By Jo Nova
New “emission” rules for cars started in January, but EV sales are falling and manufacturers are starting to panic
If the Labor government said it was going to make us pay a $10,000 fee on a fossil fuel car so it could give $10,000 to our rich neighbor to buy an EV, there would be mayhem and outrage in the streets. So instead they’ve come up with* a tricky scheme to force car manufacturers to do something like that, and they hope the complexity will fool the people. The new car tax and forced subsidy payments are called the “New Vehicle Efficiency Standard” (NVES) which makes it sound nicer and less Soviet, but really, the scheme is pure politburo management.
The Soviets were infamous for making 800 million pairs of shoes of the wrong sort . Somehow the Russian people had to stand for hours in queues to get one pair that they wanted, and so it is that Commissar Albanese has decreed the kinds of cars Australians will want, whether they like it or not. Like the Russians, we too will pay extra, or wait for years to get what we want.
As of January 1 2025, the government now is forcing manufacturers to sell “a balanced fleet” that meets the average emissions target the government set. In effect, they have turned the manufacturers into tax managers. The government tells Australians “you can buy whatever car you want” — but since the car companies can’t sell whatever car they want, it means customers have to change what they want. This is not a free market.
Obviously, companies selling too many “bad” high emission cars are going to have raise prices on those cars to slow down the sales, and they’ll have to drop the prices of the unpopular low emissions cars to boost them. Perhaps they’ll have to give them away to meet the targets? It might be cheaper than paying the fines.
In the end, it means only the rich will be able to afford the fossil fuel cars that most people want. The poor will have to settle for a subsidized EV, or they will have to pay more for the car they want, and subsidize the rich man buying the EV as a second car.
There is a reason Donald Trump has just dumped the 50% EV target scheme in the US.
The car manufacturers face big fines if they can’t sell enough EV’s
The targets are delusional magic wand edicts — thou shalt reduce carbon emissions of new cars by 60% in five years! And the fines are savage. The new rule has only been in place for 3 months and already manufacturers can see, at this rate, they may end up paying $2.7 billion in fines. Insufferable:
‘Car yards full of EVs people don’t want’: Mitsubishi Australia boss warns Labor over vehicle targets
by Greg Brown, The Australian
In a new front in the growing industry push for Anthony Albanese to revamp his climate and energy policy, Mitsubishi Motors Australia chief executive Shaun Westcott said the government needed to rethink the aggressiveness of its targets aimed at lowering the carbon footprint of new cars by 60 per cent by 2030.
The sector is anticipating the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, which came into effect in January, would lead to car suppliers paying $2.7bn in fines by the end of the decade for missing carbon-emission requirements.
EV sales fell from 9.6% of the market a year ago, down to 5.9% last month:
Australian EV sales down once again in February, Tesla still leads and hybrids surge
The Driven
After a very slow start to EV sales in January 2025, the Australian EV market has shown another month of stagnant sales, with electric vehicles making up just 5.9 per cent of the country’s total new car market, which was also subdued.
The latest data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) (released on Wednesday) and the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC – released on Tuesday) shows that a total of 5,684 full battery electric vehicles were sold in Australia in February, compared to 10,111 in the same month last year, when Tesla dominated and accounted for 5,665 units.
A total of 96,710 new vehicles were sold in Australia during the month, itself a fall of nearly 10 per cent from the same month a year ago.
Faced with these numbers Shaun Westcott said: “There is nothing we can do to force them to buy those vehicles.”
With typical gaslighting style, the “government spokeswoman said the NVES was providing Australians with “choices”.” While they take away the one choice Australians really want which is cheap large fossil fuel comfortable cars.
On the lowest population density country on Earth, with extreme heat, and no transmission lines in most of the country, let alone chargers, this is a dumb place to demand EV’s.
When Australians figure out this communist witchcraft, they are going to be livid.
____________
*Australian Labor didn’t come up with the idea, they stole it from the Democrats in the US who set up this up long ago.
And what is the fake conservative Liberal Party doing about this?
Probably nothing I expect.
650
Expect nothing and we’ll never be disappointed.
I’m sick of the Liberals and their fence-sitting stances.
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Divide and conquer. Labor have the right fighting themselves: liberals aren’t conservative enough for the drys and not left enough for the wets so a terrible hodge-podge of crazies will form the next government.
jeez, stop fighting other liberals and concentrate on the crazies. hold your nose if you must but vote liberal.
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https://humanevents.com/2025/03/24/bonner-cohen-epas-zeldin-unshackles-u-s-energy-potential#google_vignette
Proclaiming ‘the death of the Green New Scam,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has committed his agency to “driving a dagger through climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age.”
In a sweeping March 12 announcement, Zeldin called for “reconsidering” (meaning, in most cases, revoking) 31 EPA rules and regulations, most of which were imposed by the Biden and Obama administrations to combat human-caused climate change. [SNIP]
Instead of having EPA hew to its traditional role as the nation’s most potent and feared regulatory agency, Zeldin is seeking to make EPA a partner in the Trump administration’s quest for American energy dominance.
On the chopping block is the Biden-era de facto EV mandate, which uses stringent tailpipe emissions standards to force automakers to phase out gasoline-powered vehicles by 2030 in favor of battery-powered cars and trucks. Also in the crosshairs is the Biden administration’s April 2024 “Clean Power Plan 2.0,” which severely limits greenhouse-gas emissions from coal- and natural-gas-fired power plants by 2032. Rigorous requirements for reporting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and manufacturing facilities are also targeted by Zeldin’s actions, as are all Biden-era regulations hobbling oil and natural gas production in the U.S.
[SNIP]
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https://thepostmillennial.com/trump-will-reverse-bidens-anti-american-ev-mandate-on-day-one
The Trump campaign took aim at President Biden’s electric vehicle mandate on Wednesday and vowed that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump would overturn the “extreme” policy on day one of his administration.
Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that Biden’s EV policy would financially hurt American consumers, destroy the livelihoods of autoworkers, and benefit the Chinese Communist Party.
“Joe Biden’s extreme electric vehicle mandate will force Americans to buy ultra-expensive cars they do not want and cannot afford while destroying the US auto industry in the process,” said Leavitt. “This radical policy is anti-jobs, anti-consumer and anti-American.”
“It will destroy the livelihoods of countless US autoworkers while sending the US auto industry to China. President Trump will reverse Joe Biden’s extreme electric vehicle mandate on Day One,” she added.
The assertion came after the Biden administration unveiled its finalized regulations for electric vehicles on Wednesday. These rules are intended to counteract the phenomenon known as “climate change.”
Model year 2027 passenger, light-duty and medium-duty vehicles will be subject to the most stringent tailpipe emissions rules ever imposed by the federal government. As restrictions tighten, by 2032, the majority of new automobile purchases will be required to be battery-electric or plug-in hybrids.
Automakers would be required to guarantee that 56 percent of light-duty car sales are battery electric and another 13 percent are hybrid by 2032, according to White House officials who cited one “low cost” model EPA specified in the rule. This would mean that by that time, over 70 percent of new cars would be zero-emissions or low-emissions.
President Biden said in a statement after the regulations were announced: “Three years ago, I set an ambitious target: that half of all new cars and trucks sold in 2030 would be zero-emission.”
”I brought together American automakers. I brought together American autoworkers,” said Biden. “Together, we’ve made historic progress. Hundreds of new expanded factories across the country. Hundreds of billions in private investment and thousands of good-paying union jobs. And we’ll meet my goal for 2030 and race forward in the years ahead.”
Former President Donald Trump, who hopes to unseat Biden in November, has called out Biden’s EV mandates numerous times on the campaign trail, referring to it as “draconian” and “indefensible.”
Additionally, the energy industry, farm groups, consumer activists, and Republican politicians swiftly attacked Biden’s EPA restrictions, vowing to pursue legislation aimed at reversing them.
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Utter cabal of crooks shamelessness fleecing a nation for policy think tanks in London, Vienna and NY.
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Eloquently said, Sir Les. I would include the sororities masquerading as serious entities in Davos and Brussels.
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Until the rules change, old cars will be kept going and the new car business will collapse. It is a delicious irony that MDS (Musk Derangement Syndrome) in the USA is now causing the very people most motivated to go electric to try to destroy an EV business. This is one of the best spectator sports on the planet now, Well, it is until someone gets killed.
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They don’t need to change the rules they will simply apply another tax to petrol and force everyone to buy a battery car
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*Australian Labor didn’t come up with the idea, they stole it from the Democrats in the US who set up this up long ago.
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
And then along came Trump – Trump revokes Biden 50% EV target, freezes unspent charging funds
The LNP should use this as part of their Election Manifesto/Policies. Just promise to get rid of these stupid “Emission Rules”.
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The LNP have no go in them I’m afraid. Too much electoral risk for them. We’re stuffed.
330
The LNP don’t fundamentally believe in anything and “just go with the flow”.
And I’m sick of LNP supporters telling me we’ll find out their real policies AFTER the election. That’s not good enough.
Also, it was that repulsive little man, Howard, fake conservative, that set Australia on the road to “renewables” madness.
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Maybe the Lib ‘real’ policies will never come to fruition – each week Dutton seems to be “shooting himself in the foot” with his policy announcements that the public consider as divisive e.g. stop remote work, bring in nuclear (but no details or timeline). Whether he is right or wrong is moot, but his recent announcements may not appeal to younger or female voters, thereby losing votes. It would be great if the majority of the public could be persuaded to look beyond Libs Labor Greens and Teals; but there seems to be too much apathy and an ‘it will be ok’ attitude from the majority and so much data/facts being hidden by main stream media..
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Do you know the date of the next election?
Has the election campaign commenced or has Labor been stalling for time and by not going into caretaker mode using tax monies to advertise and generally carry out a party political campaign taking advantage of government office.
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Its certainly started in my areas with candidate posters out and our local independent but green candidate setting up a campaign office in town ( where she isnt seen from one election to the next unless its a photo opp)
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You’re stuffed if you don’t even try.
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The ALP send trainees to learn from the democrats.
They don’t send them to “Trump school” so all that is totally undiscovered
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Meanwhile, a nine-year-old “domestic terrorist” targets an aged rabbit, according to our PM. What has our country become? We can’t buy the vehicles we want, or approach a mascot of our team.
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I live near a bay with two electric charging ports. Only used by local council vehicles but rarely by the regular travelling public. If users willingly buy EV’s let them produce their own energy and don’t complain when the grid fails you.
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There is a grocery store near where I live (in northeastern Ohio, USA) that I go to pretty regularly (about 4 or 5 times a month) that installed 12 Tesla charging stations about one year ago. In the ensuing year, I think I’ve only ever seen one car charging there. On the other hand, the gas station nearby always has cars there getting gasoline.
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The local shopping centre not far from my home has six recharge bays for EV but most times I pass there is not even one parked there, and at peak holiday periods I have never seen all of them being used.
Last year I stayed for a few days at a caravan park in Tumut NSW and there were some EV recharge bays but not one EV charging while I was there.
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Wonderful truth I read somwhere
If I behaved like the government behaves and did what the government does, I would be in jail.
Question to all politicians
What have you done for your country and what has your country done for you?
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“Ask not”
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My father had this definition –
“A statesman* is someone who does something for his country”
“A politician is someone who does some thing for some thing”
(Back in the days of “all-inclusive man)
If it wasn’t his original I have no idea of the source.
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“New Vehicle Efficiency Standard” (NVES) will cause me to adopt New voting Efficiency Stand against Labor! Cannon Brooks Teals can also expect the same retaliation from wide awake voters.
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I’m considering giving all candidates the same vote, a zero.
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Good idea. Why waste time voting for the same outcome being sold to us by a different salesman.
Now if said salesman proclaimed that all subsidies would cease within 6 months of his election it would certainly get my attention. Likewise if all construction of wind & solar farms would cease within 3 / 6 months l would certainly consider voting for said salesman.
To get me to actually vote, the said salesman needs to prove he’s serious about those policies AS WELL AS declaring net zero is history immediately he takes office!
Until then we may as well keep the old gang. At least we know that everything they churn out is a lie & will turn to manure ten minutes after they enact anything. We don’t have to learn to spot the new BSitters.
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If you don’t vote, the UniParty don’t care. But if you find one good independent candidate and tick their box, they do.
Don’t wait for the media to let you know about the minor candidate who is anti-Blob. We have to go out and find them.
If you feel like no one is listening and there’s no point in voting, the Uniparty program has worked.
If you really hate what the Uniparty has done, don’t just vote, but hand out leaflets or flyers for the minor guys too. That’s what the Uniparty is most afraid of. Motivated people.
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Enjoy having wall to wall labor governments.
Have you ever heard a labor voter say “I’m thinking of changing my vote because I think……” Me neither.
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Enjoy having wall to wall labor governments.
Have you ever heard a labor voter say “I’m thinking of changing my vote because I think..” Me neither.
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I’m guessing that about a third of vocal posters here will not Vote 1 liberal, and will then spend the next three years whinging. Are you one of those?
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I am a Chevrolet sales Specialist at an American Dealership.
I’m in a cold, Red State and we can’t sell GM’s electric vehicles. Case in point:
We have some Chevrolet Silverado 1500 EV trucks. They weigh a crazy 8,800 pounds an cost $90,000. I can sell you one of these or I can sell you a 2025 gas powered Chevy Silverado 1500 gas truck for $45,000
Next problem: Hertz Rent-a – Car bought a bunch of these to rent. They didn’t so they are selling these monsters for $54,000 after few thousand miles. How on earth can I sell these.
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/hertz-is-selling-a-barely-driven-chevy-silverado-ev-it-s-almost-half-the-msrp-248533.html
Mary Barra runs GM and she is a buddy of Joe Biden and believes in global warming and DEI. It’s like Kamala Harris was running GM and Mary isn’t even that smart. She’s been running GM into the ground for 11 years.
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Geeeeezzzz John G 3 you mean Kamala is even a little bit smart?
She certainly hides it well.
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“I am a Chevrolet sales Specialist …”
Oh dear, John G 3, I do feel sorry for you. Maybe a new
door will open for you.
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It is a choice- we can choose between something we don’t want, and nothing at all. Not a difficult decision.
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Leftists are always pretending to want to “save the planet” but a vast majority are so scientifically illiterate that they don’t even understand how the planet works.
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Carbon dioxide is a trace gas, 0.04% of the atmosphere. Humans produce just 5% of that. Australia produces a tiny 1.5% of that. If these people did just a minimal bit of research they would realise that their crazy rule would have no effect whatsoever on the climate. Just make life harder for people who want to drive real cars they can afford.
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Judith Sloan in the Spectator Australia is reporting that well-heeled executives are taking advantage of generous and complex FBT benefits attached to leased electrics and plug-in hybrids, to the extent thae subsidies are costing us lesser taxpayers 10 times the initial estimates ($560M vs $55M). The most popular models in this scheme are the plug-ins, and word is that most owners do not even bother to plug them in; they just use them like ordinary gasoline-powered cars.
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The ultimate plan is to “gut” the peasants, then get them “addicted” to “welfare”, which can be switched on and off as the latest “attitude adjustment” requires.
Tie to watch “Soylent Green” again?
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I’d plug it in, but only at work of course.
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There’s probably a bunch of senior public serpents on salaries of $500K+ who plug them in at “work”, charge the car at taxpayer expense then drive them home and connect the car to their house in a vehicle to grid (V2G) configuration and then have free power at home.
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Why would the average Australian want an EV that costs more than an equivalent ICV retail price, more to insure and depreciates in value by more?
And if a regular country travel driver the frustrations of range anxiety and finding a recharge station, let alone one working and/or where your phone app works to connect the power, and if available waiting for at least one EV to recharge before your EV can connect?
I understand recharger rage now extends to drivers who want to charge 100% because the time required from 80% to 100% is almost as much time as the 80% level timing.
And country range, typically an EV with theoretical 100% battery charged 500 kilometre range cannot achieve that range. To start with battery discharge is limited to 10% or a bit higher. Highway speeds, number of people on board and luggage uses more power than city driving. Therefore on average expect no more than 350-400 kilometres with not recommended 100% charge so much less with 80% charge.
I understand that without government fleet buyers and company fleet lease buyers EV sales are very poor indeed.
And the second-hand market is not good as more people realise battery pack deteriorates and range loss results every year and finally if trade-in is accepted the price will be very low.
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frustrations of range anxiety and finding a recharge station
Father in law recently bought his first ev. Friday drove to work and then home loaded up the new ev and he and Mum drove to us for dinner (130km). Saturday was to be a drive to a charity event (30k) then visiting a buddy as part of (diverted) journey home making it around 170k return.
Spent most of dinner with his phone out trying to locate convenient recharging stations and most of the few he found were not on the drive home route so had to factor in diversion milage and charging time to try and fit arrival time at friends place. On top of range anxiety he also had charge time anxiety and its impact on journey. THEN comes the gee thanks FiL for the pleasant family dinner talk on how everyone is going – not.
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My wife was looking ar cars recently. The EVs model of similar size and functionality (but less claimed range) was almost double the price of the model she actually wanted.
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If Australia plays its cards right, there is a solution.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/23/the-uranium-hydrogen-carbon-energy-system-of-the-future/
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I have just purchased a new diesel (not hybrid) 4WD to avoid this issue (for a few years) . We can complain , but nobody is listening . Uniparty politicians are still getting elected and until they are accountable for lying to everybody nothing will change . The irony that even the “made in china” teslas are predicted to drop 30 – 50% this year is not getting noticed . The longer we ignore reality the worse the consequences .
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I have a diesel 4WD SUV purchased new in 2017, because of the COVID years and some other person problems my annual driving distances are much lower than earlier when the trade-in was driven over 200,000 km in just four years from new, my current diesel has just been serviced for 170,000 km and is in excellent condition, serviced on time every time, oil and filter every 10,000 km which is half the manufacturer recommended time.
The manufacturer is Isuzu and they claim that correctly serviced and driven sensibly 500,000 kms is a minimum potential engine and drive operating life.
I know the second owner of a 1980s model Mitsubishi diesel now approaching one million kilometres of driving and no sign of stopping. The oil and filter are changed every 5,000 kms.
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The car companies should just pull out. “Sayonara! Make your own Gov.Junk!” Remember the Trabant?
And just like Prohibition it will create a black market in both hydrocarbon fuels and cars.
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Are Trabants still available? They would probably outsell electric cars if they were.
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I do not own one and have no intentions of ever buying a souped up golf cart.
I will run both my desil four wheel drive and foru cylinder petrol vehicles into the ground until I can no longer fix them and if I can’t afford another fosil fueled vehicle I will walk.
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If my Toyota pooped itself and I could buy a road registered, airconditioned golf cart cheap enough, I’d consider it.
ps I don’t drive far today.
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We bought a new car last week. At the beginning of the process the young sales guy started with ” I guess your not looking for the EV are you?” His tone sounded like he was well conditioned for the refusal and moving right along.
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My brother bought a new F-150 last year. At first they tried to sell him the EV version. Nope. Then the hybrid version. Nope. “I want the turbo charged gasoline powered model or I’m walking away. Period.”
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I’m an extremely climate conscientious driver and deserve an elephant stamp: I use my 1.4lt turbo Golf around town and my 2.7lt diesel Territory on road trips. Both give me around 900ks to a tank.
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I’m sure other people have already said it – but I’ll say it again anyway.
I always thought that the whole idea of these mandatory EV sales targets was not to sell more EVs – obviously the grid could never handle it – but crash the whole ICE car market and replace it with the “You will own nothing and love it” mantra – forcing people out of their private cars and into public transport.
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It is very annoying on highways and worse for heavy transport drivers when EVs are cruising along at 80 kmh in 100-110 kmh speed zones, obviously watching the battery discharge with some anxiety.
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No government Federal or State is bothering to explain how increasing the EV fleet if government incentives were working well would be serviced, where would the electricity supply come from considering the supply crisis now and AEMO warning of worse to come? State governments doing deals with coal fired power stations to extend operating schedule past closure timing. Trying to build many more gas turbine generator plants.
And the local grids, all would need major upgrading and new sub-stations, and of course connections to buildings to boost power supply.
It makes no sense.
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Australia’s power supply deficit will be secretly made up by diesel generators.
We will have the bizarre situation of government mandated EV’s charged by diesel.
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Mitsubishi are panicking because they don’t offer a full EV, only hybrids. China made EVs are now highly sophisticated and Japanese car manufacturers are well behind the technology curve. EVs win hands-down for total cost of ownership and environmental footprint.
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So great, no need for tricky deceptive subsidy schemes then. Just let people buy what they want.
Why are you so afraid of competition? Is it because your team lie about everything?
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The political laziness and complacency of Australians is truly astounding. They are all moaning about what they allowed the ALP to do and now enough of them will put the LNP in charge and end up in the same place. Nothing will change. Both parties obey their masters at the WEF and do NOT work for you. The old saying “if voting did any good they wouldn’t allow it” IS certainly true. Also IT is OUR fault entirely. Have a great day everyone and enjoy the benefits of YOUR apathy.
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Look, they’re probably nice cars and if you bought one you probably love it. So, similar to Teslas. Just don’t force us ( the population) to buy one and also don’t force the poor bloody dealer to sell them either. Which looks like as of 1/1/25 they are being forced to sell them. For every EV they don’t sell there’s probably an added amount to every ICE vehicle as well. Which is what is happening to heat pump sales in the UK.
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Where were the motoring bodies advising or assisting the government in this hare brained scheme.? Probably the sensible bodies refused to attend because they would have to sign Non Disclosure agreements. Which means only the duds or vested interest groups were advising.
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Fits with the restrictions on city travel to a few kilometres from a council clock! Fewer cars on the road is the socialists’ dream. Confinement and control of the masses. It is passed time that the purveyors of AGW were forced into the open to defend their ‘science’. This is the only way to get all this crap dumped. There’s enough coal powered stations being built around the world that one can start the argument by pointing out how much of the world shuns the AGW crew with a vengeance and prospers while Western nations flounder in a national death spiral in their own absurdities.
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Yes, the so-called “15 Minute City” concept of the WEF, rebranded in Australia as the “20 Minute Neighbourhood”, further rebranded as “Activity Centres”.
https://intelligence.weforum.org/monitor/latest-knowledge/8d496bec33e74bd9b0e0eaf99b9a1f8f
https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/strategies-and-initiatives/20-minute-neighbourhoods
https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/strategies-and-initiatives/activity-centres-program
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FWIW
“Australia’s ‘laziest, stupidest, and most inept’ government: Rowan Dean slams Labor”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFI5QbJnpPc
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I agree. The Federal and most state governments are the worst in Australia’s history, and rapidly getting worse.
If the fake conservative Liberals don’t grow a pair, Australia is finished.
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So who will you vote for?
If posters here are to be taken at their word we will have a green/teal government by proxy. Bon appétit.
30
I am sure your every word is true, John Galt 111
I am a car hobbyist in Australia and even from this far distance I picked Mary Barra as bad news for GM years ago.
Running around collecting awards for being an amazingly amazing woman but with no idea about making cars that people truly want to buy.
When I compare most GM products now to the then world leading style of a 65 impala, a c2 or early c3 Corvette, 1st or 2nd gen Camaros or even humble Novas and Chevelles back in the day…,
You must look around the showroom some days and secretly think “ Why would you sign a 60 month lease for THAT”
80
Ah Foxbody. I know what that nick means.
00
The probable result will be that car manufacturers will exit the market in Australia (it will be cheaper for them)
60
If over half left it would be better for us, who needs Skoda? As long as Toyota stays we will be OK.
31
We will force you to buy EV’s. We will force the grid to run on intermittent sources. WE will force you to have ‘smart’ meters so
we can throttle down your power when the grid is stressed. We will then dock your pay if you can’t get to work. Of course you
could use mass transit, which we haven’t made available except in the few cities we want you to move to.
Beam me up Scottie, there’s no intelligent life here.
Both Oz and Canada are well on their way to becoming colonies again, with natural resources to be exploited whilst manufactures must
be imported from the mother country. But which mother country, that is the question.
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