average vehicle because of that.
obviously, but this is discounting the native American auto manufacturing which the US generally has a massive boner for, both it's people and the government, people still buy euro cars, but unless they manufactured domestically like subaru for example, they're going to be more expensive.
this specifically is the companies wanting to sell more larger trucks with more features, as it makes them a bigger margin. There's a massive slog in new vehicle purchases at the moment as they car market is normalizing post covid. It's possible they'll pick up later, it's possible they won't it's hard to tell.
Different user, but ending the loopholes on vehicle emissions/MPG would be a good start. Here is a good summary of the situation:
https://www.wired.com/story/the-us-wants-to-close-the-suv-loophole-that-supersized-cars/
Though IIRC the Biden admin came out with new, better rules to help with this.
Another way to deal with it is to build comprehensive public transportation, relax residential zoning regulations, eliminate parking minimums, build biking/pedestrian infrastructure, etc. Doing so will reduce car dependence and therefore the number of people who unnecessarily choose a huge vehicle.
Yet another way to deal with this, is to tax auto sales based on vehicle size. As of right now, there is little financial pressure to keep cars small, so manufactures play an arms race with each other to make bigger vehicles, because they're safer the occupants, all at the cost of everybody else's safety. Bigger cars also impart more wear and tear on public roads, so between these things they should financially contribute more taxes to compensate.
reducing car dependence is another thing as well, though i think it's probably good we focus on this specific problem more so at the moment, as a lot of that infrastructure is simply going to take time to mature.
a tax on vehicle weight would be a good one though.
Absolutely. But it will definitely help, and long term solutions are important solutions.
Also absolutely, though a straight weigh based tax may not be a great idea, as EVs are significantly heavier. So without taking that into account, it would largely be a tax on EVs. Given the current climate situation, that's the wrong move.
From what I've seen in practice, it seems like most vehicle weight taxes do take this into account.
yeah obviously. I think it's important to engage in both long term, and short term solutions however.
i mean, EV's are just heavier, which means they're going to put more wear on the road. Regardless a smaller EV should still be relatively comparable to a moderately larger ICE vehicle. And we also expect EV batteries to get lighter over time, especially if you include solidstate battery tech.
Although maybe EVs should get a tax credit in this regard, since they're yknow, EVs.
Agreed.
Personally, I'm against tax credits on a conceptual basis. They complicate the tax code. Taxes should be simple, quick, and easy. Tacking on extra tax credits just makes an already horrendous system worse. Either give a citizen a check automatically, directly subsidize individual sales.
yeah, im not a huge fan of how complicated it is either, but at the end of the day unless we do a complete ground up overhaul of the tax system which i am for, not much is going to happen.
Require a truck driving license. These aren't cars.
Let fuel prices rise to a realistic level. Make them primarily business vehicles. Push for heavy duty hybrids and full electrics. Fines and annual fees for fuel system mods which decrease fuel mileage.
Mind you, I doubt these would go down well. I am not your normal truck guy, at all.
yeah, another option in the case of gas would apparently be EPA regulations, because they're terrible, apparently.
I’ve noticed that one of the largest fleet purchaser of oversized mega-utes are the Mobile EV recovery companies. They take a Dodge RAM, stick a Diesel Generator on the back and they can drive around, rescuing the EVs that ran out of charge.
Because they are promoting EV use, they actually get carbon credits for this.
thats pretty ironic. Carbon credits are utter bullshit though.