Let’s Do This! Remove Tarriffs on EVs (pressreader.com)

submitted 20 hours ago by engene@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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If we want to advance our economy, we need to embrace EV adoption. We already invested heavily into EV supply chains.

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[-] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 2 points 39 minutes ago

You misspelled electric trains. ;)

We need EV's as well, but they are for the rich and the rural. Electric trains need to be mass deployed across Canada. Everything from neighbourhood stop-on-every-block trams, to subways to zip across town to regional rail for dense urban centres and bullet trains to compete with regional airlines in dense population corridors.

[-] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 4 points 5 hours ago

I'm in support of reducing or eliminating tariffs on EVs, with one exception....

You know the one.

[-] i_love_FFT@jlai.lu 28 points 18 hours ago

We should simply allow European safety standards as equivalent to american ones, allowing every model approved i the EU to be sold in Canada without costly changes and re-certification.

If a car is good enough for German highways and Norwegian mountain roads, then they should be good enough for Canada.

[-] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 1 points 18 minutes ago

exception: blinding headlights

[-] Grabthar@lemmy.world 6 points 17 hours ago

I know one of the problems is the clips we use for attaching car seats for small children. Since they don't match what we use, we'd probably have to switch to European car seats too. No idea which is safer or why we have the differences, but I'd bet there are lots of little safety things that don't line up between countries. I'm not sure I'm willing to give up our autonomy in this regard just so we can have more products. While I think Europe would probably have better standards than the US, I don't like the idea of relying on any other countries to determine what is safe enough for Canadians to use.

[-] i_love_FFT@jlai.lu 6 points 11 hours ago

We are currently more or less relying on the US on car safety standards...

[-] Grabthar@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

Yeah, we're pretty close. Put a stronger front bumper and a DRL module on an American car, and it's about the same. But we also aren't that different from Europe either. Build a Canadian car with a weaker roof, rear bumper, and child seat anchors, while beefing up the side impact ratings, and adding ESC, AEB, ACC features as standard and you have a European car. Maybe we can agree to take the best of all standards and agree to make them that way. Seems the best way to open things up without just arbitrarily agreeing to adopt another country's standards wholesale in an attempt to get some market share. We have enough problems with that as is.

[-] prodigalsorcerer@lemmy.ca 5 points 15 hours ago

Most (maybe all) car seats have two methods of attachment - LATCH/LUAS system and just using the seatbelt.

A quick Google search shows me that they use it in Europe too, but call it ISOFIX. As far as I can tell it's just three different names for the same system.

The seat belt method should work regardless of whether the car was made for North America or EU.

Plus, safety standards change all the time. This is just one new standard for them to follow (if it is even different at all).

[-] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 3 points 12 hours ago

All BMW sold in North America use ISOFIX.

[-] Grabthar@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago

Yeah, I looked them up out of curiosity after posting. They look pretty similar. In CanUS, most LATCH seats use a lap belt with clips on either end to connect to the anchors. This lets you slip it between the upper and lower parts of the seat more easily. Looks like ISOFIX is designed so the seat latches right to the anchors, and there is a removable part of the seat that exposes the anchors. The top tether in Europe usually goes to a roof while it is usually on the bottom of the rear part of the seat in CanUS. I think the Euro implementation would likely minimize installation issues, which was the whole point of both standards. To get the lap belt tight enough is a real pain, so they get installed wrong a lot over here. Apparently there are LATCH car seats that also connect directly to the seat anchors, but I have never seen one. Seema like it would be rougher on the interior given how we hide the anchors over here, but it would probably result in fewer bad installs.

[-] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 31 points 19 hours ago

The tariffs on Chinese EVs are meant to prop up the godawful American car manufacturers. They've spent decades lobbying against better fuel mileage standards, and developing their own EV technologies. And now they know they're losing the fight and need to keep an uneven playing field to survive.

Remove the tariffs and let the fuckers rot. They fought for this. They did it to themselves.

[-] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 6 points 17 hours ago

You may be right, but ostensibly, tariffs and other barriers are an attempt to make trade more fair, as the business conditions in China are significantly different and give various unfair advantages over jurisdictions that have higher labour standards, safety standards, environmental standards, and fewer subsidies.

So in that sense, we don't want to subsidize the oppression of workers who give up a decent living to save us some money, etc..

I realize that things like safety standards can change much faster than legislation.

[-] LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 14 hours ago

China is already selling their EVs literally around the world. Their cars are significantly more cost effective and more technologically advanced than literally any competition. Theyre all over the world. For good reason. They're also building factories in other countries, around the world, to bring the same cars and technology there. Canada is missing out categorically.

Canada also isnt holding out over workers rights motives. Its because of our close ties with America and the American auto industry.