• cosmic_slate@dmv.social
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      9 months ago

      There’s also a chicken-and-egg problem here. EVs are hard to sell because the infrastructure to support them at scale isn’t there. The infrastructure won’t scale up until there’s sufficient demand to make capital investments in that infrastructure profitable.

      A couple years ago, sure, but this just isn’t true anymore. Sure, not everyone’s living situation is ideal for an EV, but let’s take just homeowners. ~60% of Americans own a home, I’d wager a significant percentage of that 60% would either do fine with a standard 120V outlet or add an EV charger in their garage. That’s still a big market.

      (I’m a BEV owner who rents and has to use a standard wall outlet)

      I’m willing to bet the bigger issue the Biden admin needs to balance is keeping the unions happy, the automakers happy, and not tanking the US automotive industry by nudging them forward.

      A shift to EVs means there’s going to be a loss of manufacturing jobs. I can’t imagine the unions being too happy about this, especially going into an election year. That needs to be balanced with the increasing interest in foreign automakers wanting to build factories in Mexico to import vehicles here cheaply.