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EU may slap retroactive tariffs on Chinese EVs as Commission finds evidence that China has been “unfairly” subsidizing its EV exports (electrek.co)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The European Commission says China hasn’t been playing fair in that its government has been paying subsidies through “direct transfer of funds,” among other actions, reports Reuters – which the EC says tips the balance in China’s favor and leaves European automakers out to dry.

Back in October 2023, Europe launched its formal investigation into the Chinese EV industry, as European companies are struggling to compete with the cheap, high-tech Chinese imports, made by low-cost labor, entering the European Union.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (2 children)

A lot of electricity is still made with fossil fuels and new cars (even electric) are worse for the environment than buying used

On top of that China is trying to get rid of competition with subsidies

It's not as black and white as you think

[–] FooBarrington 18 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The rest are fine arguments, but this one:

A lot of electricity is still made with fossil fuels

is bad for several reasons:

power generation from fossil fuels gets more efficient when scaled up
fossil power plants can filter out more emissions than cars can
EVs can switch to better electricity sources, fossil burners will always be using fossil fuels

[–] then_three_more 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

power plants are situated away from population centres reducing the amount of localised air pollution that people breathe in. (I feel people sometimes forget that there's additional dangers of air pollution other than the climate crisis)

[–] FooBarrington 0 points 6 months ago

Great point, thanks for adding!

[–] dumpsterlid -3 points 6 months ago (2 children)

We are in the middle of a climate crisis where every year of inaction dooms countless to death or at the very least catastrophically reduced quality of life.

It is absolutely one of the few things that is actually black and white.

Is China playing unfair? Yes, but it really doesn’t matter at this point, they are making more EVs and the correct response at this point is just to do the same.

We are in an emergency, act accordingly.

[–] then_three_more 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'd argue the correct response is to make more electric buses and other forms of mass transport. Then incentivise the use of public transport (and or self powered transport) and discourage the use of private transport entirely.

[–] dumpsterlid 2 points 6 months ago

Absolutely, no disagreement there, especially in the US bus systems are our best hope in many respects (honestly even fossil fuel burning busses have to be orders of magnitude better for the environment than everyone driving EV cars) but if the choice is between EV cars and gas cars the choice is clear.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

@dumpsterlid

Slavery or forced labour, which is arguably a major economic driver for EV in China, is not the solution. We don't act accordingly if we allow something like that.

[–] dumpsterlid 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

By this logic buying any modern electronic devices or tools is not acting accordingly.

Also, I’m sorry I just don’t buy that this has anything to do with giving a shit about Chinese workers, it’s about portraying China as the Big Bad .

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

@dumpsterlid

By this logic buying any modern electronic devices or tools is not acting accordingly.

This is largely true, and it is largely true because a lot of modern electronic devices -or at least some of their parts- are 'Made in China'.

Europe must urgently work to gain back its production capabilities and force out any unfair competition, whoever this is or will be.