Questions About EVs? I Have Answers.

Even when comparing an electric vehicle getting electricity from a gas power plant to a gas vehicle, electric vehicles are still more carbon friendly because a car’s engine is less efficient at generating power than a gas power plant, and because a lot of carbon is used to transport gasoline. And, as electric grids use more and more low-carbon sources, the electric cars have an even greater carbon advantage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp5KF2IhUtY

Carney opens Canada to Chinese EVs, China cuts canola tariffs

“Prime Minister Mark Carney is opening the door to more imports of electric vehicles from China with expectations the olive branch will lead to “considerable” Chinese investment in Canada’s auto sector “within three years” — risking potential blowback from Washington.

The move comes as Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping chart a new era in Canada-China relations and diversify trade ties in response to U.S. President Donald Trump.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/16/china-ev-tariffs-canada-00733086

Why Chinese EVs Are Banned In the U.S. | AB Explained

Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD makes everything in-house, which makes it more efficient. China also has much cheaper labor than the US, and heavy governmental subsidies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTtLAf0f2HU

Trump rolls back Biden-era fuel economy standards, paving way for more gas-powered cars

“Trump said the administration was officially terminating Biden’s “ridiculous” CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) rules, claiming car prices would come down in response to today’s action. Automakers are now required to meet an average of 34.5 mpg across their model fleet by 2031, a dramatic drop from the average of 50.4 mpg across 2031 that the Biden administration had proposed.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-rolls-back-biden-era-fuel-economy-standards-paving-way-for-more-gas-powered-cars-212656060.html

Self-Driving Cars Will Make the World Safer for Cats—and Humans Too

“cars kill or injure 5.4 million cats a year in the United States, with 5,399,999 coming at the hands of human drivers. I found estimates of hundreds of cats killed by drivers each year in San Francisco. I’d guess that buses and trains—some of Waymo critics’ preferred transportation option—have probably squashed their share of critters.

“[H]uman drivers killed 43 people in San Francisco last year, including 24 pedestrians, 16 people in cars and three bicyclists. None were killed by Waymos.” Many women and schoolchildren rely on them because of safety concerns, as a Google search of “taxi drivers and sexual abuse” will reveal.

A study by Swiss Re, an insurance company with the obvious financial incentive to understand the relative benefits and risks, found the following, per Reinsurance News: “The Waymo Driver exhibited significantly better safety performance, with an 88% reduction in property damage claims and a 92% reduction in bodily injury claims compared to human-driven vehicles.”

Waymo’s data find 11 times fewer serious-injury crashes. Most crashes involving a Waymo were due to other vehicles hitting their taxis. That makes perfect sense given their Artificial Intelligence (AI) software is continuously learning, whereas as it’s increasingly difficult to teach some human drivers not to get behind the wheel after downing some martinis.”

https://reason.com/2025/11/28/self-driving-cars-will-make-the-world-safer-for-humans-and-cats/

The U.K.’s Roundabouts Free Drivers From the Tyranny of Traffic Lights

“The law demands a motorist come to a complete stop at a stop sign, no matter if any cars are coming. Traffic lights can offer an advantage: Some use magnets to detect traffic loads, but others run on timers, switching to red even if there’s no traffic going the other way. In either case, traffic lights can malfunction, turning into a de facto stop sign the same way a broken escalator becomes an expensive staircase. Besides, frequently stopping, starting, and idling wastes time, wastes gas, and puts unnecessary wear and tear on your brakes.

But at a roundabout, motorists keep driving through the intersection so long as it’s safe to do so. This sounds risky, but since everyone slows down a little bit and every car is constantly turning, roundabouts significantly lower the risk of high-speed impacts. “The net result of lower speeds and reduced conflicts at roundabouts is an environment where crashes that cause injury or fatality are substantially reduced,” according to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration.

Further, roundabouts are perhaps the least infantilizing form of traffic control. Red lights are just crossing guards for adults, and stop signs require you to wait your turn even if you’re the only one waiting. Roundabouts are more efficient because they let drivers rely on themselves, not an inert piece of infrastructure.”

https://reason.com/2025/08/14/swindon-united-kingdom/

Trump’s Tariffs and Japan Deal Could Encourage Toyota To Move Manufacturing Jobs Out of America

“With a series of short-sighted tariff maneuvers, the president has effectively told Toyota (and other Japanese carmakers) that it should do more of its manufacturing in Japan and stop trying to create jobs in America.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump announced a new trade deal with Japan that will include a 15 percent tariff on Japanese goods, including imported cars. The details of the deal remain somewhat vague, but that’s a significant discount compared to the 25 percent tariff the administration has imposed on cars imported from everywhere else.

The reduced tariffs for Japanese cars are significant because of how that provision interacts with the Trump administration’s other trade policies that are aimed at making it more expensive to manufacture cars in the United States. The president has imposed a 50 percent tariff on steel and aluminum (both of which are essential for automakers) and has slapped a 25 percent tariff on imported cars and car parts. Those tariffs are already dinging the profits of American carmakers—General Motors reportedly lost more than $1 billion in the second quarter of the year—and auto industry experts say they will raise prices, reduce demand for new cars, and generally make American cars less globally competitive.

In short, the Trump administration is offering an incentive to import finished cars from Japan, while making it more expensive to buy the stuff you need to build cars in America.

Ultimately, the problem here is not the specific tariff rates the Trump administration is seeking to charge on steel, car parts, or cars imported from Japan or Mexico. (Those rates are likely to change anyway, if the past few months of the trade war are any indication.)

No, the real problem here is the Trump administration’s belief that it can use tariffs to shape the global trading system toward contradicting goals with no tradeoffs or distortions. In reality, each new tariff move causes both. The market responds to incentives, and right now, the Trump administration is creating a set of incentives that will raise costs for American manufacturers while driving investors overseas.”

https://reason.com/2025/07/25/trumps-tariffs-and-japan-deal-could-encourage-toyota-to-move-manufacturing-jobs-out-of-america/