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In the UK, EVs are cheaper than petrol cars, thanks to Chinese competition

electrek.co

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Re: In the UK, EVs are cheaper than petrol cars, thanks to Chinese competition

#21

Post by Devasta »

nickserv wrote: post #15
JPKab wrote: post #9

It's a shame that the UK isn't making their own EVs. It's a nation with a long tradition of manufacturing and a working class hungry for opportunities. Both Labour and the Conservative parties seem to have resigned the nation to only being a financial hub.

Yeah they sold off pretty much their entire motor industry to the Germans (Mini, Bentley, ..), Chinese (Lotus) and Indians (Jaguar, Land Rover). Typical case of short sighted capitalism.

I don't know, Stephen King couldn't write anything that matches the horror that was the management of UK car companies in the second half of the 20th century. British Leyland was a disaster from start to finish.

Re: In the UK, EVs are cheaper than petrol cars, thanks to Chinese competition

#22

Post by the_sleaze_ »

cjs_ac wrote: post #2

> And the presence of lower-cost alternatives can force non-Chinese brands to have to compete, rather than sitting on their laurels and gathering profits from expensive land yachts as the competition’s prices are inflated by tariffs. This is why the UK is getting Honda’s super cool Super-N, and the US isn’t. The Honda Super-N EV will also be released in Australia, New Zealand, and other countries in Southeast Asia th…

No no, that's obviously wrong. It's because the sun rises in the East much earlier than the west, it only seems like like they're getting it earlier but it's only because of the way the planet works. And the sun never sets on the British empire is why they'll be getting it.

Re: In the UK, EVs are cheaper than petrol cars, thanks to Chinese competition

#23

Post by gnfargbl »

polyphemus_rm wrote: post #6
martinald wrote: post #3

Not quite. The UK govt has a rolling target of how many EVs are sold as a proportion of all vehicles. The manufacturers get "fined" £15k per ICE car sold over the target. The targets are ramping up rapidly - 22% in 2024, 28% in 2025, 33% in 2026, etc, reaching 80% (AFIAK, keeps changing) in 2030. There's various trading mechanisms in place and what not so it's a bit more complicated than this. So it's far better to s…

That's interesting! Do happen to have a link for how the "brand new EV on a lease recently for close to free after all the tax advantages" works in the UK?

This only works for business leases. The employee sacrifices part of their salary in return for being provided a lease car, and both the employee and employer save tax on that money (up to 45% employee, ~15% employer).

For an ICE car the government claws this money back through hefty "Benefit In Kind" taxes placed on employer-provided vehicles, but as an incentive to drive adoption the rates on EVs are only 3% of the car's nominal purchase price (and you only actually pay up to 45% of that 3%).

It doesn't work out "free," but it's typically as cheap to lease a new EV through this scheme as it is to pay the depreciation on a used ICE.

Re: In the UK, EVs are cheaper than petrol cars, thanks to Chinese competition

#24

Post by testing22321 »

Meanwhile Ford’s CEO said that if Chinese EVs are allowed into USA it will destroy the US automakers.

He is not even hiding the fact US automakers make a more expensive inferior product, but that US consumers should not be allowed have the superior one.

Re: In the UK, EVs are cheaper than petrol cars, thanks to Chinese competition

#26

Post by tremarley »

JPKab wrote: post #9

It's a shame that the UK isn't making their own EVs. It's a nation with a long tradition of manufacturing and a working class hungry for opportunities. Both Labour and the Conservative parties seem to have resigned the nation to only being a financial hub.

The UK are making an incredible amount in tariffs though

Re: In the UK, EVs are cheaper than petrol cars, thanks to Chinese competition

#27

Post by pkaodev »

gnfargbl wrote: post #23
polyphemus_rm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's interesting! Do happen to have a link for how the "brand new EV on a lease recently for close to free after all the tax advantages" works in the UK?

This only works for business leases. The employee sacrifices part of their salary in return for being provided a lease car, and both the employee and employer save tax on that money (up to 45% employee, ~15% employer). For an ICE car the government claws this money back through hefty "Benefit In Kind" taxes placed on employer-provided vehicles, but as an incentive to drive adoption the rates on EVs are only 3% of the…

Not sure what schemes are that good (would be interested to see). My company has one, but I ended up buying a used ICE because it worked out to cost about the same as leasing the equivalent EV model of that car. But that might have been the case for the specific car I was looking at (small Volvo SUV).

Re: In the UK, EVs are cheaper than petrol cars, thanks to Chinese competition

#28

Post by testing22321 »

mig39 wrote: post #25

Coming to Canada soon, though in a limited way: https://nationalpost.com/news/massive-risk-chinese-evs-are-t... Hopefully this means competition with the other EV manufacturers in Canada too.

Fantastic. More competition and choice is always, always better for the consumer.

Re: In the UK, EVs are cheaper than petrol cars, thanks to Chinese competition

#29

Post by jml7c5 »

mig39 wrote: post #25

Coming to Canada soon, though in a limited way: https://nationalpost.com/news/massive-risk-chinese-evs-are-t... Hopefully this means competition with the other EV manufacturers in Canada too.

Unfortunately, because the number of imports is restricted the cars will likely be about as expensive as the competition. Chinese car companies have no strong incentive to undercut the market when they can take a fat margin and still sell out anyway.
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