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.

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neverminder a day ago | parent [-]

This. Seriously, this comment section just reeks of American coastal liberal types who haven't spent a single day in their lives in an impoverished countryside. 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.

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seanmcdirmid a day ago | parent [-]

I’ve been to impoverished rural areas in the USA thanks to my time in Mississippi. I’ve also been to impoverished rural areas in the rest of the world where they can’t afford to drive an old beat up hilux because they don’t have American petrol supply chains so they have no choice but to drive electric. American rural areas are their own kind of entitled.

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carlosjobim 21 hours ago | parent [-]

I would expect that people drive cheap motorcycles in such places (and buy gas from plastic coke bottles). Where would they afford an electric car and not a bike? Where do you have roads enough for electric cars, but no gas stations?

	▲	seanmcdirmid 21 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Gasoline is expensive, while electric bikes are cheap. Nepal is an example of a country that is severely petrol constrained, it has to get all its gasoline via India (and India gets it from the Middle East/iran), it’s just not feasible even if you are dealing out gasoline from drums and plastic coke bottles like they do in Thailand for mopeds.
	▲	solyin 21 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		There's areas in South East Asia like islands in the Philippines that are warm enough to not have winter, and so the popular vehicles are covered trikes. On more remote islands, electric is popular because of the aforementioned supply chain issue, and there's also plenty of sunlight to draw from. Doesn't mean that there are no gasoline bikes/trikes, just that electric vehicles outnumber gasoline powered ones.