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Comment by rtkwe | Hacker News Reader

It's funny to see these gas prices spike as companies are announcing they're killing their EV models here in the US.

It is worse than that. Companies are killing their EV models and discontinuing [sedans](https://www.autoblog.com/features/these-automakers-no-longer...) in favor of trucks and SUVs.

They've been on this path for a while now. The reckoning has to come at some point right?

At this point I don't see a solution to the arms-race of autobesity besides regulation. Cars that represent a larger threat to other road users need to have that externality internalized onto the driver.

Because otherwise we just get things like the Hummer EV which is literally over 9000 lbs.

There have been a whole bunch of articles in the last month about how the US automakers are trying to being back sedans:

"America Fell Out of Love With the Sedan. Detroit Wants to Bring It Back" [1].

"Detroit Automakers Want To Bring Back Sedans. Will They Last This Time?" [2]

"General Motors Could Bring Buick Back to Sedans with a New RWD Model" [3]

"Buick Is Reportedly Considering a New Sedan for the United States" [4]

"Are sedans coming back? How looser EPA rules and rising SUV costs could reshape the U.S. car market" [5]

"Ford Confirms it is getting back to the sedan and minivan game in America as well as an Escape successor" [6]

"Detroit Abandoned Sedans, Now It Wants Them Back" [7]

[1] https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/sedans-cars-trucks-detroi...

[2] https://www.thedrive.com/news/detroit-automakers-want-to-bri...

[3] https://autos.yahoo.com/new-vehicles-and-reviews/articles/ge...

[4] https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a70738088/report-buick-sed...

[5] https://www.autonocion.com/us/american-automakers-considerin...

[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/1qy8802/ford_confirms... or https://old.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/1qy8802/ford_confirms...

[7] https://www.carscoops.com/2026/02/detroit-three-sedan-comeba...

I thought the same thing. Incredibly short term thinking at the corporate and government level to flip flop. Meanwhile Norway is now 97% EV sales and covered in chargers north to south. Not to mention China's fierce EV market domestically.

Norway is an exceptionally rich country due to oil with huge incentives towards EVs. Don’t extrapolate

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/PEVs_in_...

Sure. But the numbers are certainly trending in a direction that US doesn't seem to want to go in. So, it is what it is, I suppose. Draw your own conclusions.

It also has the population on the order of Queens and Brooklyn put together. Singapore, the micro island city state, has a larger population.

The problem with many of these EVs is that they were way too expensive. The main reason companies were producing them is due to regulatory requirements and how emissions standards are calculated, not necessarily because wanted to sell these EVs.

What we really need are incentives for companies to build more affordable EVs. California could play a role here, but given the strong opinions we have about Elon Musk, nothing will be done.

China and increasingly India are building very affordable EVs. You can get this guy for $7700, or full-featured models from $10,000:

https://driveauthority.com/cheapest-ev-car-in-china/

All you really need is a political snap of the fingers to remove tariffs, so they can start selling them in the US.

Of course, there is absolutely no way this will happen with the current administration.

Yeah seeing more and more 2W, 3W and 4W in India along with rooftop solar which government subsidizes.

Mind you I am living in a Tier 4 “city”.

I 100% understand that nothing will be done on the federal level. But california is big enough to make things moving without any federal level law.

For example, what about:

- no sales taxes on new EV sales

- free registration for 5 years

- free bridge tolls for 5 years

That might convince some of these companies to start making EVs again.

They’ll make up the lost revenue by additional taxes on the common people?

I do not know. It is all about priorities.

Raise taxes on gas? Put extra taxes on sell ICE vehicles? Increase registration fees for ICE vehicles? (In short - ICE sales will paying for money lost via EV sales)

I’m not saying it will be easy. I’m saying that if we really want EVs to succeed we can do it.

All the EV tariffs are staying place past the end of the Trump administration because protectionism is now bipartisan.

That heavily depends on the Dem primaries. I think after the unpopularity of Biden and the 2024 loss by Harris there might be more appetite to rock the boat instead of getting another establishment caretaker.

However, the more radical wing of Democrats still have some anti-globalism in them (eg Bernie). But still, imho: Unusual outcomes are on the table for Democratic party leadership at this point.

> All the EV tariffs are staying place past the end of the Trump administration because protectionism is now bipartisan.

Anything Trump supported will continue to be seen as hot garbage after he is removed from office. There is no appetite for protectionism when it has hurt rather than benefitted the American economy.

Or just allow Chinese EVs without tariffs.

Would be incredible for US auto consumers.

But might put some of our automakers out of business.

What about no sales taxes on EV purchases (full sales tax exemption) in California?

There is no world in which this would happen, because the auto industry holds up so much secondary and tertiary domestic manufacturing (most of which use China at the bottom anyway).

I don’t care about US brands, let Xiaomi and BYD run those factories. Just let me have a YU-7 for the love of god!

Those factories won’t be run by Chinese automakers they’ll be shut down with the corresponding loss of jobs and secondary industries.

Gotta say I was annoyed at the time but deprecating the Australian car manufacturers last decade means we have no scruples about allowing cheap as chips Chinese EVs through the door and I’m loving it.

No the regulatory requirements and emission standards have nothing to do with affordability. The only reason is just economies of scale. In fact regulatory requirements help because companies like Tesla historically sold their emission credits to other carmakers to make money.

Confused about this comment. Are you talking about government subsidies and tax incentives? Haven't companies and consumers already been given these incentives? Now that they're drawing down, it's obvious there's a limited market. What needs to happen is real economic demands need to make the market not created ones. Then prices will come down and efficiencies will increase .

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