## 47 When cars and politics collide

It's been a long time that I didn't talk about Automotive and Politics. In 2024, the automotive sales of Electric Vehicles are not as expected for different reasons, even in China, the fist EV market in the world. But for Politicians, the goal is still the same : 2035 in Europe to have only EV. 50% of EV in China in 2035, 50% in 2030 in USA and public fleet 100% electric in 2035. But for USA, it depends of who will be President in a few weeks.

Of course, the decision to forbid Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) in carsis not coming from manufacturers. But, it's helping some of them who don't have old plants and employees used to combustion engines. It's a big invest for Xiaomi or Huawei to make cars in China but they are making enough money with their other activities. That's false to say they are losing money for each cars because if you take away the cost of building factories and buying land, they are certainly profitable, especially with aid from ... politicians. China made great efforts on Electric Vehicles because of their big cities and pollution problems. It's also the next logical step, given their expertise in batteries and the entire supply chain. That's what our politicians have forgotten...and some of the CEOs too. When you build a ICE Car, there are only issues in the supply of rare metals in catalytic converters. But you don't have issues with the tank because the Petrol is not your business. In EV, the tank is the battery and it's th
e most expensive part of the car, with many tensions in the supply chain, whatever type of battery you chose.

The other problem with electric cars is to supply energy everywhere with chargers. Tesla made is herself with their superchargers. Maintenance is also made by Tesla. It's different for other manufacturers which had to invest lately on that point. They had no experience in softwares and how to find and calculate the best way from point A to Point B with chargers. Customers of Tesla were pioneers and know only their way to charge. Now, Tesla is mainstream and their chargers are not enough to supply energy to all their clients. I saw recently a news about Kenya where the government decided to buy electric cars for policemen. They did it because there is a strong development in Electric power-plants, also pushed by the Chinese investers. Geothermal, hydrolectic and Wind power station are built to help that and it's not only for cars of course but because the fossil fuel power station are expensive to use and for pollution. It's a political decision but it's also marketing, showing how Kenya is a modern country. 


In Europe, the decision to impose EV was made before developing new power plants in many countries. For example, Poland uses many coal power stations. Building a nuclear power plant is long, about 5 to 15 years. It's not better for hydroelectric. A little better for wind or solar. It was also planed to impose Zero Emission Zone in big cities, to forbid all ICE cars. It's not possible today and with the french Critair sticker on cars (based only on EURO regulations and not real emissions of CO2, NOx, small particles...), you can drive with Euro 4, 6 and 7 cars. The application of that has been delayed and only because this would prevent economic life from continuing normally, unless the exemptions were accumulated. This as a very bad choice and only a political choice. If the Critair sticker had been made with the right objective, you could have seen only small cars with less CO2 emissions and not those EURO6/7 big SUV which have no place in cities. Now people are buying old diesel cars which are able to go w
ith the Critair, … but are still very bad for ciry use (see the preheating the catalytic converter to make it effective). People are only focus on cost and even more on fuel cost than the buying cost of the car. That's often stupid but that's a consequence of politics. Now, they are buying hybrid cars, more than expected, instead of EV cars… But only because politics have made it possible and interesting, 15 years too late. I bought my Hybrid 19 years ago and because there was a tax credit. The tax credit has been a toy in the hands of politics and is now the problem in Germany for example. 

Now in France, if you ask people, they are at ⅓ afraid of EV cars because of the autonomy and the lack of charging stations. Not false but the main problem for me is to see the bad use of the charging stations or the lack of maintenance of those stations. Electricity seems magic and without need in maintenance. But I saw problems with Izivia charging stations for months where I'm working. Skills or sizing are not at the right level. And there's nobody to teach to a new EV car buyer how to use it. Nobody reads the fucking manual. I read mine after a few months but I had read everything on hybrid cars before, even hidden informations, because it's my work. This problem could be political but inside the distributors of EV Cars. To take time to explain that to the buyer is a cost, for them. But it could also be a long-term invest.

The long-term invest is also a problem in Africa. Many countries don't have an adequate electricity grid, let alone the power plants to cope with it. Some are developing a good grid with renewable energy, because some investors (China, ...) are helping for that for their own interests. But if you consider that many countries with oil are not only able to use their own petrol as fuel for their (often old and used) cars, you can see that there's a political problem, and not only with African politics. Many of those countries are looted by western countries and their multinational companies. I'm not saying that countries like China are not looting Africa but there are some interesting developments and politics in the aim to have a transition in energy, and so in EV cars. Oh, they are also good to sell EV cars...ha ha. 

The decision to develop a charging network is very political but often with private interests. It's very rare to see public charging stations, by the way. So, the way you can distribute electricity to cars is the meeting between private interests (be profitable and have customers all around) and public needs (to have 100% of the inhabitants with a charger at least than 1Km, for example). But you must also provide enough power in that station with the grid. it's a different job with a different person involved in earthworks, infrastructure...So it's always political because you don't want to see cars coming every day and night next to your house. I remember another exemple with Waymo cars in a car park next to buildings. The cars are always moving because IA is not stopping. 

In the next months, another political impact will be the US elections. Trump seems to be against EV cars and environmental politics. Musk is always for his own profits andhas changed a lot with what Tesla could become in the future. Kamala Harris will not be so ecological if US car makers are not able to be profitable. That's the case today with GM and Ford and it's not clear with the US part of Stellantis. Most of them are pleading for Hybrid cars instead of EV, and to postpone the ICE ban to ...2040 maybe. In Europe, Giorgia Meloni is doing the same in Italy and the german manufacturers too. The EV car market is infused with Tax credit because the EV cars are often 30 to 100% more expensive to buy, even if it's 50% cheaper to use. It wiill stay like that for 5 to 10 years because battery density and price will not evolve so quickly. So now it's all in the hands of politics. 

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