The European Commission unveiled a plan on Tuesday to drop the EU’s effective ban on new combustion-engine cars from 2035 after pressure from the region’s auto sector, marking the bloc’s biggest retreat from its green policies in recent years.
The move, which still needs approval from EU governments and the European Parliament, would allow continued sales of some non-electric vehicles. Carmakers in regional industrial powerhouse Germany and in Italy had sought easing of the rules.
The EU executive appears to have bowed to calls from carmakers to keep selling plug-in hybrids and range extenders that burn fuel as they struggle to compete against Tesla, opens new tab and Chinese electric vehicle makers.
I’m really wondering how the west thinks they’ll continue to sell this cold war with China.
China: Please buy our better products that we are selling at lower prices.
The West: China is trying to destroy the western world! We must prepare for war!
Everyone with an Internet connection: Uh, yeah, can we get one of those electric cars that cost half as much and is better in every way?
The funny thing is that the answer to the wests failures is literally just to be more like China. Central planning in vital sectors like infrastructure and transportation. Instead we just have a ruling class that wants to burn oil and start wars with countries that aren’t attacking us.
We literally just stole an oil ship because we made up a rule about trade that we don’t allow between two completely independent countries that never agreed to that rule. It’s comical how awful we are.
Like, for some reason Venezuela can’t sell oil to Cuba because we said so. That’s it. It’s literally just because we said so.
That would require giving up on the ultra-liberal reduced-state no-regulation orthodoxy which has put so much power in the hands of Money and money in the pockets of Politicians.
The entire top of the current Western power structures is against it, hence we’re going down the route of Collapse Through Stagnation.
The greed and power tripping is a dangerous thing.