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Fiat Chrysler Will Pay Tesla To Dodge Billions In Emissions Fines (theverge.com)
MDMurphy writes: While people have good and bad things to say about Tesla, one consistent thing has been that the cars emit zero emissions when operating. But in Europe, in exchange for cash, Tesla is merging its fleet with that of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). The amount FCA is paying Tesla is presumably less than they would in fines if they were on their own. With this merging of the fleets, in Europe at least, a Tesla is no more clean than a diesel Fiat. "The Italian-American carmaker is behind on meeting the new standard, and the so-called open pool option available at the EU allows automakers to group their fleets together to meet the targets," reports Bloomberg. "Payments to Tesla, whose electric cars don't produce CO2 emissions, may amount to over 500 million euros, according to Jefferies."
Ars Technica reports on the strict new EU regulations: "From 2020, 95 percent of an automaker's new cars sold in the EU have to meet this target, with the remaining 5 percent falling under the law in 2021. And the penalties for failing are draconian: a $107 'excess emissions premium' per gram of CO2 over the target, for every single car registered in the EU that year. For some OEMs, this has the potential to be ruinous; if FCA's portfolio were the same in 2021 as it was in 2018, the automaker would have to pay some $3.12 billion, out of total net global profits of $4.1 billion."
Ars Technica reports on the strict new EU regulations: "From 2020, 95 percent of an automaker's new cars sold in the EU have to meet this target, with the remaining 5 percent falling under the law in 2021. And the penalties for failing are draconian: a $107 'excess emissions premium' per gram of CO2 over the target, for every single car registered in the EU that year. For some OEMs, this has the potential to be ruinous; if FCA's portfolio were the same in 2021 as it was in 2018, the automaker would have to pay some $3.12 billion, out of total net global profits of $4.1 billion."
So, with Tesla being the only automaker who can realistically deliver cars and charging stations for fleets around the globe needing to meet standards in this way, perhaps it starts to become clear just how incredibly valuable Tesla is becoming...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You pay more for your cheap Fiat so they can subsidize the far more expensive toys for their wealthier neighbors.
Chumps. So the electricity pumps carbon into the sky far away instead of a tail pipe. NIMBY!
Best of all the Tesla driver not only gets to look down their elite noses at those peasants and their ugly little cars, they can feel superior over them because they are diving eco-friendly vehicles - unlike those uncouth peasants that subsidies their lifestyles.
" So what in the world was accomplished? "
Two things actually:
1) We got to see corporate lobbying in action. They effectively got themselves a loophole that would let them reduce their fines by 70% or whatever.
2) Even so, an electric car company got a big cash infusion paid for by a big polluter; helping increase the competitiveness of Tesla at the expense of Fiat.
It's effectively subsidizing electric car research, development and production, paid for by fiat ... which really means it's paid for by the people who chose to buy chryslers and fiats.
It also seems like this, at least, is precisely the desired outcome.
What is also true is a bunch of that money is in fact shifting to Tesla, a company that not that long ago it was claimed was not viable.
I think most reasonable people would understand a "viable" business to be one that is able to sustain itself in an undistorted market. This is actually yet another data point in the opposite direction.
You do know traditional car makers are also making coal powered cars now, right?
You know that not every body lives in China, India or Austalia, right?
( ^- the part of the world that have such a horrible mix of power sources for their electrical networks, that it doesn't make any difference if the car burns fossil fuels locally itself, or if power stations burn fossils centrally to charge the car's battery)
In most of the rest of the world, even countries where part of the electrical grid is still powered by burning fossils (hello USA !), the electrically-powered cars are still offsetting some of the emissions.
And now if you take into account countries which rely more on cold-climate hydro (hello, lots of parts here around in Europe), complement their source with solar and wind (ditto), or even nuclear (still a lot less polluting than coal, despite all its associated drawbacks - hello France), there are lots of countries where electric vehicles are a lot less pollutting.
By some historical chance, these countries also happen to be more densely populated, meaning that even models with less range than Tesla's are actually useful.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]