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The US Used to Demand the Best Tech. Now We Ban It

pcmag.com

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Re: The US Used to Demand the Best Tech. Now We Ban It

#21

Post by dannersy »

JimsonYang wrote: post #10

>Americans watch the rest of the world getting better, cheaper, ... If we wanted cheap cars, there needs to be demand to justify building giga factories of EVs. There just wasnt sufficient consumer demand to justify the giga factory investments China CAN generate demand for EVs because they have the political ability to 1) force gas restricted cars to only drive on certain days of the week 2) create a brutal lottery…

If we ignore the cultural issues with Americans where some places buying an EV is considered "gay" (because that is inheritently negative to them) then we can easily point to the hostile lobbying tactics and government capitulation via bought congressmen. Go look at the historical hostilities Tesla faced when first trying to take off.

If I still lived in the US, I'd be hesitant to buy an EV because the infrastructure state to state to support charging wasn't great when I was last there. In Europe, you can road trip with your EV no problem.

Let's not entirely blame consumers for not being incentivised enough. Let's face it the US has been actively against EVs. You mention subsidies, haven't those even seen regressions in EV and solar panel subsidies? It's ridiculous.

Re: The US Used to Demand the Best Tech. Now We Ban It

#22

Post by gonzalohm »

nxm wrote: post #9

Umm not when the adversary is using heavy government subsidies to undercut prices and essentially take over the industry. Look at what’s happening to the European car industry, with more job losses planned by VW just this week

Isn't that the market strategy of silicon valley companies? Sell at a loss, capture the whole market and then inflate prices

Re: The US Used to Demand the Best Tech. Now We Ban It

#23

Post by gonzalohm »

OutOfHere wrote: post #6

To play devil's advocate, there is some logic to banning Chinese cars, which is that their firmware risks sending telemetry to China, also disabling/malfunctioning the car if China were to have a military engagement with the US. I suggest a middle road which is that the entire telemetry surface and firmware updates must be domestically managed, with no room for a closed-source foreign entity to manipulate it. An EV r…

At this point, for me it's equally scary that the US government can do that. If I can't control the firmware then I don't really care for which government my car is spying for. It's all bad

Re: The US Used to Demand the Best Tech. Now We Ban It

#24

Post by gustavus »

JimsonYang wrote: post #10

>Americans watch the rest of the world getting better, cheaper, ... If we wanted cheap cars, there needs to be demand to justify building giga factories of EVs. There just wasnt sufficient consumer demand to justify the giga factory investments China CAN generate demand for EVs because they have the political ability to 1) force gas restricted cars to only drive on certain days of the week 2) create a brutal lottery…

> Out govt system literally doesnt have the political will to do these brutal but effective policy changes

I agree our country needs to really have some sort of revolution for the good of all humanity to force this change and overcome the entrenched interests of these greedy corporations.

Maybe we come up with a plan to drastically solve our energy and industry problems, overcome all obstacles and bring about a wonderful utopia, I bet we could do it inside of 5 years if we just gave enough power to the right people.

We could call it a 5 year plan, and listen we need broad sweeping powers to do it, otherwise malicious actors would try and subvert it. Some people wouldn't like it but that's because they aren't brave enough to do what needs to be done for the good of the workers and the proletariat. Rise up comrade let us implement the glorious 5 year plan that will free us forever from the capitalist shackles.

Re: The US Used to Demand the Best Tech. Now We Ban It

#25

Post by Avicebron »

vkou wrote: post #19
JimsonYang wrote: post #10

>Americans watch the rest of the world getting better, cheaper, ... If we wanted cheap cars, there needs to be demand to justify building giga factories of EVs. There just wasnt sufficient consumer demand to justify the giga factory investments China CAN generate demand for EVs because they have the political ability to 1) force gas restricted cars to only drive on certain days of the week 2) create a brutal lottery…

4) People in China want to save money on gas, while America prefers to bitch about gas prices, while doing nothing to switch away from gas-guzzling ICE land yachts.

You've cracked the code on this one, it's not the fact that someone realized they could use labor arbitrage 50 years ago to get rich while selling the American people down the river. Treason in the name of profit.

Re: The US Used to Demand the Best Tech. Now We Ban It

#26

Post by yobbo »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #15
JimsonYang wrote: post #10

>Americans watch the rest of the world getting better, cheaper, ... If we wanted cheap cars, there needs to be demand to justify building giga factories of EVs. There just wasnt sufficient consumer demand to justify the giga factory investments China CAN generate demand for EVs because they have the political ability to 1) force gas restricted cars to only drive on certain days of the week 2) create a brutal lottery…

New car sales in Europe in 2026 are approaching 50% EV with essentially none of the above. Europe has had generous EV subsidies in the past, but in 2026 those are mostly (but not completely) gone.

4) add taxes to effectively double price of gasoline

Re: The US Used to Demand the Best Tech. Now We Ban It

#27

Post by bryanlarsen »

yobbo wrote: post #26
bryanlarsen wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New car sales in Europe in 2026 are approaching 50% EV with essentially none of the above. Europe has had generous EV subsidies in the past, but in 2026 those are mostly (but not completely) gone.

4) add taxes to effectively double price of gasoline

The price of electricity in Europe is also approximately double that of the US.

Re: The US Used to Demand the Best Tech. Now We Ban It

#29

Post by JimsonYang »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #15
JimsonYang wrote: post #10

>Americans watch the rest of the world getting better, cheaper, ... If we wanted cheap cars, there needs to be demand to justify building giga factories of EVs. There just wasnt sufficient consumer demand to justify the giga factory investments China CAN generate demand for EVs because they have the political ability to 1) force gas restricted cars to only drive on certain days of the week 2) create a brutal lottery…

New car sales in Europe in 2026 are approaching 50% EV with essentially none of the above. Europe has had generous EV subsidies in the past, but in 2026 those are mostly (but not completely) gone.

Youre right, i forgot to add

4) europeans are environemtally conscious

Americans however like their gas guzzling F150s.

The reason I did the original comment was I know for a time the major car companies did a huge push into EVs.

Like the ford 150 lightning, chevy bolt and mustang mach E. But they stopped manufacturing them due to weakened sales and profitability.

Its a vicious feedback loop of consumer adoption, high car prices, and capital investment which makes us feel stuck

*edit this is based on what I heard from a GM exec during a lecture visit while at UofM

Re: The US Used to Demand the Best Tech. Now We Ban It

#30

Post by sublinear »

codekansas wrote: post #20

I've been thinking for a while that some part of the ebullience towards AI among the American decision-maker class is that it is a good way to stick our heads in the sand and pretend like super-intelligent AI will make up for not being able to build competitive cars and drones. It has the feeling of an easy-to-digest explanation but I'm worried that it's probably wrong.

It's far from ebullience. It's the fear of a younger and more competent workforce.
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