The European Union is raising its tariffs on Chinese electric cars, with the current 10% level set to rise by up to 45% over the next five years. Paradoxically, the desire to increase the prices of imported electric vehicles (EVs) could also stymie Brussels’ obsessions with cutting carbon emissions and fossil fuel consumption.
A majority of member states now support such plans, aiming to protect their own car industries in Europe from what they say are the uncompetitive state subsidies underpinning Chinese EV production. France and Germany have led the way in deciding to keep implementing current tariffs applied for the next five years. Suspicions are rife that such tariffs are essentially protectionist—sentiments echoed in Beijing.
As Chinese car brands such as BYD increase their profile in international markets, Brussels has raised the spectre of unfair competition. Yet the genuine fear of cheap imports clouds out the often misplaced enthusiasm for EVs, which have proven themselves vulnerable to cold weather and more suited to owners with driveways than those using on-street parking. Inexpensive EVs would not fix such problems, but would enable greater ownership. With reduced costs, more owners could then afford to spend their way out of some of the logistical difficulties associated with battery charging and travelling for longer distances.
Yet as the motoring correspondent Hugo Griffiths argues:
These considerations come on top of the limited ranges, higher purchase prices and curtailed freedoms that electric cars bring compared to the [combustion engine] technology they seek to replace.
Friday’s divisive vote took little of this into account. Instead, France led the way in deciding to keep implementing the current tariff regime for the next five years with a sliding scale applied to different manufacturers, based on the calculated/estimated extent of state help they receive in China. In contrast, Germany—advised by its key manufacturer Volkswagen—called tariffs “the wrong approach“.
EU protectionism fits in with a wider international pattern. In May this year, US President Joe Biden imposed significant new tariffs on Chinese EVs—and also advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminium and medical equipment. Subsequently, Turkey announced in June a plan to slap tariffs on all Chinese cars. In addition to tariffs, some nations have adopted a regulatory approach to competition from China’s automotive industries. Taken together, it all will increase the costs facing the average driver, not least amid pressure to scrap petrol and diesel vehicles in the years ahead.
The rush to enforce Net Zero on the roads is not restricted to the EU. Keir Starmer’s new Labour government has pledged to reinstate 2030 as the deadline by which sales of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned altogether in the UK, reversing their five-year stay of execution granted by Tories.
