China dominates the electric vehicle industry, with its brands responsible for about two-thirds of global sales in 2024, although none of those sales were in the U.S.
China loves electric cars: making them, driving them and selling them to the rest of the world.
Electric vehicles have been widely adopted in China, thanks in part to years of now-defunct government subsidies and a fast-growing network of charging stations. According to the International Energy Agency, almost half of the cars sold in China in 2024 were electric, compared with about 1 in 10 in the U.S.
But despite growing global interest in the innovative sector, Chinese electric cars remain out of reach for consumers in the world’s second-largest auto market, the United States.
America: capitalism good, competition bad.
Can I get an electric vehicle without giving up my privacy or autonomy?
Possibly soon-ish. The Slate Truck has nothing in it to track you. … it doesn’t have much in it at all. Which makes me love it more. https://www.slate.auto/en
I really hope the slate works. A no nonsense EV (or really any car) is so appealing. I just worry that it’s cost will end up pushing people away. They were really banking on the EV tax credits to bring the “price” down
Not in the United States, no
Pretty important reason to not switch to electric if you ask me.
You cannot currently get a new modern car without tracking, ICE or BEV. It’s bonkers.
Older cars are dying out little by little in both streets and junk yards. Spare parts for them won’t be manufactured forever either. This is a problem that has to be legislated away or barring that, have a big enough hacking industry to work around these things.
Here’s hoping for hobbyist industries to offer alternative electrics. We don’t need a bunch of complex systems to tell electric motors to go or stop.
I’d like to say just snap any antennae in the vehicle. Or, Faraday cage it. Or if you’re really creative custom car OS. TempleOS comes to mind.
Likely to render the vehicle inoperable until fixed. Electric vehicles seem particularly vulnerable to service denial for any reason a company or government might decide.
To no one’s surprise…
…i really wanted an EV1 in the late nineties: general motors and the american automotive industry conspired to make certain that domestic market would never incubate, and as a result i’ve resolved never to buy a vehicle from any of their co-conspirators…
Funny how American mega corps force their way into developing nations using political bullying and destroy these nations smaller businesses with uncompetitive practices but they don’t want to risk competing with any foreign company on their own turf
Bring the BYD yang yangwang u7 to canada please…
Just a friendly reminder BYD defiantly put an Elon style god mode and wireless networking into these heaps.
Here’s hoping the backdoor is exposed in a way that is funny like bitlocker and not tragic like the CCP ripping off the CIA
I’m not familiar with the Elon style god mode, what’s that all about?
Root. There’s some kind of login or key he has that lets the user do anything and has some extra functions
Isn’t it weird how a country that constantly claims to be The Best™ at everything has to overtly and systematically restrict its citizens from purchasing better products made elsewhere?
It ain’t weird if you’ve been paying any attention to how nation states compete, over the years.
I’m so confused. I thought the foundation of Capitalism was free market pressure. Doesn’t restricting what people can buy and where from kind of undermine the entire ideal?
Well I see where your confusion comes from. You thought the USA was capitalist, but the reality is that America is VERY socialist. You can have it all in the USA, as long as your in the in group. And by in group I mean you must have 2+ million dollars, once u are elite rich you unlock the socialism in USA and get government contracts, restrictions that put you above the competition, bail outs and safety nets out the wazoo if you mess up, the best health care in the world etc. You must be more like me, part of the serf class that gets the “pleasure” of making all this possible with poor wages and taxes that find the corporate machine.
Yes, but the counterpoint claim is that Chinese products are not competitive on a free market. The TEMU shit is a good example of this claim being true. Whether or not the Chinese government is paying for infiltrating the Western markets by dumping prices is one thing, but their lacking safety quality control and slave like working conditions are indisputably true. We should not accept products from China that do not produced under the same standards as our own.
lacking safety quality control and slave like working conditions
Boy it’s a good thing American companies haven’t all moved their manufacturing overseas to take advantage of those exact conditions, pocketing the profit while enjoying protectionist laws like the one discussed here. That would make us look really silly.
I see… So the American companies like Apple, Nike, all major clothing brands etc that make use of the very same somehow aren’t able to bring their prices down? I fail to believe “quality control” is enough to justify it.
Both Apple and Nike are made in China.
I’m just explaining why domestic production of junk in EU and USA is usually more expensive than similar functioning junk from China.
Yes. Absolutely.
Exactly.
The foundation of capitalism is Profit is King.
The free market, aka competition, is the least profitable method of production for a company. It’s terrible for your bottom line. Profit is the only thing that matters, and specifically Profit by the Metric evaluated by those with the purse-strings; i.e. in the US this is profit per quarter.
‘Free Market’ economics is not only not limited to capitalism, capitalism is inherently antithetical to competition and the free market and will always seek to eliminate it entirely.
I think you’re confusing the president with the actual people in the country.
Dunno about you, I wouldn’t own a Chinese car until they start building them as reliable as a Honda or Toyota.
Here’s the rub, EV engines have far fewer moving parts and are extremely reliable.
My work just got a fleet of electric iveco vans and they are shit. Constantly breaking down, having battery issues, fatal error messages all the time. Seems like maybe it’s more software issues than hardware, and they’re lovely when they’re actually working.
Italian motors aren’t known for reliability as it is.
I generally shop for reliability and longevity also but
- EV inherently fewer things to go wrong
- Where’s your price threshold? What if you can get two sketchy cars for the price of that Honda? Three?
We will get Chinese electric cars in the USA when Xi pays Trump more to bring them here than Elon pays him to keep them out. He already laid the groundwork by systematically kneecapping domestic electric programs via his signature racketeering style, knowing he would make more money in the long run fire selling our car market to China than he could ever steal from the domestic market.
Ever been to a Goodwill Bins store? The Art of the Deal was forged in the fetid pressure of the piss-soaked remains at the bottom.
The issue is that US car mfr execs will get less bonuses if they choose to compete with BYD. Its easier to tariff Americans than give a few CEOs a salary cut.
Mary Barra gets all kinds of shit and pressure to resign for saying she believes EVs are the future, despite cutting way back on GMs attempt to build them
You mean except in gilliad?
They’re in the US just private labeled and “assembled in US”.
The only BYD I’ve ever seen stateside was driven into the county by a Mexican family on vacation
And 100% tariffed…
I’d be as concerned about BYD reliability as I would be with Tesla. And, Tesla isn’t great.
With consumer product competition being a race to the bottom for nearly every product now, I think my concerns are valid.
tesla has well known issues for at least a decade+ already, musk was able to suppress the reports for a while.
Al my friends and I have BYDs. 100k km each of us and 0 issues. Heck in fact there are a few ones out there with almost 1million km and still going.
I can find fault in any product made so when someone says “0 issues” it really discredits them in my opinion.
The most common issue for BYDs specifically is tires that need to be replaced more often than non-EV drivers expect and optional safety features usually missing from the lower end models.
Most EVs are dead simple compared to ICE cars; when you have literally 100x fewer parts there is a lot less to go wrong. This is especially true when you’re not trying to introduce FSD or other superfluous features because you want to be a 1980s cyberpunk villain industrialist.
I need to see this verified. I call bullshit.
Why?
You mean the EVs that were just found out to be mostly made by slave or slave-like labor? Yeah I bet.
Got any source on that? The EV lines are nearly 100% automated.
Got any source on that?
Something something Xinjiang.
Something something under Communism, no freedom
Something something I trust the Freedom Institute For Liberty And Democracy a bit more than your Wumao ass, you CCP shill.
just modeling their behaviours on the likes of Nike, Apple etal.
when ipads were being assembled in India and workers were throwing themselves off the roof of the factory from stress, the soltion was …to install nets
That was Foxcon. China.
That was the Taiwanese company Foxcon, which operated in Hong Kong under a separate set of labor laws than the mainland.
Don’t get all high and mighty. Companies making cars in the USA have been busted numerous times having children as young as 12 working in the factories.
And don’t ask what an Artisanal Miner is or why we’ve been importing so much of our rare earth material from a disputed territory between Congo and Rwanda.
No one reads my fucking other comment I guess.
That’s just how threads go on forums like this. People see your original comment, but replies you make to other comments may get buried. If you want everyone to see your other comment, make it an edit to your original.
I really don’t care, starting to dislike this place anyways. I post something personal and get zero replies, I post some dumb shit about Chinese cars and get 80 replies. Meh.
Ok, well you seemed confused and upset, so I was just trying to help. Hope you feel better today.
Everything I’ve read about the factory in Hungary was true of countless companies in the US. There are people here who work 7 days a week too.
The reason it’s an issue in Hungary is because the EU has stronger labor protections than we do. If this were happening in the US, I’m convinced it would be completely ignored.
Yeah, we definitely need stronger labor protections here, unfortunately you’re probably right.
I don’t know why people keep down voting this.
They’ve found subhuman slave like labour conditions both in the factories in Hungary and Brazil.
Their tech is great, but no one should support any companies that violate human rights. PERIOD!
IKEA and Nestlé have abhorrent US business practices. It’s a disgusting display of orientalism, and these practices are illegal in China.
Nestle is one of the worst companies in the world. They are responsible for the death of tens of thousands of children in Africa, droughts and a lot more shit.
I hadn’t heard anythink about Ikea. Mind sharing? I though they were pretty good, being a non profit and investing in climate change.
I can’t remember everything exactly, and memory holes are sadly real, mostly due to things like https://www.reputationsciences.com/reputation-management-definition-important/
But labor abuses follow this company.
https://www.ufcw.org/press-releases/ikea-usa-charged-with-violating-federal-labor-law/
I can’t vouch for the veracity of other accusations, but they are there:
Because this place is also full of shills and state actors unfortunately. Don’t get me wrong I’m not defending anyone here, American car companies are plenty garbage, but I’m tired of the astroturfing about these “amazing Chinese cars”
Who owns the hungarian one? I haven’t heard about it.
Huh, completely flew under my radar and i follow EVs closely…
Like the US factories that have mandatory overtime and if you don’t meet the requirement you get fired? 6-7 days a week and 10 hours a day.
Source?
Edit: Just for clarification, “trust me” is not a source.
I have worked in US factories. I got a write up for missing three whole days of mandatory seven day, ten hour weeks, with a doctor’s note. I was fortunate enough at the time that I found a job elsewhere on five day weeks that paid more on that same day because I walked out the door without a meeting, let alone signing anything.
The factory I’m sitting next to.
Yeah, that’s what’s funny. They’re insanely substudized and built by people making $300/mo. They also catch fire from thermal runaway at a massively higher rate.
I’ve test driven 4 different chinese brands for shits and giggles… they drive horribly! They lack the most basic features like single pedal driving, the thing EVs are known for?
I just came from test driving the BYD seal and I understand what they mean. Quality wise its simply the best EV maker
I can agree that they’re pretty amazing for what they worth but…
Quality wise its simply the best EV maker
They’re not the best even among the Chinese EV makers.
You cannot determine quality from a test drive.
I consider quality long term reliability and there is zero data on this for most EVs.
Oh, yeah durability you can’t grasp with a simple test drive
So happy for comrades fighting globalization.
