6 ms·

So you don't think the free market will force manufactures to compete on better batteries? I always thought the benefit of the free market was that it forced co

• dijit 9mo ago
  To be honest with you, the free market does work when incentives are aligned. If you get maximum profit from the maximum social good, people will do that (or find a way to cheat); but as it stands, theres money to be made in not doing this and the consumer won’t care too much if its 9 years or 10 years that their car lasts, so its not hurting sales to not fix this (even if fixed perfectly, it would take 10 years to prove after all!). I think I’m dreaming, the investment would have to be enormous, who wants to hold stock of so many batteries? Who will convince manufacturers to integrate standardised batter packs instead of the more profitable “built-in phone style” that is used today, and the automotive marketing machine is really strong and will (correctly) lean on the idea that by having the battery replaceable would require less rigid car bodies, so their current incentive would be to fight this initiative and they would probably lead with the safety angle. The anti-EV propaganda already works pretty well with the very little it has to work with (farming batteries is harmful), so, imagine what they could do with something of actual substance.
  • itsprobablyok 9mo ago
    >The anti-EV propaganda already works pretty well Is that why EV sales have absolutely sky rocketed?
    • ako 9mo ago
      That’s because of the government subsidies.
• SideburnsOfDoom 9mo ago
  The USA's ICE auto industry has been bailed out twice (in 2008 and 1979) and is currently protected from imports. What free market?