Big Auto is begging governments to let them go bankrupt as Chinese EVs loom
Automakers are fiercely lobbying governments to water down already-compromised emissions rules, but doing so will only lead to their doom as market entrants that are serious about EVs will continue ramping them anyway.
The auto industry is electrifying, and all new cars will be electric in the relatively near future. This is not in dispute by any serious person – and any alternative scenario, where humans continue to pollute as much as we do today, will result in worse and worse results for humanity the longer we pollute as climate change becomes progressively worse.
It is necessary that we stop burning fossil fuels, and fast. This is not a matter of opinion, it’s a matter of physics, and physics does not care about your arguments to the contrary.
And yet, the auto industry – which is responsible for more pollution than any other sector, at least in rich countries – still lobbies to worsen emissions reduction targets, even when those targets were already pushed back to begin with.
Automakers beg governments to let them emit more poison
We saw it this week in both Europe and the US. BMW, VW and Renault asked European regulators to push back the 2035 gas car phase-out, despite that this timeline has already been loosened. And in the US, the EPA finalized rules, but softened them due to auto industry lobbying – and the president of the main auto industry lobbyist characterized the final rules as a “stretch goal,” suggesting that he thinks there should be further softening of the already-softened rule.
Even these softened EPA rules will upend the industry, as current automaker commitments are not enough to meet the targets. Either automakers need to up their game, or someone is going to have to fill the millions-vehicle gap between commitments and requirements. And if traditional automakers don’t fill that gap, then new entrants will.
The lobbying is reminiscent of what the industry did from 2017-2021, when it lobbied an ignorant reality TV host to torpedo well-reasoned regulations which would have resulted in significantly more regulatory certainty for the industry. It eventually recognized its error, but Pandora’s box was already opened.
Today, the exact same automaker lobby which originally lobbied to fracture US and CA regulations – the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, previously known as Global Automakers, led by John Bozzella both then and now – still routinely complains about the two regulatory regimes being different, despite being personally responsible for the current state of affairs.
The compulsion against regulation is pathological. Even in situations where it doesn’t make sense to lobby against regulation, businesses will often still do so.
But wait, maybe it’s not a compulsion against all regulation. Because at the same time that automakers are begging for the ability to continue the global-scale mass murder that they continually enable (via pollution that kills millions worldwide per year), they’re also begging governments to slow down other parts of the industry that are taking the EV transition seriously.
Namely: China.
Chinese EVs will grow, whether you like it or not
China is actually a little late to the EV party. Until a few years ago, EV market share in China lagged other leading regions, but uptake in recent years has been quite rapid. NEV (EV+PHEV) market share should crest 50% in China next quarter, ahead of basically everywhere except the Nordic countries.
But as often happens, China may not always be the first entrant into a market, but once it truly commits its effort to something, those efforts tend to bear fruit rapidly.
Chinese EV sales have started taking off overseas, particularly in Europe. While they still make up a relatively small percentage of the market – around 10% – that share has risen rapidly from less than 1% in 2019 (and it might be higher if Chinese automakers could find more ships, but they’re working on that).
In response to this rise in Chinese EV sales, instead of recognizing that they need to pick up their game, European automakers are… begging the EU to investigate the “flood” of Chinese EVs, even to the point of proposing retroactive tariffs. They contend that the Chinese government unfairly subsidizes its auto sector, making prices uncompetitively low. Nevermind that European governments also subsidize their auto sector, and that low prices are good for consumers (in fact, if EU consumers are benefitting from Chinese subsidies, that represents a transfer of wealth from China to the EU).
Sure, begging governments for help isn’t the only thing they’re doing, they’re also finally picking their pants up off the floor and considering building cheaper EVs, but both of these actions are in direct conflict to lobbying efforts to loosen emissions regulations. If you’re worried about competition undercutting you and taking control of the EV transition, the answer is not to cut production and pretend that EV sales are going down when they aren’t, it’s to move faster.
In the US, the anti-China lobbying has been more pre-emptive. There aren’t significant amounts of Chinese-built EVs in the US, and the country already has a number of protectionist tariffs against China.
The recent Inflation Reduction Act, which created hundreds of billions of dollars of incentives for EVs and green energy, does include provisions intended to advantage automakers who avoid using China as any part of their supply chain. And scaremongering about China is abundant throughout US political and economic discussions.
So it’s clear that Western automakers aren’t looking to compete on price or volume, they’re looking to change the rules of the game instead – in a way that ensures more pollution and more expensive vehicles for consumers. They don’t want to win the game, they want the ref to hand it to them. It’s gamesmanship – which the industry is well acquainted with.
Rising EV penetration isn’t due to regulation, it’s due to demand
But do we really think that will work? EV penetration has broadly exceeded the minimums set by emissions rules. The driver so far has not been the rules, it has been consumer demand – and consumer recognition that gas vehicles will soon become an albatross around the neck of anyone who makes the silly decision to buy a new one. We’ve seen it happen in Norway with well above 90% plug-in car sales in advance of its world’s-most-aggressive 2025 target, with China’s rapid rise in EV penetration which caught foreign automakers by surprise, and with California hitting ZEV goals years ahead of schedule.
So loosening the rules doesn’t seem likely to slow down consumer demand – and the public wants stronger rules anyway. Instead, it will just annoy customers who are frustrated that there aren’t enough options available (as has been the case for years – look at the excitement over the R3 and EX30 when so few other small EVs exist), and mollify laggard manufacturers into thinking they can take longer to join the party.
But if automakers (and countries with prominent auto industries, like Japan) want to survive the transition, they cannot be the last to the party. The longer they wait, the more trouble they’ll be in, and the more advantage they cede to their competition.
How do we know this? Because it’s already happened, in this very industry, just over the course of the trailing decade.
Big Auto let Tesla win
Over the course of the last ten years, we’ve seen plenty of efforts to regulate away Tesla’s sales model for example, and few for automakers to actually effectively compete against Tesla’s vehicle programs. We’ve also seen industry push, state by state, for abusive EV fees and other silly regulations in a desperate attempt to punish EVs for daring to be a superior choice.
All of this happened while Tesla gradually entered more segments, and gradually took over those segments. The first indication was around 2014-2015, when sales of large luxury vehicles fell for every manufacturer except Tesla. This happened again with the Model 3. And the Model Y is now the best-selling vehicle in the world. (As for trucks, well, maybe that’ll be a different story)
And yet, despite a decade of warning, it’s only recently that we’ve started seeing serious EV programs from other automakers start to spin up. But most automakers still only have a few EVs, and many of them still share platforms with gas cars. And due to Tesla’s head start, they’re the one company that has gotten scale and costs to the level that they can arbitrarily cut prices, starting an EV price war that they’re best positioned to deal with.
In refusing to act faster to accept the future that’s already here, automakers have already ceded ground. On top of the aforementioned points of market share ceded to Tesla, the industry also gave Tesla the whole concept of fueling stations.
Over the last decade, every automaker said that charging wasn’t their problem and that someone else would come along to solve it, while simultaneously saying that they can’t ramp EVs because there isn’t enough charging out there.
Tesla also said that there wasn’t enough charging out there… so it built chargers (without having to be forced into doing so). And now, as a result of automakers’ intransigence – and also thanks to President Biden’s infrastructure law, which influenced Tesla to finally open up its Supercharger network – every vehicle manufacturer is now using Tesla’s NACS plug, which means all of them will use its Supercharger network, and Tesla will be able to extract profits on fueling from basically every car on the road. “Tesla, you’re welcome”; signed – the auto industry.
The path forward is action, not whining
Describing this recent history is not an attempt to brag by those of us who loudly said time and time again that this was coming, it’s intended as a very recent object lesson in how the automakers’ decisions were the wrong ones, and how they could learn from those decisions and make better ones going forward.
It is clear that business as usual was not the right choice over the last decade, and it’s not going to be the right choice in the next decade either. Relying on the age-old gamesmanship of trying to block new entrants to the market, delay change, and refuse to respond to consumer demand is not going to work for the automakers, especially in a globalized auto market where if you don’t make it, someone else will.
This isn’t to say that everyone in the auto industry is bad. There are plenty of people and even companies who “get it.” While BMW, VW and Renault just complained about EU regulations, the EU automakers’ association ACEA said “we are not contesting 2035… now we must get down to it.” And several automakers have stepped up to defend California’s regulations (including, oddly, both BMW and VW, two who are complaining about EU regulations now).
Frankly, I’ve long said that I don’t care who makes EVs, and that whoever makes them deserves the win. I’d prefer if my country got it together and did something that would benefit its competitiveness long term, but as a living creature on this Earth, my primary interest (and yours as well) is in solving the climate crisis. If we refuse to offer more efficient choices and China does, then China will have demonstrated that it deserves the win. If you don’t like that, then don’t hand it to them.
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Bobcat revealed a new, commercialized version of its battery-powered ZT6000e zero-turn electric lawnmower that promises up to eight hours of continuous runtime.
The company says its new machine can deliver up to eight hours of continuous runtime on a single charge, the ZT6000e produces zero “tailpipe” emissions while in use, and is significantly quieter than the ICE-powered competition. Perfect, in other words, for use in municipalities with strict noise regulations.
“The ZT6000e is designed for both lawn care professionals and other businesses that want to create their own professional-grade results in a more sustainable way,” said Daniel Stibral, s grounds maintenance product specialist at Bobcat. “It’s highly maneuverable, efficient, and takes on challenging mowing tasks with precision, ease and the perfect cut.”
The Bobcat ZT6000e packs a 58V, 20.4 kWh battery that can be fully recharged in about 6 hours with a 240-volt “Level 2” connection, or in about 12 hours with a “standard” 120-volt connection. Considering a full charge is enough to mow more than 23 acres, however, there should be very little “range anxiety” involved.
What’s more, Bobcat claims that, apart from routine recharge cycles, the lithium-ion battery requires no maintenance for the life of the machine.
The ZT6000e is built with a heavy-duty, dual-tubed steel frame and is powered by three electric motors to provide precise control over high and low blade speeds and make quick work of any lawn. Pricing starts at $39,199.
Electrek’s Take
Yes, the ZT6000e electric lawmower is more expensive than the 850cc gas-powered version. About 3x more expensive, in fact – but that doesn’t matter.
The fact is that more and more municipalities across the country are effectively banning internal combustion lawn equipment from lawnmowers to edgers to leaf blowers – and the ones that aren’t outright banning small engines are banning them indirectly with increasingly stringent noise regulations. Translation: if you plan on making a living in landscaping, you’re going to need to pony up for an electric mower rather sooner than later.
When you do, Bobcat’s seems like a solid choice.
SOURCES | IMAGES: For Construction Pros; Bobcat.
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Pedego announced a slew of big new bikes this month, and we got to try out our favorite, the Pedego Moto. This brawny, two-person, class 2/3 beast leaves its competitors in the dust in so many ways. As Micah would say, “Let’s check it out…”
We’ve talked about Pedego a ton here at Electrek, but it bears repeating. No other bike company is doing more to get Americans onto e-bikes. With their excellent brick-and-mortar stores, many, if not most, Americans’ first e-bike experience is renting or trying an e-bike at a Pedego store. And because Pedego stores and e-bikes are top-notch, those experiences are almost entirely good first impressions.
I have a store in my local town, and it is the go-to place to pick up bike accessories, get a quick tuneup, or fix something (on any bike!) . It is also a great place to meet like-minded bike riders. They often sponsor local bike rides and encourage train tourists to visit our town and see it on an e-bike, which is better for everyone than driving a car.
Pedego Moto
The Pedego Moto, at first glance, will remind you of a Juiced Scorpion or the many other copycats that came along in the years since it was introduced. I’m here to say this thing is different in a number of important ways.
The most obvious is that it is much bigger, and its seat is long enough to carry a second passenger without modifications. The 2nd rider foot pegs come with the bike in its default configuration. That stretched seat also lets taller riders slide back for that sweet leg extension when actually pedaling, which on the Moto, I found quite easy. That tapered seat, while comfy for long rides, also tapers at the front to allow easy pedaling.
Also, components are almost universally better, including turn signals, larger 210mm hydraulic brakes, and huge 20-inch wheels that will go off-road much better than others in this class. SRAM gears are going to last a lot longer than the Shimano Altus setup that many of these bikes have. And just look at those burley tires.
The battery is 922Wh at 48V which will power the bike for up to 75 miles according to Pedego but more typically about 40 at near full power with little pedalling. I don’t like that it is a proprietary connector but it fast charges the battery at 5A. I was genuinely shocked how far I could ride with just small battery drops and it will last weeks in between charges if you want it to.
Pedego has revolutionized unboxing!
Like the taller boxes we saw at Upway, Pedego is now using a taller box that allows it only to require screwing in pedals and adjusting/tightening the handlebars. Including removing the tape and bubble wrap, you can be riding the Pedego Moto within 5 minutes of opening the box.
While most Pedegos will be purchased (and tuned up) at stores, this makes the process easier for Pedego technicians and direct-to-consumer customers as well.
There’s no heavy front wheel to put on, cables to plug in, or other stuff to install. Most e-bikes take me at least a half hour to assemble and often more than an hour. Pedogo Moto? I was riding within minutes of the box being delivered. The battery came more than half charged and that was good for a day of play.
Moto Experience
Pedego bikes, though they come in all shapes and sizes generally follow a standard Class 2 system that allows the bike to go up to 20 miles/hour on throttle or pedal assist. Some of their bikes, including the Moto, can be enabled to go class 3, which is up to 28 miles per hour. However, this is only pedal assist, the throttle will stop applying power at 20mph.
This allows pedego bikes to be legal in the largest number of areas while also allowing a speedy 28mph option. In reality, the large size of the bike will put pedal-assist riding at about 25 mph, in my experience. Still quite fast for such a big bike with huge tires.
Other bike companies, including Pedego’s competitors, have various flavors of “off-road mode,” which allow the motors to spin at any speed but also make them illegal in many jurisdictions.
I found the Moto to be a great ride both on the road and on gravel. Those huge tires and soft suspension eat up those potholes like no one’s business. And, even with a passenger in the back, there’s no stopping the powerful 85nm torque motor in the back.
The Moto is best for cruising and riding around town. There it excels and turns some heads, especially in this blue variety.
Moto Safety
While this bike is large, it turns quite well with admirable wheel balance and a solid front fork.
The front light not only lets oncoming cars see the Moto well at night but it also illuminates the road well enough to ride without concern. Those big hydraulic brakes on 210mm discs are also great at stopping this big bike in its tracks.
The step-over nature of the bike makes it easy to get on and off, especially with packages or another rider on the back.
Maybe the most underrated safety item is the turn signals, which I think Pedego has done well, especially in the user interface department. But the backlight is hidden a little too far under the rear seat and is typically small for an e-bike. Still, drivers and riders will almost always see the bright light when at a medium-length distance away.
Pedego Moto Price
This is a Burley bike, and Pedego has to keep its brick-and-mortar stores going, so the price may surprise those used to fly-by-night dropship prices. It is $3995. Yes, it is a lot, but you get a lot, including white glove service and actual local people there to help out when things go wrong.
Electrek’s take
I like all 3 of Pedego’s new e-bikes and if you’ve got the cash, these e-bikes are built to last and a ton of fun. The Moto isn’t light but it rides like a much more svelt e-bike and is even great for carrying 2 people!
The Petego Moto in Black, thanks to Riley at the awesome local Croton Pedego store
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Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, has installed an off-grid solar tracker EV charging station for its employees.
“This solar electric vehicle charger is a part of the college’s efforts to make our [transportation systems] more sustainable”, said Marcus Welker, assistant director of sustainability at Dartmouth College [via Vermont Biz].
Solaflect Energy, based in Norwich, Vermont, designs and manufactures the Solar EV Charger. The four Level 2 charging points are powered by a 6.2-kilowatt solar array mounted on a dual-axis tracker that generates 40% more power than comparable fixed panel arrays.
The system’s 6-ton concrete foundation sits directly on parking lot lines, so it doesn’t take up any parking spaces and provides enough ground clearance for unimpeded traffic flow. Designed for climate resilience, it sheds snow quickly, stows flat in high winds, and sits high enough to avoid flooding.
Solar EV Charger operates even when the grid is down, and its transportable nature allows it to adapt as EV charging needs evolve. Here’s Dartmouth’s Solar EV Charger in action:
The off-grid solar tracker EV charger is quicker and less expensive to install than traditional grid-connected stations and avoids costly utility demand charges since there’s no need for infrastructure. Solaflect’s chargers scale easily, with one charger for every four EVs or plug-in hybrids. The company asserts that over its expected 25-year life, the system locks in 1 million miles of EV charging with minimal operating and maintenance costs.
Solaflect’s Solar EV charger is available for annual lease with no additional service costs or for purchase with a 30% federal investment tax credit. Its first installations will take place in New England, followed by a US-wide expansion.
What do you think of Solaflect’s Solar EV Charger? Let us know in the comments below.
Read more: In a milestone, the US exceeds 5 million solar installations
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