[0] https://www.skatteetaten.no/globalassets/tabeller-og-satser/...
That's not my argument. It would be a good thing if all governments outlawed ICE consumer vehicles. However, headlines like this are portraying Norway as some kind of progressive utopia where everyone just wants to drive EVs.
Obviously you can make people do whatever you want with aggressive enough tax policies. But the goal should be to get EVs to a fair market price point where they truly compete, not reliant on subsidies.
Hybrid 405k NOK [0] Electric 415k NOK [1]
0: https://www.kia.com/api/bin/docDownload?program=brochure&loc... 1: https://www.kia.com/api/bin/docDownload?program=brochure&loc...
That's my whole point. Of course more people will choose an EV when they are at price parity. The problem is that they are not. The Niro EV sells for a ~40% premium in the US over the ICE version, because the government subsidies are far less.
Headlines like this are portraying Norway as some kind of progressive democracy, where the majority wants to have laws to drive up EV sales.
It's a representative democracy, so it's the voted–in government officials instead of the majority of people ;)
The difference does matter, because the cause and effect is inverted: the government is elected... And now it passes laws such as this.
It's not the population that voted so the government would pass these laws.
The US federal government subsidizes $20B per year towards fossil fuels across oil, gas, and coal.
The EU subsidizes €55B per year towards fossil fuels.
https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-fossil-fuel-subs...
Drilling Info has more than 2,700 accounts globally with more than 20,000 users. Drilling Info members produce more than 90 percent of domestic oil and gas in the United States.
They're in the oil and gas business -- of course they want to "debunk" any info about the subsidies given to that industry.
"Intangible Drilling Costs ($3.5 billion “subsidy” – low estimate is $780 million) - Intangible Drilling Costs are essentially the cost of drilling a new well that have no salvageable value. Currently, most exploration companies are allowed to deduct 100% of the costs in the year they are incurred with the majors able to deduct 70% of the costs immediately with the remaining 30% amortized over 5 years. In what world would money spent that may or may not be recovered be capitalized as an asset?"
Plenty of companies spend plenty of money on R&D every year that goes nowhere. For some reason, the oil & gas industry gets a refund on their exploration but other companies don't. I work in R&D in tech -- should the government fund my complete salary for projects that turn out to not be viable? Sounds great if you're an entrepreneur -- start all the companies you want and get refunded by the government for all of your misses.
Ability to scale, test new models, gather experiences et cetera.
To be clear, I am a big fan of electric cars. But this seems to have become another one of those things that has become so polarised you're not even allowed to express healthy skepticism.
So it isn't pretending, they really are a lot better for the planet in the mid-term and forward.
Also, the fact that EVs produce almost zero local pollution makes them incredibly compelling. So much so that I'd still be in favour of them even if they produced the same amount of CO2 overall. Just to make it clear which "team" I am on.
I'm just pointing out that the EV debate seems to have become one of those things where people pick a side and then stop accepting any nuance.
The comment I originally replied to was making the typical glib lazy assertion that ICE cars are some terrible medieval technology and EVs are all sunshine and rainbows. It's more complicated than that.
There is, it’s called biodiesel. It’s certainly possible to be net zero carbon with synthetic fuels.
I think our disposible lifestyle needs to be fixed. Replacing your perfectly good thing with shiny new x% better thing is not necessarily green when you consider the costs of manufacturing that thing, shipping it to you, and disposing with your old thing.
The pitch has always been that they pollute less globally (and that how much depends on the electric energy mix, but will generally decrease over time) and way less locally. EVs is also the only solution to have a viable path to net zero lifetime CO2 impact. It'll take a zero-emission grid and zero-emission mining, but we need those anyway, and EV tech will help make mining zero-emission.
EV pollute the planet, but so does everything else - including making the food that's turned into energy spent on cycling. It's not all that clear cut.
They are almost identical dimensions
Model 3: 185" L x 73" W
Outback: 191″ L x 73″ W