As the EU threatens to fight the rising imports of Chinese electric cars with big new tariffs, the U.K., under “farcical” Net Zero laws, is set to do the opposite and force U.K. car makers to subsidise their Chinese rivals. The BBC’s Faisal Islam explains.
In a few weeks’ time the Government will introduce its Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, designed to force carmakers down the path towards hitting targets to eliminate the sale of the combustion engine.
If a car company misses its target that 22% of its sales are electric, starting in January, it will either face fines of £15,000 per vehicle, or have to buy a surplus credit from a company that has sold lots of electric vehicles.
It happens to be the case that the Chinese-made import brands are mainly all electric.
The net result of all this, fear some in the car industry, is a system where existing U.K. manufacturers, including of hybrid cars, will pay thousands of pounds to subsidise electric imports.
Essentially, U.K. factories, which face competition from Chinese electric imports, could have to subsidise them. While this is not the intention of the policy it could be the inadvertent effect.
The Government has not yet published its response to a consultation on this that closed four months ago. The expectation in the industry is that sufficient flexibilities will be introduced to prevent this issue. But the system is just weeks away from being introduced. And it is clear that the general architecture of the ZEV mandate is designed to provide a carrot for electric importers, including from China, and a stick for actual producers of existing cars in the U.K.
Right now, the EU is looking at restricting Chinese electric vehicle sales, whereas the U.K. could inadvertently be subsidising them.
Is this part of a conscious post-Brexit strategy to help the British consumer, with an anti-protectionist free trade approach? Does the route to mass adoption of zero carbon [sic] technologies go through Shanghai?
Worth reading in full.
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In everything GREEN, first comes the nudge then comes the push. ——-Well the nudge has managed to capture all the low hanging fruit and it is now time for the PUSH. Now it is time to punish, fine and imprison those who dare not to comply with this globalist eco socialist tyranny. if you think I am being a bit over the top then have a look at the new energy bill———- You refuse to get a smart meter so your energy use can be monitored and rationed, well it is a 15,000 quid fine or a year in jail for you. You won’t rip out your fantastic gas central heating and spend thousands you might not have on a heat pump and redecorating all the clutter and mess then the same applies to you—-a 15,000 quid fine or go to jail and do not pass go. ——–Isn’t it pathetic that all of this is supposed to be for our own good, yet we must be forced into it or face imprisonment? How long before if we don’t scrap the diesel we get fined. How long before we face jail for flying too many times to Tenerife? How long before the Supermarket records the carbon footprint of the steak and mince we buy and won’t allow any more through the checkout?——Wakey wakey people. This is NOT and NEVER WAS about the planet. —It is claimed the CO2 is warming the planet dangerously. But CO2 is also something else. It is the one gas that can be directly tied to Industrial Capitalism, and that is what all of this is about. The wealthy emit the most for obvious reasons and the poorest emit the least. What better way to control the worlds wealth and resources than by control of all that CO2. —-Eco Socialism pure and simple.
Nothing to do with capitalism but everytthing to do with fascism. That is not a general term of abuse but a clear descriptrion of the views of the political class.
“Nothing to do with Capitalism” ??????———-You are seriously misinformed. This pretend to save the planet tyranny is totally ANTI CAPITLIST. The proponents of it like Guitierrez at the UN admit that themselves. One of the people responsible for this climate change nonsense getting under way, Maurice Strong, said that our lifestyles were unsustainable and asked wasn’t it the right thing to do to bring about the destruction of Industrial Capitalism. It is eco socialism and it seeks to redistribute the worlds wealth via climate policies.
And the Chancellor’s wife is which nationality?
There’s no doubt the CCP has deep roots across the whole British government, industry, institutions and has influenced this suicidal policy.
I remain convinced that she’s his CCP handler.
Jeremy seemed to think she was Japanese! An easy mistake to make if you’re stupid!
Remind me when we voted for this?
As we live in a democracy, I’m assuming we all voted on something so massive as the decision to eliminate cars with combustion engines, and bring in all these bit by bit bureaucratic orders to squeeze the life out of the combustion engine.
Someone please remind me when it was in the life of our glorious exemplary democracy that we all voted for this genius idea.
Those that voted, didn’t. I doubt that most voters scrutinised the mainifesto policies of the parties they voted for. Broadly speaking, I suspect many voters voted along one of the following lines:
1) keep the nasty tories out and the heirs to Fatcher (and the family’s always voted labour).
2) Keep the socialists out and the heirs to Blair as they’ll bankrupt the country.
3) Virtue signalling – “aren’t I a kind and caring person voting for green, woke, hug a bunny, invite a migrant policies?”.
We could do with different options at the next General Election – but none of the alternatives seem to be gaining any real traction.
Our salvation will not arrive via the ballot box.
Totally agree.
Stewart, I am sorry but it was in all the main parties manifesto’s. If you didn’t vote for it then I hope you voted for none of those parties, but the rest of us almost certainly did. The whole political class of pretend to save the planet politicians are in on this eco socialist scam and they did not try to hide that. It was in their manifesto’s.
My comment was meant to be addressed to Stewart.
The manifesto (on page 77 or something), in tiny print didn’t say we belong the the WEF. It didn’t say we intend to take all your money. It didn’t say we are closing Britain down because we had the indistrial revolution. It didn’t say we intend to put you all in jail. It was very mild, yet has been the only thing the Government has managed to do at all, and should have been in huge print on page 1. Vote for Reform, they are now at 9%, the largest “minority” party, even ahead of the Green Idiots. Certainly don’t fail to vote, that is suicide.
Yes I agree with what you are saying about the detail of Net Zero, but it was for sure in all their manifesto’s. ———–I will ofcourse be looking at all parties who would reverse this Eco Socialist tyranny. But it is ok for people like you and I here on the Daily Sceptic and other such websites to see what is happening with this pretend to save the planet scam but 95% of the population only tune into mainstream 6 o’clock news and actually think this is all about science and a changing climate. You might have noticed that if you are in conversations with any of your friends or family and this issue comes up that they will look at you like you are from Mars if you for one second try to suggest that climate change is a political agenda and has little to do with science. Such is the power of propaganda that has people falling for the greatest pseudo scientific fraud ever perpetrated.
You vote for someone who stands in your constituency. Once elected, they do whatever they see fit and if you don’t like it, you get to vote against them once they’ve done their damage. On matters that are not local, they are less likely to be doing anything for you unless you are extremely influential. Parliament isn’t going to push too hard to change this system.
I know. I’m just banging the drum that we don’t live in a democracy at all but rather a system for keeping the population pacified while the most senior members of the establishment run things as they chose and mostly for their own benefit. Part of the con is calling it a democracy
There will be a Reform candidate in every constituancy. There is no point in voting for the uniparty, they will probably form a coalition if neither has an overall majority!
In the same week that it has been announced that Port Talbot will be losing jobs to convert the furnaces to electric-arc with £500m sent to India’s Tata Steel, we’re now looking to destroy UK car manufacturing with the imposition of green nonsence – which will benefit China to the tune of billions of pounds.
so which is it – incompetence, mavolence or venailty?
India’s “son-in-law” helping out the extended family?
The other day someone posted a graph showing the global proportion of basic steel manufacture – a substantial Chinese majority, well over 50%, with Port Talbot being minuscule.
At 30 million tons or so it helps keep us independent of Chineese and Indian market control. This idea is only exporting our emissions elsewhere, the basic steel process from ore is very difficult in an arc furnace, as reducing Iron ore needs a hydrogen atmosphere with a huge quantity of Hydrogen, which would have to be made from lots more electricity. PT would probably need 2 or 3 conventional 2GW power stations at least to make 30 million tons this way, needing around 100 million tons of hydrogen! The idea is to use scrap, but as we use more than we scrap, we would be importing a lot from China and India. Cue huge price rise (again!).
Same has been happening for ages with Tesla, not just Chinese manufacturers. Actually, Tesla and “Elon Himself” have led the way with this scam.
I read yesterday that Sunak had committed NOT to relax emissions regulations on manufacturers in exchange for BMW building electric minis in Oxford.
BMW have taken the opportunity to advertise some upgrades at Oxford Cowley, but I thought the reason for doing electric minis at all was to be able to tot up the numbers in their German quota against the whole range, while carrying on making other full size cars nearer to home. More electric in Oxford means more diesel/petrol in Munich withing the company “limit”.
If it were my business I think I’d rather just sell what I could at the usual markup and tack on the fine to the price of each ICE car over the ‘quota’. Just tell the customer that the Government wants an extra £15k tax if they insist on an ICE car towards the end of the sales period.
Better to go down honestly fighting than actually funding their rivals.
Of course, what they’re actually already doing is generally hiking the price of small ICE cars to make them less attractive. £20k for an entry-level Corsa. Fiesta withdrawn.
At least the BBC is reporting on this – probably because it will hit the metropolitan elite personally – a bit like ULEZ.