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Republicans are pulling out all the stops to reverse EV adoption (www.theverge.com)

submitted 7 months ago by jeffw to c/technology

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Oh, I agree with you.

In my area, we're widening a highway, which will cost $3-4B. We had a train project estimate that was rejected that totally would've replaced my commute that was estimated at ~$1B and was a prerequisite for a major company bringing more jobs here. We did the highway and not the train...

Overhauling transit just isn't practical politically.

That said, I'm generally against subsidies and in favor of Piguovian taxes. I think we should:

eliminate subsidies to fossil fuels and EVs
increase taxes on large, heavy vehicles and gas to fully fund roads (remove road infrastructure from general taxes)
funnel money saved from the above into mass transit - our entire transit system costs $20 times the annual ridership

[–] FireRetardant 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I think much of north america is dug so deep into car centric planning that making drivers pay the full cost would be too expensive for a significant portion of the population and workforce. I think the alternatives need to exist before the taxation because many people are constrained to their car being their only reliable way to get to work.

Making that cost more could put huge financial stress on a family whereas building the rail before the taxation could provide a cheaper alternative before the taxation even begins.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

I'm thinking we'd calculate the average cost for driving a car based on a set of metrics (curb weight, miles driven, etc), then apply discounts for certain cars (older cars, EVs, etc). The bulk of the impact would be on large trucks and wealthy people. That would increase costs for shipped products (and encourage local production), which would be balanced out by better mass transit.

It should certainly be phased in to avoid a big shock, but that should be the goal. It turns out that driving for me is cheaper than taking transit because roads are so heavily subsidized. If I had to pay for my actual use, transit would look a lot more attractive.