>The EU, for all its faults, is a far more competetive environment than the US and has been for decades. Air travel, telecoms, and banking are far more competetive than the US.

You might argue this for airlines, given how Southwest has gone upmarket in the US while the likes of Ryanair and Easyjet haven't in Europe. But banking? No. The Big Four US banks have 50% of the market, while their Dutch, British, and Spanish equivalents (for example) have 70%.

As for telecom, the US just moved to three mobile carriers from four with 97% of the market, but that's hardly different from their Big Three or Four equivalents in European countries, all with ~90% of the market. Further, in yet another example of nature abhorring a vacuum, a) US cable carriers are seeing good growth in mobile as part of bundled subscriptions, and b) Starlink may soon offer a fourth national network.

As for prices, well, my $25 tax-inclusive Sprint/T-Mobile subscription for three unlimited mobile lines laughs at all the peons out there denied such wonders. But for everyone else, there is always the option of Mint or US Mobile or Visible for $25 monthly unlimited plans, all quite competitive against European MVNO counterparts, all offering coverage from Honolulu to Key West, Anchorage to El Paso.

>Strict competition rules make things like credit cards much cheaper (no "points" etc because there's no money to fund them).

Yes, I really hate earning 2-5% cashback on every purchase made with my personal and business cards.

>national champions and cartel

In what way are the Big Four US banks, or Big Three US carriers, "national champions" akin to the European nationalized days of yore, with the likes of Bull, British Telecom, etc.? And no, the US taking a 10% share of Intel is not the same thing as France assembling Groupe Bull, or Britain assembling ICL or BAe.

>These higher prices make the GDP look bigger and the stock market too: in the EU that extorted money is returned as a consumer surplus.

Ah yes, the days of yore, when (say) British Telecom and its fellow European equivalents were able to offer world-leading services at world-leading prices while returning a "consumer surplus" (whatever that is). Oh, wait.

PS - If you want to gripe about cartels, look north of the 49th. Canada's Big Five banks have 90% of the market, and Big Three carriers are so dominant—without offering niceties like $25 unlimited nationwide plans to all—that long ago they gained the "Robelus" nickname.

Chinese EVs aren’t banned in the EU (to my knowledge), but have an import tax that brings their total price roughly to the level of western products. BYD is special amongst them, because they build cars in Hungary.

I'm glad FSD isn't allowed in Germany. A camera-only system is a long way from what I'd consider safe. Just as a reminder:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQJL3htsDyQ

Completely untrue, Tesla FSD is approved for Finland, Netherlands, Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Belgium, Slovenia, Czechia, Croatia, Slovakia and Latvia. Chinese cars like BYD, Xpeng etc are everywhere too.

> Meanwhile Chinese EVs are banned

Maybe I misunderstand you, but I don’t think this is true. On the contrary: AFAIK there isn’t a single European country that does this.

Which countries are you thinking of?

> Meanwhile Chinese EVs are banned

Are you actually in the EU? If so, are you blind? Chinese EVs self-evidently are not banned.

Looking at your comments, which each and every one of is anti-EU and somewhat similar, I am almost convinced you are, in fact, a bot. And if you're not, then you have a clear agenda and given this very comment, just spread lies.

In my neighborhood in London, roughly half the cars I see are Chinese EVs.

What? I see BYD electric cars everywhere in Switzerland/Italy where I usually hang around

> Meanwhile Chinese EVs are banned

What? BYD, NIO and others are to be found everywhere in Germany. I literally see one parked on the other side of the street looking out of my window right now.

That tariff barely covers the exchange rate manipulation. I do think it’s kind of stupid, for goods that are not strategic we should take advantage of the cheap EV prices so we can move more quickly on the green reforms.

The lower tariff on hybrid cars is even dumber, why do we want more polluting cars?

No it hasn't and BYD has a factory in hungary now which solves the tarifs issue for BYD

I can see Jaeco, Omoda, BYD, Leapmotor, Lynk, MG... cars all day in Spain.

This is just FUD.

My EV can easily tow a boat

Where we’re going, we won’t need boats.

I thought the Cybertruck was a boat?

Interesting how _seasonal_ this seems to be; there's a falloff in EV sales at the beginning of each year as a proportion of total sales, and then it rises. Maybe company fleet purchase timing?

My friend calculated and according to real world usage of similar small family cars, the difference is actually 1/12th of the diesel costs, and that’s at pre-war hiked prices. This isn’t a scientific comparison as cars aren’t exactly the same. But volume wise and frame size is about the same.

They were pushing it like nobody's business. The problem was a combination of the lack of charging infrastructure and the comparatively high EV prices. Cheaper EVs are perfectly viable in Europe even with the existing charging infrastructure as the Chinese have shown.

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> I agree that this is a problem for a small percentage of peoople and I find it ignorant to playt down this issue.

Back when I was poor as an European I just commuted by bus. Then I bought my first car for the equivalent of 1600 Euros (in 2014 at that) and while I was saving 30 minutes on my commute daily, I was spending a lot on fuel and insurance.

The clanker lasted about a year before it started burning too much oil and making weird rattling noises from the engine. Long term the purchase alone was less then half of all expenses over the course of that year.

I don't believe it's reasonable to buy a 1000 Euro car if that's the only thing you can afford, because the expenses will just keep piling up.

Right now about 38 million people in Eastern Europe alone live rural. That is not a "small percentage" by any means. Half the town I am in right now drive old Toyota Hilux and the other half drive clunkers wishing they could afford an old Hilux. Not a single EV in sight and for a good reason.

Also, these people are at the brink with all the bullshit from Brussels and let's not forget these are the same people that can fire up their tractors, load them up with manure and have a delivery to Brussels as they have done so in the past already.

What do you think will happen to the train ticket prices if you push everyone towards public transport? Depending on which zones you are travelling between in London it can already cost you £300 / month. That's £3600 a year. Not even factoring in safety which becomes a priority if you have a family.

No, it's still very common for people to drive clunkers, and they pass the mandated tests. The AC won't work, and probably not each electric window either, but that hasn't anything to do with roadworthiness.

Especially young men buy these clunkers because they can't afford anything else. Young women more often get better cars as a gift from their parents, who want to make sure she doesn't have to depend on getting a ride from some creep in a clunker.

Because not everybody lives in a city.

Public transit is good but only in big cities. In the other rural areas without a car you are pretty much fucked, and those are also the poorest areas... people there cannot buy a car unless it is a very old used one

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You really gotta be careful with such statements. You obviously mean EU, there are rich oil fields in Europe. Just real far to the East.

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Yeah, it's a bit odd; the "electric cars are expensive" narrative has become so entrenched that it is still trotted out even when it is no longer true.

Today in Ireland, you can get a VW Polo for 25k... or an id.Polo (the electric version) for 20k. Now, there are a couple of things going on there; the id.Polo is benefiting from a 3500 eur grant, and the Polo has about 1000 eur of VRT on it (electric cars are exempt). But _even ignoring subsidies_ they come in at about the same price. And, presumably, give it a couple of years, and the electric version will be solidly cheaper.

You must have missed the part about poor people from rural regions. They don't have 20K, they barely have 2K, they are not eligible for credit/lease and you obviously have never been to countryside if you are suggesting a Citroën Ami with a straight face.