I don’t feel bad for the greedy EU automakers.
However, allowing plug-in hybrids would be folly, given research released just this week from Transport & Environment showing plug-in hybrids emit five times as many emissions on average in the real-world as they do in testing regimes.
That’s crazy if true, but I know a research done here in Denmark also had results of PHEV running way way more on petrol than they were supposed to. So IMO PHEV should not enjoy the same tax benefits here a BEV does.
In real world use my phev runs 6x less than the previous ice. I had to install a level 2 charger (us) so we could make two trips per day, but it saves a lot of gas. Sure more range would be nice but in the real world phev uses a lot less petro. of course if you never bother charging it (thus a hybrid) you save little but it isn’t hard to make a phev a lot better than a ice. Never as good as a full ev but don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
Anecdotal, and if you need gas so rarely, why not buy a BEV? Then you would need recharge way more rarely than you need gas as it is.
PHEV is nothing but a tax loop hole, and it needs to be closed. If you buy PHEV at free market conditions, without tax credits, that’s your business.
Because in the US BEVs are only just starting to become available. At 3x the price I can’t afford a BEV. I buy used cars in general which means I only have what was sold 3+ years ago as an option. Even PHEV I had one option, but since it had been around for a while it was used (and I didn’t ask to many questions before buying because I suspected someone else would buy it if I did)
OK I absolutely get that.
But from new, I don’t think there’s much reason to give PHEV tax credits.
I’m in the exact same boat, a new BEV car is expensive, and we don’t drive so much, so we are also looking for something used, around 4-5 years old, at that age they are about half price here. That way we feel we get way better value, and we don’t have to borrow.
In the first half of this year 30% of German car production was BEV. So going to 100% by 2035 is certainly possible. Stellantis and Renault are probably in a similar position. There are some companies producing combustion engine parts, which will die. Also some divisions of the large car companies have to close. That is already starting to happen. So honestly the car industry is probably going to shut up soonish. Because they produce more EVs then ICE cars.
However the oil industry is scared. Road transport is a huge part of EU oil consumption and going for more BEVs is going to kill it. They will used every trick in the book to push for the car industry is going to die in the transition narrative.
Fuck the oil industry… they’re really good at lying and hurting us