Troubled European carmakers to talk fines and EVs with EU

Accept that the Chinese have done a better job at this. Drop the tariffs on cheap Chinese EVs as they are just stupid if you want a faster transition. The EU can only manufacture so many EVs each year anyway. Then subsidise the heck out of them for anyone moving from an ICE vehicle to a hybrid or EV.

If time is to be wasted paper shuffling do something useful: consider whether swopping-out standardised batteries should be a normal option going forward, rather than recharging. Because many homes cannot accommodate charging. Perhaps having two and swopping one when it is low, always having the second.

And lose the excessive tech requirements that are pushing up the price of cars. Autonomy was a dead end as is pretty much over. Simpler cars are cheaper and a faster transition requires cheaper cars.

Stop thinking of EVs as mobile tech devices with seats, tracked 24/7 Google style. Just think of them as cars with batteries.

Exports to the US may be over with tariffs and Trump's anti-EV policies, so factor that in and concentrate on the RotW. But do not reciprocate on tariffs: it won't change Trump's mind but will cost European buyers money. After the last few years, the EU is on a political knife edge. There is no margin for raising costs for EU citizens any more, or placing burdens on them. If you do, they will just switch their votes to the neo-Nazi parties.

Goodbye Europe Good bye West. Autos are gone. Soon the tech will be gone. The future belongs to Japan and Asia!

The companies should just stop complying with bad laws. Refuse to pay the fines, and tell the arrogant politicians and bureaucrats where to go. The laws are based on politics not science, and most people don't want EVs, evidenced by the numbers of them left on dealer lots because they can't be sold without being subsidised to kingdom come. car makers are only building them in numbers because government mandates are forcing them to under threat of heavy fines.

EV resale value is going subterranean as demand for used EVs plummets. Hertz are struggling to almost give theirs away. Insurance companies are jacking up the rates to insure EVs because it can be cheaper and safer to write them off instead of repair them. Mechanical and body repairs can take months because there are few mechanics and panelbeaters who are willing to touch them and risk fires in their workshops. Charging is a headache for anything but short trips because of the time needed to charge the batteries at charging stations. This is a big problem for people who live in high-rises and inner-city areas without their own car space equipped with a charging point. Car park operators are getting nervous about EVs due to fire risks and the consequent rising insurance costs. As are shipping operators.

This is not to say that EVs are bad per se - they do have a place. But forcing companies to make what few people want is wrong on so many levels, not that far removed from a Soviet-type system.

What people DO want is hybrids and ICE vehicles. And the makers are happy to build them because they can clear their stock.

The EU is like late-stage Soviet bureaucracy on steroids, acting like they're totally unaccountable to anyone and pursuing the net zero madness as if there were no consequences for bad decisions. They need to be lock up for good.

Who would've thunk? The sooner the EU is disbanded and countries allowed to set their own laws and have their own currencies again, the better. Talk about a failed experienent.