Despite a recent slowdown in US sales, global forecasts for electric vehicles remain bullish. Countries across North America, Europe, and Asia are expanding charger networks and offering EV subsidies; global EV sales are projected to nearly triple by 2030, reaching 40 million vehicles annually.
The incipient wave of EV purchases raises a question: What will happen to the millions of gas-powered cars whose owners no longer want them?
The likely answer: Rather than scrapping used gas vehicles or selling them domestically, rich nations will dispatch them to developing countries where limited incomes and low levels of car ownership have created eager buyers for even older, substandard models.
An influx of used gas cars would be a welcome development for those in the Global South who aspire to automobile ownership, a luxury that many in affluent countries take for granted. But it would undermine efforts to mitigate climate change, since shifting gas guzzlers from one country to another doesn’t lower global emissions. For developing countries themselves, a sharp increase in car ownership could amplify calls to build auto-reliant infrastructure, making it harder to construct the dense neighborhoods and transit networks that can foster more sustainable growth. And since these imported used cars would be fueled by gasoline, air quality would further decline in cities that are already choked with smog.
Isn’t this always the case, though? What about EVs changes what cars are sent to developing countries?
If the world is buying more cars and therefore more cars are being sent to developing countries, how does the new car being an EV change what cars or how many cars are sent? Before EVs many people still bought new cars every 3 to 5 years, and the old cars got sold to someone. It doesn’t matter who bought them, since the gas was still being burned. Now, the same thing is true but the new car might be an EV, and the old car might also be an EV (I’ve traded in 2 full EVs already for new cars).
In very small numbers. Car recycling/scrapping is a huge industry in developed nations. One that the big manufacturers support for a couple reasons. Main one being to maintain artificial price flooring. If used cars are expensive and harder to come by, people give in and buy new. The manufacturers knew this. But it didn’t occur for them to actively engage in such practices until Cash for Clunkers happened in the US.
Also, low income countries already get their cars from manufacturers people in western nations have never heard of. China, India, and even Iran export new cars to these nations. Options that would be easier to obtain and maintain than something like a 20 year old GM SUV never sold directly in that market.
The author’s guess at potential future concerns doesn’t seem reflective of reality around car ownership economics. Plus China is already getting new EVs to some of these markets at artificially low costs.
What? No, it’s developing countries stealing thousands and thousands of cars from rich country Canada. Buy a new RAV4 hybrid in Canada, it will be in africa/middle east in less than a month…
Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Shit been going on since cars became used cars.
Yeah, it’s not like our descendants are supposed to have a world to live in.
Global warming isn’t real anyway. It just hasn’t snowed here in like 3 years, that’s all. Used to snow a lot in the winter…
Listen, snow is just weather. And as we all know weather isn’t climate. It’s not called global weather change. So, clearly, fake news.
(/s for the love of god, /s!)
Exactly! Clearly we know better than the scientists who devote their life to studying the climate, erm… weather?
I did my research, too. I watched three Youtube videos about it, and concluded it’s clearly a fraud.
I agree, can you recommend a good YouTube video on the subject that confirms my preconceived beliefs?
Everyone knows climate change happens four times a year.
It’s genuinely depressing that anyone takes her seriously, much less votes for her.
Wow, I somehow managed to forget she exists.
Too bad that didn’t actually make her not exist, alas.
Actually, I can’t help but find this more socially/ecologically viable than the alternative–which wouldn’t be that suddenly all of these people drove all electric, but rather not at all or even bought completely new gas cars.
And it’s not like these new cars are worse for the environment than the stuff they were driving previously.
Most of these newer cars are more efficient, and very importantly, actually have functional emissions control systems. I bet half the cars I see in Costa Rica don’t even have catalytic converters. Assuming that they even had them in the first place.
