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from the Detroit-on-another-deathwatch-and-still-doesn't-know-it dept.
The BBC and many other sources report:
The US car industry will be wrecked if President Trump relaxes emissions standards, California's governor says.
Jerry Brown said China would dominate car manufacture because it was heavily promoting the electric vehicles that would dominate the future.
He said huge investment was needed on electric vehicles, along with federal rules to encourage their purchase.
He said President Trump and US car-makers were "half asleep" and hadn't understood the scale of the challenge.
He told BBC Radio 4's Costing the Earth: "There will be a serious threat to the US auto industry.
Unlike many in Silicon Valley, Gov. Brown seems to want the USA car industry to survive this Chinese nationally supported onslaught.
While not specifically mentioned in the article, China is working on cars at all price points, not just early adopters that can afford a Tesla or other luxury car. The Chinese stuff may be junk now (think about the batteries in Chinese "hoverboards") but it won't be for long, they learn fast. Here's a little minivan that's headed to production, https://carnewschina.com/2017/09/28/new-photos-sinogold-gm3-electric-mpv-china/
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2017, @07:57AM (2 children)
Not only that, but all of North America, except few select areas, has infrastructure meant only for cars. Not people, for cars. Parking lots the size of parks. City streets the size of Autobahn. Seriously, it's really fucked.
I've lived in North America for most my life and now I live in Germany. The difference cannot be more stark. I can walk from my home to work in 15 minutes. And no, my rent is less than $500 a month for a small apartment (and no, plenty like this available all over the city). There are 10 groceries stores within 10 minute walk, and I'm not talking 7/11, I'm talking normal grocery stores like LiDL, REWE, PENNY or Aldi. There is a bakery in my building and my building is not that unique. I have subway, tramway and bus, cyclepaths, kindergardens all within 100-200m. Schools within 1km. And no, no 30 floor high rises, but regular style 4 or 5 story townhouses (like in London, for example). Seriously. When someone mentions "walkable city" in North America, all you can do is laugh because they are fucking crazy. It's almost not even walkable to cross the street because they are so unnecessarily giant. The only place where I've seen a "regular" American-sized parking lot here is on the outskirts by IKEA and stores like that.
So yes, I agree with parent post 100%. In America you fucking need a car to live anything other than some weird lifestyle they have in few urbanite elite areas like San Francisco or New York. The entire infrastructure there has been designed not about person, or a family, but all about the car and the fake lifestyle manufactured in 1960s. SAD!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheRaven on Tuesday November 14 2017, @11:46AM (1 child)
When I was buying my first house (in a small city in the UK), I could spend about £110K to buy somewhere in the city centre, or about £85K to buy somewhere similar far enough out of town to need a car. That extra £25K on a mortgage would cost me about £1000/year, which is in the same ballpark the fixed costs associated with car ownership (tax and insurance), even if I don't drive it. Fuel, servicing, and depreciation all work out to about 30p/mile, so even driving it into town and back each day would cost me another £500 or so per year (assuming I found free parking each time, otherwise add another £2-5 each trip), so even if the house prices remained constant I'd be better off living in the middle of town than driving in. If house prices appreciated by 1% each year then at the end of five years I'd be another £1.2K better off and that amount goes up a lot more if house prices increase even more. Oh, and a lot of the reasons that I'd want to go into town involve alcohol, so I wouldn't be able to drive home anyway.
As someone just young enough to count as a millennial, I did the calculation and found that a car was a financial burden that I didn't want and instead invested in living somewhere a short walk from shops, restaurants, and places of work instead.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Tuesday November 14 2017, @12:58PM
That doesn't make up for the large property tax burden here. Or the cities like San Fran that began restricting new building to protect the look, but then lots of people bought at very high prices and we lose big time if the housing market supply caught up so most property owners are against new housing now.
Where I live there is no property tax on car, but there is for homes.