European EV Dynamics

The Biden Administration believes China has installed malware on U.S. networks that could affect military operations and other domestic communications, officials told the New York Times, following earlier reports suggesting state-sponsored Chinese hackers had infiltrated American infrastructure networks.

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"Contemporary woke progressivism…is better understood as a quasi-religious, intellectual virus that has infected the minds of a large portion of Western intellectual elites. Like other religions, the progressive mind virus spreads itself by taking advantage of the human psychological needs for meaning and community, and it deploys intellectual defense mechanisms designed to short-circuit critical examination of its tenets.

…the belief system defenses deployed by progressivism directly attack the norms of free expression and rational inquiry that are necessary not only for identifying truth but for peacefully negotiating disagreements…

the virus, once lodged in a person’s mind, deactivates one’s truth-seeking capacities…"

--Michael Huemer’s book, Progressive Myths. 

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European EV Dynamics

Sales of Chinese EVs have been taking market share. This will make it more difficult for European manufacturers to fill their EV sales quotas.

Traditional carmakers have been funding their investments in EV production, at least in part, with the profits from traditional car sales. If those sales are capped (and the cap keeps falling), how are they going to pay for the investment in EV production?

Renault’s CEO has recently sounded the alarm, warning that similar rules in the EU in 2025 could mean that the EU auto sector might have to suspend production of two million cars (that won’t have pleasant implications for employment) or face fines of €15 billion.

[I]n August 2024, new EU car registrations saw a sharp decrease (-18.3%) with negative results across the region’s four major markets: double-digit losses were witnessed in Germany (-27.8%), France (-24.3%), and Italy (-13.4%), with the Spanish market declining by 6.5%.

Battery-electric vehicles (BEVS, “full” electric vehicles) saw their market share drop from around 21 percent in August 2023 to 14.4 percent in August 2024. Sales dropped from 165,000 to 92,000. This decline was above all driven by massive falls in Germany and France. Germany abruptly ended its subsidy program in December

European manufacturers are moving production to China to manufacture cheaper (€20,000 or less) models, a familiar pattern — green jobs are created in China(see solar and wind) — and ominous news for those working in (or supplying) the EU auto sector. According to those same EU officials, some 13 million jobs in that area are at risk.

if EVs were to be bought by drivers on the planners’ schedule they would account for 13.5 per cent of total electricity demand by 2035. According to the Financial Times, that would involve investing €800 billion in transmission grids alone.