US policymakers are rolling out big incentives for electric vehicle buyers who surrender a gas-powered model, advancing efforts to cancel carbon emissions.
Eric Hartman, a retired pilot in Lakewood, Colorado, junked his 2003 diesel Volkswagen Jetta in September in exchange for a rebate on a new Hyundai Kona electric. To qualify, the car needed to be more than 12 years old or have failed an emissions test.
The problem with these programs is that they are not restricted enough.
My own ICE would technically qualify for this, since it’s 14 years old now. But there is literally nothing about it that makes it a “clunker”… It’s in great mechanical condition, I get 32 MPG in most highway conditions, it’s a cool enthusiast type car, it fits my needs… Why would I even consider sending it to the scrapyard?
And this vagueness means that, technically, a 2011 Toyota Corolla (or similar) could qualify. A Corolla is far and away one of the most reliable vehicles on the road, ICE or otherwise. It’s a car that a lower-income individual can just pay for with cash and drive it for many more years with minimal fuss. And yet, to benefit those buying new, it technically is allowed to be scrapped, removing it from the market.
The sentiment is good but the types of vehicles that qualify need to be restricted to trucks, SUVs, and larger cars.
The main thing these cash for clunkers schemes do is drive up the 2nd hand market by creating artificial scarcity.
Manufacturers love this shit because coming off the back of supply issues, they can go back to pushing up demand for new vehicles all over again.
It’s also a scheme that helps people that are already able to afford a new car - people shopping the 2nd hand market aren’t going to be helped, so it’s really not effective as a societal benefit - it just helps people who likely were already shopping for a new car get a slightly more expensive one.
The problem with these programs is that they are not restricted enough.
My own ICE would technically qualify for this, since it’s 14 years old now. But there is literally nothing about it that makes it a “clunker”… It’s in great mechanical condition, I get 32 MPG in most highway conditions, it’s a cool enthusiast type car, it fits my needs… Why would I even consider sending it to the scrapyard?
And this vagueness means that, technically, a 2011 Toyota Corolla (or similar) could qualify. A Corolla is far and away one of the most reliable vehicles on the road, ICE or otherwise. It’s a car that a lower-income individual can just pay for with cash and drive it for many more years with minimal fuss. And yet, to benefit those buying new, it technically is allowed to be scrapped, removing it from the market.
The sentiment is good but the types of vehicles that qualify need to be restricted to trucks, SUVs, and larger cars.
The main thing these cash for clunkers schemes do is drive up the 2nd hand market by creating artificial scarcity.
Manufacturers love this shit because coming off the back of supply issues, they can go back to pushing up demand for new vehicles all over again.
It’s also a scheme that helps people that are already able to afford a new car - people shopping the 2nd hand market aren’t going to be helped, so it’s really not effective as a societal benefit - it just helps people who likely were already shopping for a new car get a slightly more expensive one.