Fuel efficiency, EVs, and charger funding all cut by Trump’s orders

Among the new president's many executive orders were attacks on clean vehicle policies.

See full article...

 

[KoshcheiTheDeathless]

Tesla competes in the luxury EV space. People buy them because they have money and they want to be seen in a Tesla. They aren't really competing with ICE vehicles.

Probably not anymore. When the CEO and figurehead of the company starts flashing belligerent seig heils, it eliminates several categories of wealthy people as customers, EV or no: They want to be part of the solution to climate change, not the final solution.

 

[DrewW]

"States rights"... except when they're Democratic states.

Lol, States' Rights exist only until the Supreme Court moves right. I can't believe it didn't rile up more right-wingers when the Supremes over-ruled the people's votes and longstanding gun-control laws of New York, "The Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen removed a key element of New York’s gun laws, making it easier to obtain a license to carry a firearm in New York’s public spaces."

States' Rights is just another fictional construct now, like "access to healthcare" & "rule of law" & "market capitalism."

 

[Frodo Douchebaggins]

Incel Camino

Deplorean

 

[Tonkaman]

Not so fast. First off, he pissed off a lot of the upper echelon officer corp. The rank and file supports Trump to a significant degree. Secondly, even if the military doesn't like him, as long as the orders are even remotely legal, they have to follow them. No, it won't be a military coup but I, for one, am not interested in tangling with the US military in any way shape or form. The Second Amendment is a bit outclassed by your average infantry platoon.

Yeah, but refusing to leave past your 2nd term is black and white illegal.

 

[Archades]

When folks start understanding this, it'll start making more sense.

At the same time Tesla needs the income and the stock price to make it's moves into not being a car company.

 

[the_frakker]

How many BEVs are sold as new vehicles for $30k or less in the US (without tax credit)?

I can’t think of a single one. In fact, IIRC BEV versions of “other technology” vehicles have just started being price comparable to their counterparts in the last year and that’s thanks to the tax credit combined with lower material costs.

So… tell me where this “unfair advantage” is coming from?

 

[SplatMan_DK]

Canada should join the EU.

Seems more obvious for Canada to make an alliance of states with all the blue states in the current US, when they finally decide to leave the red idiots behind.

Start with California.

 

[neil_w]

From the outside, it looks like the greatest nation on the planet is imploding under the massively increasing pressure of raw stupidity.

Kinda looks like that from the inside as well, no?

 

[KoshcheiTheDeathless]

Canada should join the EU.

Yes, we should.

 

[SirFredman]

How does President Vance sound?

Thought so.

Remember how Putin couldn't do a third term? That playbook has already been written. Not that I think that Trump will make it that far personally unless they go full out Stalin and embalm him.

Oh. Wait.

Embalming...oh crap, get ready for Weekend at Donnie's.

 

[the_frakker]

Tesla has been profitable but only slightly. Most, if not all, of that profit is due to them taking advantage of NEVI funding.

Musk has to be betting that Trump’s deregulation of autonomous vehicles will allow Tesla to launch the fully autonomous Cybercab and FSD Unsupervised before they are actually safe for the roads. And that the sales of the Cybercab will be so great that it makes up for losses from removing the tax credits and other NEVI funding.

I have a difficult time wrapping my head around the possible logic here, though. If you have a government that is actively telling everyone that EVs are the road to hell, then who tf is going to start buying EVs now? Isn’t there a higher likelihood that whether you offer a (supposed) fully autonomous vehicle or not that selling it as an EV is going to be a problem in this economy? And what happens to sales of all your other EVs?

Maybe Musk is about to ditch Tesla, sell his overpriced shares and laugh all the way to the bank as the company sinks from his market manipulation.

 

[Dr Gitlin]

Tesla has already built its charging infrastructure and doesn't qualify for EV subsidies anymore. Especially when it comes to charging infrastructure, it's like an existing cable or fiber ISP not wanting any new fiber to be laid in the areas they serve.

Who told you this? Tesla has already been awarded plenty of contracts under NEVI to build out more chargers.

 

[msawzall]

To do this, it eliminates "state emissions waivers that function to limit sales of gasoline-powered automobiles." That spells bad news for California and the 17 other states that follow the California Air Resources Board's Zero Emissions Vehicles regulations.

But... States' rights?

 

[tRexx]

Four years of stupidity, lawlessness and lies. And the Supreme Court picked this time in history to make the president all but beyond American criminal law.

 

[Dr Gitlin]

They qualify for much less EV subsidies than newer companies, and they'd rather have their near-monopoly on interstate charging infrastructure than have some NEVI funding but have competition.

OK, which subsidies are you talking about? Be specific.

 

[thrillgore]

From the (currently, for now) sane side of the 49th, I can't help but think "maybe we really should be building a wall"

That's followed by "hey, maybe Canada should see if Washington and Oregon and California want to join us?"

Can you invite Colorado too? haha asking for a friend

 

[glogloglo]

Near the end of the article there's a comment/concern that Trump's anti-EV stance is going to harm or slow jobs from EV factories... Market forces alone are going to cause ICE to obsolete themselves anyway. Those jobs are coming. From their position, EVs need zero help and zero incentives. They'd be right. EV market presence is sustainable and people will adopt without the help.

 

[Dr Gitlin]

They don't qualify for selling carbon credits though (that is, carbon credits that companies like Aston Martin used to buy from Tesla), and that's important, because newer EV companies do qualify for that. And this puts Tesla at a disadvantage.

And anyway, people here forget that Tesla isn't really in the EV business, they are in the interstate charging business, in the same way that ISPs aren't in the router business, they are in the internet access business. Tesla doesn't want any NEVI-funded competition in their interstate charging business.

Again, this is just utterly incorrect.

Most, if not all, of that profit is due to them taking advantage of NEVI funding.

No, this isn't true either. About a third of its profit is from selling credits, but the rest is from selling a shitload of cars, even if the margins have shrunk. Barely any NEVI money has actually been awarded so far, anyway.

 

[Epyon9283]

Yeah, but refusing to leave past your 2nd term is black and white illegal.

Only matters if anyone is willing to enforce the law.

 

[DistinctivelyCanuck]

Hey, maybe toss in little ol' Maine? Please???

ok, we'll take Maine too: one of my favourite woodworking tool manufacturers is there, we should take maine

 

[DistinctivelyCanuck]

Canada should join the EU.

well, we're already part of NATO and the ESA, so, hey, why not...

 

[Surtrus]

America voted for this.


Put your time and your wallet where your mouth (and heart) is. You are where you are, because too few people did exactly that.

The oligarchs have very cleverly made sure that almost no one in this country has the free time or resources any more to do so. People are working long, long hours at their jobs. Both members of a typical household are now averaging 60+ hrs / week of work and struggling to make rent. It was easier to do what you advocate when 35 hrs / week of one person's income would make the rent.

 

[DistinctivelyCanuck]

Can you invite Colorado too? haha asking for a friend

Nope: Montana and Idaho are in the way: and we don't want those

 

[Surtrus]

Very bold of you all to assume he will not seek a third term.

Very bold of you to assume that we are going to continue to have 'terms' or 'elections'.

 

[Surtrus]

This ignores the fact the Democratic candidate lost even in states that allow very easy mail-in voting in the recent presidential elections, but don't allow this inconvenient fact spoil your fantasy.

Personally, I think mail-in voting should be validated by a notary, but my point is, even in some states that have very easy main-in voting (and without notarization required), the Democratic candidate still lost.

Neither my post, nor the post I responded to had anything to do with the ease of voting.

 

[fenris_uy]

Yeah well a competent opposition would have helped. Maybe the Democrats will learn to focus on actual issues instead of purity tests and identity politics designed to shrink the tent as much as possible. And gaslighting the supporters that Biden wasn't losing it. As a lifelong Dem I get nothing but vitriol from the party I support whenever attempting to even debate the furthest left positions.

Make no mistake this shit show is the fault of the GOP and their supporters but different tactics are needed if we want to change the tide.

So you think that the Dems should be going for the racist, anti LGBT vote?

 

[aikouka]

No, it really doesn't. People aren't changing in their 5 Series or E class for a Model 3 or Model Y, they're trading up from Hondas and Toyotas.

10 years ago the Model S could claim to be a luxury vehicle, today it's an antiquated fossil and they sell a handful of them, versus 1.7 million Models 3 and Y. And there's nothing luxurious about either of those two. You really need to update your priors.

What's awkward is that Tesla has arguably made their cars worse in regard to fanciness. For example, the Model X used to be able to open and close its front doors, which is a fancy feature you see on higher-end vehicles. However, since Musk got rid of the ultrasonic sensors, the newer Model X variants only support popping open the door instead of a full open/close. Another fun example is how the Model S has seat release levers in the trunk, but all they do is unlatch the seat... there's nothing automated about them in a car that costs $70k+. It's just a shortcut compared to having to go up and pull the latch on the seat itself.

You can also toss in how things seem fancy on the car, but once you really use the car, you see how much of a facade things really are. For example, Musk's incessant need to remove "redundant systems" usually leads to existing systems doing a sub-par job. The best example there is removing the IR sensor for the auto-wiper feature and relying upon the cameras. They remove physical controls, which ends up muddying the already convoluted software UI/UX. For example, navigation and multimedia volume are split with no option to combine them, and whenever navigation is speaking, the volume wheel controls it instead. So, if you're getting off the highway and want to turn the volume down, but the navigation is talking, you cannot do it. Now, you also can't do either of those if you just hit the wiper button as that puts up a wiper sub-menu that is also controlled by the same scroll wheel.

 

[mozbo]

You'd think with Elon whispering in his ear that he wouldn't be blocking pro EV things on the first day.

Musk thinks that, if subsidies are removed, Tesla will have an insurmountable lead in EV. It's delusional, but there's no other explanation (unless one wants to toss schizophrenia into consideration).

Even if true, the motivation is crass profiteering at the expense of humanity. Damaging the country and the world by slowing EV adoption to line Tesla pockets. The whole thing is just filthy and nauseating.

 

[shawnce]

Not all of us wanted that walking disaster back.

Yeah to be clearer… out of the voting eligible population around 2/3 of them didn’t vote for Trump. The problem was around 1/3 of them couldn’t vote for a woman president and/or be bothered to vote.

 

[the_frakker]

No, this isn't true either. About a third of its profit is from selling credits, but the rest is from selling a shitload of cars, even if the margins have shrunk. Barely any NEVI money has actually been awarded so far, anyway.

Ah… I forget about carbon credits.

Will these changes affect the credits Tesla earns and thus result in the same problem, though?

 

[globber]

The real winners of this election are lawyers. The courts are going to be extremely busy with all the lawsuits over whether executive orders are valid across a wide variety of issues.

I'm not entirely sure there actually are any real winners in this election. Short term, perhaps a few individuals in their perceived goals (dictators et. al. hindered by a rule based world order). Long term, big picture? I don't think even they will be better off.

 

[Surtrus]

Let me quote the exact part where the post you quoted that talks about voting:

The full quote talks about advocacy, but also talks about voting.

And anyway, don't cut down quotes to the point of ambiguity if that's not what you meant.

The full quote focused on advocacy and engagement, very very clearly. The fact that 'America voted for this' is the introduction to why advocacy matters. This is very basic reading comprehension, I assumed Ars audience was up to the task.

 

[Abulia]

How does President Vance sound?

Thought so.

Remember how Putin couldn't do a third term? That playbook has already been written. Not that I think that Trump will make it that far personally unless they go full out Stalin and embalm him.

Oh. Wait.

Everyone low key seems to forget that Trump has 3 sons, 2 of which are morons just like him. We’ve already seen the GOP playbook of vomit whatever the public wants to hear and put an idiot figurehead in power. How does 24 more years of this bullshit sound?