←back to thread

Falling panel prices lead to global solar boom, except for the US

(arstechnica.com)
249 points Jtsummers | 2 comments | 30 Oct 25 16:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.475s | source
Show context
softwaredoug ◴[30 Oct 25 17:18 UTC] No.45762476[source]▶
By not aligning economically to other country's markets, US companies are in a real pickle.

Imagine you're a US car manufacturer. You see EVs growing around the world, and stagnating in the US. Do you:

(a) Double-down on investments in EVs (billions of USD!), even with a soft US market for EVs, hoping you might compete globally.

(b) Become a parochial, US-only, business hoping to squeeze what you can out of a gradually shrinking industry

When other countries subsidize consumers to buy EVs, and the US does not, it effectively creates a self-own trade barrier for domestic companies.

replies(6): >>45762652 #>>45762664 #>>45762693 #>>45763041 #>>45763430 #>>45763513 #
1. fpoling ◴[30 Oct 25 18:29 UTC] No.45763430[source]▶
Well, EV with a good range still costs more then a plugin hybrid with a small battery. Why US government should spent money on technology that is presently inferior to plugin hybrids? In few years this will change when the latest battery technology will be scaled up, but then EV will be able to compete against ICE or hybrids cars on its own without subsidies.

And in retrospect subsidizing EV by governments around the world could be a bad decision. If instead fuel taxes were raised or at least the subsidies went to development of more economical cars, then total CO2 emissions could be lower at this point.

replies(1): >>45766223 #
2. dalyons ◴[30 Oct 25 22:38 UTC] No.45766223[source]▶
plugin hybrids are essentially a lie. Data shows only ~19% less emissions than a gas car in real world driving [1]. For something twice as complicated as an EV, that will shortly lose any range advantage as EVs advance.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/16/plug-in-...