this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
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Electric vehicles and cheese are among the items that will become cheaper for Australians as a result of a historic agreement signed with the European Union after close to a decade of negotiations.

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[–] shirro@aussie.zone 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Many older ICE vehicles can be modified to use LNG which we practically give away. We also have plenty of oil but we mothballed or closed most of our refineries as they were too small in scale to compete internationally. We had a vehicle and parts industry here and we still have some people who can make parts for ICE vehicles even if we don't have the equipment to do it at scale anymore.

Based on that I think if it went Max Max here it is more likely someone would be driving a 100 year old guzzoline powered Ford Falcon than trying to keep an EV running past 10 years.

All the value of the vehicle is created overseas so I don't see the sovereignty argument. We are a net energy exporter. Energy independence is only one aspect. How are people going to get parts for their BYD when the US starts a war with China?

EVs have their advantages and disadvantages. They are all effectively disposable and don't have a good recycling story so I think there is a huge amount of green washing. We need to adopt EVs to reduce emissions but they are terrible for the environment in other ways. Better to focus on public transport, urban planning, e-bikes IMO.