China is Throwing Away Fields of Electric Cars – Letting them Rot!

serpentza

Join me for the China Show, a weekly dive into what’s happening in China:    / advpodcasts  

This needs more attention, China keeps telling lies and no one ever calls them out, everyone just goes with it and keeps investing!

HT/Paul H and Mosh

4.5 22 votes
Article Rating
73 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
atticman
June 20, 2023 2:33 am

I suppose it’s no more dishonest than forcing ‘renewables’ on us on the pretext that the world’s going to end if we don’t…

Scissor
Reply to  atticman
June 20, 2023 4:26 am

Folks probably don’t remember Solyndra, but there are now dozens of failed renewable energy companies, like Solyndra, that have squandered billions in taxpayer monies.

Yooper
Reply to  Scissor
June 20, 2023 4:52 am
Bryan A
Reply to  Yooper
June 20, 2023 2:42 pm

Cheap crappy cars from a cheap crappy country in the name of creating green jobs and it’s associated virtue signaling

JamesB_684
Reply to  Scissor
June 20, 2023 5:01 am

The real purpose of the Solyndras is to launder those billion$ into the pockets of the politicians pushing “green energy”.

Yirgach
Reply to  JamesB_684
June 20, 2023 8:30 am

It’s the old Chinese Laundry line: “No Tickee, No Washee!”

karlomonte
Reply to  Scissor
June 20, 2023 6:49 am

Solyndra was part of George W. Bush’s Solar America Initiative—I laughed when I heard Solyndra’s proposal, there was no way it could ever work. Later the Obamanistas pumped more good money after bad.

AndyHce
Reply to  Scissor
June 20, 2023 12:13 pm

But they did attempt to produce electricity, however stupidly.

Gkam
Reply to  atticman
June 20, 2023 9:27 am

If you hate renewables enjoy your late summer.

jtom
Reply to  Gkam
June 20, 2023 3:24 pm

If you hate coal and gas, enjoy your late summer when renewables fail to produce.

strativarius
June 20, 2023 2:55 am

The Chinese are not stupid virtue signallers wrapped up in self-loathing. At the same time the Chinese do some pretty awful things – welding people in their buildings, Uighers etc etc etc. But they won’t give progress up for Gaia, and that includes the relative well being of their population. Our leaders are all about the opposite – degrowth.

In the UK we have a party tipped to win the next election and it seems to be all over the place:

June 6th
UK: £28bn green energy plan will deliver growth, Keir Starmer tells critics
https://www.carbonbrief.org/daily-brief/28bn-green-energy-plan-will-deliver-growth-keir-starmer-tells-critics/

June 9th
Labour scraps £28bn green plan amid mounting scrutiny over spending pledges
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/labour-scraps-green-plan-spending-pledges-2399067

For the full list of Starmer’s major u-turns (there are quite a few)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/06/09/labours-u-turns-and-broken-pledges/

If one of those EVs in the fields goes up in smoke it could be quite a firework show.

_Jim
Reply to  strativarius
June 20, 2023 3:37 am

re: “The Chinese are not stupid virtue signallers”

That’s not the impression I get of the CCP (China’s communist ruling party) though from Matt and Winston, who once a week put on “The China Show” on Fridays at 5 PM EDT.

strativarius
Reply to  _Jim
June 20, 2023 4:02 am

Put it this way, they will lie and they do. And they get away with it

But it’s a tangled mess when you have the likes of Fauci etc offshoring illegal experimentation to China.

I wouldn’t trust any government – especially yours.

Scissor
Reply to  strativarius
June 20, 2023 4:36 am

It is a tangled mess. I saw a headline to effect that Bill Gates is the largest funder of finding viruses in remote caves and bringing them to large cities.

strativarius
Reply to  Scissor
June 20, 2023 4:43 am

DOS

Disk
Operated
S**thead

Scissor
Reply to  strativarius
June 20, 2023 4:55 am

It’s too bad he doesn’t have an undersea exploration hobby.

_Jim
Reply to  strativarius
June 20, 2023 5:03 am

re: “I wouldn’t trust any government – especially yours.”

Who has a better chance of rectifying this? It sure isn’t the rest of the world. (I take this tack since you started it.) NO ONE ELSE attributes their rights to God (well, I have not looked at the Magna Carta in awhile) in their founding documents (do they?) and therefore defines them as unalienable Rights while here on earth. Que?

WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

     We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness …

strativarius
Reply to  _Jim
June 20, 2023 5:10 am

NO ONE ELSE attributes their rights to God”

You can believe whatever you choose. I don’t do irrational religion, myself

How will you rectify it if only you can.

Do tell.

Reply to  strativarius
June 20, 2023 7:50 am

better to have a basis, a foundational principle than none at all. And , hello it seems s metaphor or analogy for natural right as in common sense, something woefully lacking … occasionally even here.

Bryan A
Reply to  _Jim
June 20, 2023 5:20 am

They don’t write em like that anymore
They just don’t write em like that anymore

Richard Page
Reply to  Bryan A
June 20, 2023 1:10 pm

They didn’t write ’em like that back then either – it was co-written by the French author of the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789.” There are strong similarities between the 2 documents with both emphasising ‘natural’ or inalienable rights.

Streetcred
Reply to  strativarius
June 20, 2023 11:20 pm

CCP only allowed that so they could promote their biological weapons program.

Mr David Guy-Johnson
Reply to  strativarius
June 20, 2023 4:30 am

They may not be virtue signallers, but they are undoubtedly stupid

strativarius
Reply to  Mr David Guy-Johnson
June 20, 2023 7:30 am

They got away with gain of function experimentation….

jtom
Reply to  strativarius
June 20, 2023 3:28 pm

Well, the term ‘stupid’ is relative. The Democrats easily match their stupidity and don’t hold people like Fauci accountable. Most Republicans, imo, would like to see him hanged for crimes against humanity.

sturmudgeon
Reply to  jtom
June 20, 2023 9:17 pm

Most Republicans, imo, would like to see him hanged for crimes against humanity.”
ERROR! “Most Republicans” doesn’t wash… see how those “most” really put Shifty through the ringer.

AndyHce
Reply to  strativarius
June 20, 2023 12:15 pm

Batteries are too expensive to just abandon.

Bryan A
Reply to  AndyHce
June 20, 2023 3:46 pm

Probably had the batteries relocated to new cars or e bikes/e scooters sold to the US

sturmudgeon
Reply to  Bryan A
June 20, 2023 9:18 pm

Exploding bikes cause fires…

Sean2828
June 20, 2023 3:04 am

Surprised he didn’t cover the implosions of Chinese high rises over the last 3 years.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjz1f7P_oPo

strativarius
Reply to  Sean2828
June 20, 2023 3:12 am

They even skimped on the explosives.

Peta of Newark
Reply to  strativarius
June 20, 2023 4:00 am
strativarius
Reply to  Peta of Newark
June 20, 2023 4:13 am

There’s something in the Millennial name…

_Jim
Reply to  Sean2828
June 20, 2023 3:34 am

re: “didn’t cover the implosions of Chinese high rises”

I don’t know that Winston and Matt have been in China the last three years, but, they HAVE covered the shoddy construction of the Chinese high-rises if you’ve seen their collection of videos under the channel name “The China Show” on YT. Winston and Matt have over 20 years combined time spent in China. Both read and speak Mandarin.

Hoyt Clagwell
Reply to  Sean2828
June 20, 2023 8:53 am

This is what happens in a country where the jobs exist to give people employment, not because they actually need to build something.

_Jim
June 20, 2023 3:27 am

Hey – I can recommend “The China Show” (found on YT under that name) too, if you’d like some insights from a couple of blokes with over 20 years combined living experience in China. They read, write and speak Chinese, and still have friends, contacts in China too.

ETA: Every Friday at 5 PM EDT on YT.

ralfellis
June 20, 2023 4:04 am

The UK’s Rover Group did exactly the same for three years,
…before they went bust.

R

Joseph Zorzin
June 20, 2023 4:17 am

Wow!

michael hart
June 20, 2023 5:25 am

Serpentza and the China Show are fine when they stick to their knowledge of China.

But I’ve stopped watching them because they are now too often offering ill-informed opinions about global warming and Russia/Ukraine. I guess everyone has feet of clay.

Peta of Newark
June 20, 2023 5:30 am

I posted that one nearly a week ago – he’s an interesting chap..
There’s another video out there with the headline/title something like:
South Africa is Fugged
go search it

Hey look on the bright side, thanks to the barnstorming idea that was/is the Inflation Reduction Act, there’s no chance anything similar will happen in the UK.
No chance of anything happening, except higher prices and more tax

Basically, the EU has taken on board Brandon’s ‘Made In The USA‘ idea as a fantastic way of demonstrating how ugly, mean and bankrupt they are.

So thanks to BrainDead GodSaveTheQueen Brandon,

US is at war with Chinaalso Russia. Also most of Europe with Russia egged on by the BBCalso now EuropeEurope is at war with Chinaand by proxy, the UK is at war with all those placesUK (and Calif.) Governments are at war with their electorate and especially car driversthe electorate are at war with utility suppliersUK Banks are at war with house buyersUK Gov at war with folks who buy houses and rent themUK Gov at war with people who go out. here alsoUK people are now killing themselves because they can’t afford decent food or the energy to cook it, so are eating Microwave Mushand all because no-one can agree on what the Dancing Angels are up to

Slightly off-topic but nicely stomach churning..
As if we didn’t already know: Lab Meat. The $1 Trillion Ugly Truth

edit to PS
Possibly an even bigger waste of resource (is in that video) but somewhere is one involving literally millions and millions of bicycles, in China again.

Something like, as per the cars here, they were intended for ‘sharing in cities’ and their provision ensured a hefty & generous Subsidy

City dwellers were not much impressed to there are, literally, mountains of these bikes going nowhere

Right-Handed Shark
June 20, 2023 5:49 am

Give it a few years and your neighbourhood will be strewn with abandoned, worthless EV’s too. Trust me, you won’t be able to give them away, more likely you will be charged for their ‘safe’ disposal.

John Hultquist
Reply to  Right-Handed Shark
June 20, 2023 8:05 pm

 “your neighbourhood will be strewn with abandoned, worthless EV’s too”

I live in rural cattle country. If there is an EV around, I haven’t seen it. There are mostly pickup and flatbed trucks. The recent thing is the adoption of 4-wheelers (aka ATVs).
atv-dogs-four-wheeler-dog-standing.jpg (910×603) (wallpaperflare.com)

general custer
June 20, 2023 6:38 am

OK, so the Mandarin horde somehow constructed fields of unused EVs. Over the years a huge proportion of the produce of the US automobile industry, is “rotting”, as the fellow describes it, in suburban and country salvage yards all across the country. Most of these abandoned cars have less than 200k miles on their odometers, although they began to deteriorate into rusted hulks long before that milestone. Doesn’t it seem odd that what is for most people the second most expensive purchase of their lifetimes has a useful life expectancy shorter than that of their much loved poodle-cross pet? Of course, it is a matter of choice. The normal consumer is apparently willing to scrap a vehicle shortly after it has finally been paid for because it’s already an eyesore next to the neighbor’s new car and doesn’t have the novel technological features that are slowly dribbled into the marketplace, many of which are required by the central command structure.

AndyHce
Reply to  general custer
June 20, 2023 12:22 pm

I remember, in the 60s, that institutions like Consumer Reports, recommended 50 to 60 thousand miles as the time to unload the old junk and buy a new automobile.

Richard Page
June 20, 2023 6:38 am

This isn’t a new story – that graveyard of early 1st generation EV’s has been there since 2019; now if the story had been about the dozen or so Chinese EV manufacturers that went bankrupt around 2020-2021, then it might have been a bit more up to date. Honestly this is old news – those Chinese companies that are still manufacturing EV’s today are the survivors – the clever or lucky ones that didn’t get ploughed under when the Chinese rural EV scheme bubble burst.

Richard Page
Reply to  Richard Page
June 20, 2023 7:47 am

From what I can piece together, this ‘parking area’ outside Hangzhou contains about 3,000 EV’s of various manufacture, mostly white, that belong to a car share/rental firm called Microcity. All are older 1st generation EV’s, all have been used, some work and some don’t. It seems that when the Chinese EV bubble burst, Microcity couldn’t sell or give the cars away so parked them all in this field as being too expensive to scrap or recycle. Other Chinese companies that were doing car share/rental have suffered a similar fate, as have (more recently) bike sharing companies. This is probably not the only car or bike graveyard in China.

Reply to  Richard Page
June 20, 2023 8:23 am

yes just because a industry/ investment class or group has a shake out, suffers shoddy practice etc scam bubble etc etc is not a indicator that the Chinese economy is a house of cards like some believe ( or hope!) . China ‘s industrial capacity is quite real and huge . And ironically in light of this article we are not going to subsidize our way out of this challenge here in the western world. Would be better to utilize all the people that flee to the west by creating our own lower cost labor force in this hemisphere but we have sadly let China infiltrate. Oh well , pray if you religious otherwise ah I don’t know.

Dave Andrews
Reply to  Richard Page
June 20, 2023 8:20 am

Even China’s largest EV maker, Nio, is in difficulties and making losses and has recently cut prices by $4,200 and stopped its free 6 battery swap out scheme.

observa
June 20, 2023 8:05 am

We will decide if and when you charge your future mandated EV and you will be happy-
Queensland home EV charging rules just got dumber, as network ignores industry (thedriven.io)
and the freebies are no longer an option-
NRMA to start billing for fast-charging, plans multiple off-grid charging systems (thedriven.io)

It’s getting harder and harder for the climate changers to hide the cost of unreliables-
Electricity prices Australia: Aussies share power price shock with some bills to surge by up to 83 percent: ‘It’s insane’ (9news.com.au)
My peak rate will jump from 40.7c/kWhr to 55.9c on July1 and while I can afford it there’s many who can’t and the weather has turned distinctly chilly.

observa
Reply to  observa
June 20, 2023 8:20 am

QED: A typical cost they can’t hide from our power bills-
Huge 374 tonne machine travels 900km to join NSW renewable super highway | RenewEconomy

Andy Pattullo
June 20, 2023 8:20 am

This seems to be the inevitable end result of top down central planning where the normal sticks and carrots of private enterprise are all pushed aside and replaced by government fiat based on ideological beliefs rather than economic reality. In China during the “great leap forward” the government mimicked soviet style Lysenkoism in agriculture and crop yields plummeted leading to as many as 30-40 million deaths from starvation. At the same time the government dishonestly reported increased yields.
Now they brag about industrial production along with a real estate boom when the products of this artificial economy lack any buyers and the products are left to disintegrate. There is only one outcome likely and that is a massive collapse of the financial bubble with the result of a dramatic loss of stability and confidence in the Chinese banking system. I am sure the Chinese government knows this, sees the coming problem but is unable to find a way out other than sabre rattling and trying to distract the populace with other created crises.

chascuk
June 20, 2023 8:30 am

I would think that a big risk would be an (many) electric car fires.

John Hultquist
Reply to  chascuk
June 20, 2023 8:09 pm

No one seems to know if the batteries are in the cars.
Can someone go look?

Neo
June 20, 2023 8:57 am

In serpentza‘s “The China Show” he and his co-host explain that there were these services in China like a “bike sharing system” that Chinese entrepreneurs pumped lots of money in (because they can’t really do foreign investment), which produced a pile of relatively new bicycles about as big as these cars. Then they followed it with a “car sharing system” where you could rent a car on the street with merely a credit card. Both of these got large infusions of government money so it was like stealing. When they proved to be unprofitable, they set aside all the assets.
Alternatively, the Chinese government got to claim that their home-grown EV industry was shipping more vehicles than Tesla. This got them “street cred” with the Climate Change crowd which allows them to keep building coal plants, but it really wasn’t on the up and up (there seems to be a limit to just how far the Chinese will lie). By keeping these cars away from the smelter, they can claim to have a huge registered “on-the-road” population of EVs, but no infrastructure to charge them, etc.

Richard Page
Reply to  Neo
June 20, 2023 10:12 am

True. The Microcity scheme is still going, these rotting cars are still ‘active’ but customers that want to rent one will find that there are no longer any available in their area, any area at all. As you say, it’s all about saving face for the Chinese government, even if they have to lie to do so!

Gkam
June 20, 2023 9:26 am

Being a former engineer for a large power company and having earned a Master of Science in Energy and the Environment, I had PV panels installed eight years ago, with my estimated payback of 15 years, . . the right thing for an eco-freak to do. Before they could be installed, we acquired a VW e-Golf electric car. The savings in gasoline alone took the solar system payback down to 3 1/2 years. So, we added a used Tesla Model S, P85, and that took the payback down to less than three years, which means we now get free power for household and transportation.
But that is not all: We do not need to go to gas stations, we fuel up at home at night with cheap baseload power. During the daytime, the PV system turns our meter backwards powering the neighborhood with clean local power, which we trade for the stuff to be used that night. If we paid for transportation fuel, the VW would cost us 4 cents/mile to drive, and the Tesla would cost 5 cents/mile at California off-peak power prices.
No oil changes are a real treat along with no leaks. And since it has an electric motor, it needs NO ENGINE MAINTENANCE at all. We do not go “gas up”, or get tune-ups or emissions checks, have no transmission about which to worry, no complicated machined parts needing care.
Do you still pay for electricity and gasoline?

AndyHce
Reply to  Gkam
June 20, 2023 12:29 pm

If there is any truth to this claim, the actual payment for it all is coming from the people who can’t possibly afford to participate but have a gun to their head forcing them to contribute.

observa
Reply to  AndyHce
June 20, 2023 8:07 pm

Yes those tasked with keeping the lights on affordably for all don’t have the luxury of keeping the beggar thy neighbour scam invisible forever but have to tread delicately politically-
Rooftop PV is a major player in the grid, but remains largely “invisible” to market operator | RenewEconomy

Mr.
Reply to  Gkam
June 20, 2023 1:52 pm

That’s such a parasitic practice.

observa
Reply to  Mr.
June 20, 2023 5:20 pm

No it’s every citizen’s fundamental right to maximise their outcomes given the prevailing Gummint stupidity and moral hazard created. That doesn’t mean you personally wouldn’t prefer a better and wiser social contract to begin with.

I have rooftop solar too but I’m not kidding myself I’m saving the planet just my pocketbook within a stupid paradigm.

Graham
Reply to  Gkam
June 20, 2023 2:57 pm

All good untill the battery needs replacing or short circuits and catches fire.
I have an acquaintance who has a new electric car and I asked him what a new battery pack would cost .He blithely said ” I will sell my car before then”
How much are second hand electric cars worth that require a new battery ?
Maybe these electric cars in a field in China all need new batteries that no one can afford .

Dennis Gerald Sandberg
Reply to  Gkam
June 20, 2023 4:45 pm

Nice for you that “turning backward” meter isn’t “powering the neighborhood” on moderate temperature sunny days, that are most days here in California, but are instead consuming Millions of taxpayers to award solar subsidiaries of major corporation’s setup to receive the investment tax credits and a guaranteed rate of return because the utilities are mandated to take those electrons even if they have to dump them and pay someone else to take them. A business model that only those of a particular political party can love.

ResourceGuy
June 20, 2023 9:35 am

Import them to California to strip out the refined lithium and convert it into tax credits. Then convert the other parts to green steel and aluminum products for more credits. Lastly, sell the misc plastic parts on Amazon and eBay with no refunds or returns.

Richard Page
Reply to  ResourceGuy
June 20, 2023 10:15 am

Nope. These cars are still owned by Microcity, they are just ‘parked’ there, honest! It’s a con that the Chinese government won’t admit to.

Fran
June 20, 2023 9:41 am

I bet that the batteries are removed and used for other cars. Maybe the abandoned cars never had batteries. They were just for show rolling off the line.

Richard Page
Reply to  Fran
June 20, 2023 10:09 am

No. These were used then discarded when the scheme went bust.

ResourceGuy
June 20, 2023 9:50 am

They would make great green artificial reef structures to “help” marine life. /sarc

Dumping 2 Million Tires In The Ocean To “Help” Fish – YouTube

Richard Page
Reply to  ResourceGuy
June 20, 2023 10:17 am

Yup. Right up until the batteries rotted and poisoned the reef.

AndyHce
June 20, 2023 12:11 pm

Most fraud scams don’t actually produce the product. They are a ponzi scheme or some variation thereof where part of the incoming money is paid back to investors (just like social security) to make them believe the deal is real while the bulk of the money becomes personal assets of of the schemers — for as long as they can continue to pull in new investors.

Actually building cars requires a major capital investment for property and equipment and each car produced means a large expenditure on material and labor. It seems highly unlikely that actually producing the cars, but never selling them, could be worth any scammer’s effort.

Dennis Gerald Sandberg
June 20, 2023 1:27 pm

Left to rot or temporarily stored until they get the fire problem straightened out and the charge stations deployed say is 10 years or so?

Bob
June 20, 2023 5:41 pm

Build new fossil fuel and nuclear generators. Remove all wind and solar from the grid and disallow EV’s recharging from the grid.

Dennis Gerald Sandberg
June 20, 2023 6:13 pm

Left to rot or stock piling in preparation to dumping on the market to drive all other BEV manufacturers out of business like they did with solar panels?

alexbuch
June 22, 2023 11:37 pm

Hmmm…
Why this stupid guy does not mention that all these cars are of the same model and of the same COLOR?
Strange, isn’t it?
A simple guess: these are used taxis!
Taxis are abandoned after 20-30 kMiles in all countries, not only in China.
Well, in the “western world” there are a lot of poor people who buy such used old-fashioned cars.
Not so in China.
Everybody wants a NEW BIG car, not a “second hand taxi” of two year old technology. Otherwise your neighbors would laugh at you.
The new EVs in China are big, exclusive, look like smartphones with wheels.
They run up to 1000 miles on a single charge.
Sure, the old technology will be abandoned, which we observe.

%d
Verified by MonsterInsights