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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Electric vehicles may become a new front in America's tech war with China after a US senator called for Washington DC to block Chinese-made EVs to protect domestic industries and national security.
Sherrod Brown, senator for Ohio and chair of the Senate Banking Committee, penned a letter to President Biden, claiming "there are currently no Chinese EVs for sale in the United States, and we must keep it that way."
He warned that "Chinese EVs, highly subsidized by the Chinese government, could decimate our domestic automakers, harm American workers, and give China access to sensitive personal data," insisting the US government must ban Chinese-made EVs as soon as possible, calling it "a matter of economic and national security."
The move comes as the dispute between the two economic superpowers over technology rumbles on, with the US last week sanctioning four more Chinese companies, claiming they were involved with providing chips for accelerating AI to China's military and intelligence users.
Among those added to the Entity List maintained by the US Department of Commerce was Sitonholy (Tianjin) Co, understood to be one of the largest distribution channels for Nvidia's datacenter products in China, thus cutting off supplies of Nvidia GPUs to many Chinese companies.
[...] The number of Chinese cars purchased by US customers is understood to be very low as these are subject to an extra 25 percent tariff on top of the regular 2.5 percent import duty that DC applies to imported vehicles.
However, Senator Brown notes in his letter that BYD already sells an electric hatchback named the "Seagull" for the equivalent of less than $10,000. This compares with the $28,140 that has been reported as the starting price of the current cheapest electric car available in the US, the 2024 Nissan LEAF S.
There is also a national security twist as Senator Brown claims that data collected by the sensors and cameras in Chinese EVs could pose a threat. "China does not allow American-made electric vehicles near their official buildings. To allow their vehicles freedom to travel throughout the United States would be foolish and highly dangerous," he stated.
Senator Brown also claims in his letter that nearly 20 percent of all electric vehicles sold in Europe during 2023 were made in China, citing this as a cautionary example.
The European Commission last year announced an investigation into subsidies in the Chinese EV industry, but there are said to be misgivings in Germany and elsewhere that a ban on Chinese EVs could backfire, with Beijing retaliating by locking Western carmakers out of the lucrative China market entirely.
(Score: 1) by lush7 on Thursday April 18, @08:59PM (2 children)
Do we not have the technology to install carbon capture at the tail pipe of internal combustion autos? I don't really know myself; was just wondering today.
Carbon chained fuels seem to be, something that for some time, we will absolutely have to rely on.
So,
1: We could ramp up synthesis of carbon-chain fuels (bio-derived, etc..), so we don't have to rely on drilling and foreign oil deposits.
2: Mandate carbon capture at the tail-pipe
3: Fill in some of the gaps with EV (economical low cost EV's: 60-150 mile distance per charge, with light minal frames and design)
4: Fill in some more gaps with Hydrogen (produce purely from solar power).
and then 5: hopefully, come up with better batteries that are also more economical (more efficient, cheaper more readily available materials).
And, more on topic, if China can produce an EV that retails at $10,000; we need to compete with that, and do better (speaking to US interests). I do not think, it would really be that hard to do so. Just don't put so many damn microchips and computerization into the vehicles. Make them absolutely minimal, battery powered, 4 wheeled, A to B vehicles for short distance hopping. There are a lot of people who really don't travel more than 15-30 miles to work every day, and beyond that, are mostly just running errands, for the most part. Not everyone will need to own a vehicle capable of traversing the length of the country. Most folks barely travel at all, except perhaps on weekends, or every few months, etc..
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday April 19, @12:52PM
>Do we not have the technology to install carbon capture at the tail pipe of internal combustion autos?
Sure, how much are you willing to pay for that? An extra 400kg of equipment on the vehicle costing 10K€ per copy to add, lowering fuel economy by 30%... we could probably implement that and reduce automobile carbon emissions by 95% or more per mile traveled, but then you start facing the reality that automobile carbon emissions are a rather small part of the overall carbon emissions picture.
They're starting to do something about concrete, that's going to have a significant impact at a much lower differential cost - hopefully there aren't structural strength with age implications we're not fully aware of yet.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday April 19, @12:54PM
>if China can produce an EV that retails at $10,000; we need to compete with that, and do better
Toyota is producing a new fossil fuel based pickup truck for the world market that also starts around $10K - in order to compete with that we would need to: forget about airbags, reduce the passenger compartment cage strength, and most difficult to implement: reduce profits.
🌻🌻 [google.com]