MilesMcBain

Very heartened to see the ABC covering Australia’s pivot to large cars in top slot on their website yesterday:

Australia’s love of big cars is undoing the benefits of the shift to EVs - ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-15/big-cars-on-aussie-roads/102603092

Article talks about banning advertising as we did with cigarettes👍. But let’s also copy the plain packaging idea: You can only buy them in 1 boring colour. Those truly buying for utility shouldn’t care.

Australia’s love of big cars is undoing the benefits of the shift to EVs

Australians love big cars, and it's undoing the good work of the shift to more electric and hybrid vehicles. 

ABC News
Jul 15, 2023 at 10:57pmWeb
Show threadMilesMcBainJul 15, 2023
Also if this article has you revved up you definitely shouldn’t miss @notjustbikes’ assassination of SUVs: https://youtu.be/jN7mSXMruEo
These Stupid Trucks are Literally Killing Us

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

YouTube
Show threadMilesMcBainJul 16, 2023

Re Tax breaks this is the sort of cooked stuff you can get up to in Aus, nearly all claimed on tax as business use:

Tradie 1 has added dog cage to their tax payer funded ute, making it unsuitable for work duty, so needed to add tax payer funded trailer as well. Tradie 2 has only added a snorkel to the tax payer funded camping weekender, but since they chose the dual cab option they’ve got bugger all space for tools in the tray - also needs a tax payer funded trailer.

Show threadMilesMcBainJul 16, 2023
I’m not begrudging these businesses some assistance, but clearly in these cases the honest thing to do would be to claim trailer and tools only. I have no evidence this isn’t the case here either. This is just an illustration of a phenomenon it is clearly happening because of the commonality with which we see young tradies driving $60K+ vehicles.
Show threadDavid PeningtonJul 16, 2023
@milesmcbain
Tradie 2 has also added bull bars to the tax-subsidised ute. Makes the car more dangerous around the suburbs the vehicle is nominally subsudised for.
Show threadben morettiJul 15, 2023
@milesmcbain or remove the generous tax benefits which they have and apply a tax to them
Show threadMilesMcBainJul 15, 2023
@morebento oh absolutely. Bring it all down on them. One thing I’ve been noticing lately is how many of these ütes that people absolutely need for their trade or whatever are lifted and fitted with snorkels, winches etc. Meanwhile the work gear sits behind in a trailer that presumably could be towed by a much smaller vehicle.
Show threadben morettiJul 15, 2023
@milesmcbain tradies have a 100% tax write off for light commercial vehicles introduced by morrisson. Get rid of it. As @grumpysmiffy says, tax them based on fuel consumption and size. I also hate them on aesthetic grounds
Show threadDavid PeningtonJul 15, 2023

@milesmcbain
There's not much "switch to electric vehicles" in Australia with a big increase in EV sales this year sadly still being outsold 12:1 by petrol/diesel vehicles ☹️.
Station wagons seem to have disappeared as a class.
The other Australian SUV motivation is towing big boats, big caravans & horses.

I like the French ban on advertising fossil fuel products including petrol & diesel cars.

Show threadDanielle NavarroJul 15, 2023
@milesmcbain Every now and then I see those monstrosities in my neighbourhood, and they're completely inappropriate (tradies excepted, since they often do need the bigger vehicles). But all the streets are so tiny in Newtown and no-one has backyards so it's on-street residential parking everywhere. Taking up that much space for no purpose just annoys me. Plus this is a neighbourhood where kids run around and play in the streets sometimes, and these assholes drive in with a fucking tank? Big nope
Show threadJosephine RoperJul 16, 2023
@milesmcbain yes but only if it's a high-vis colour like red. It's absurd to me that so many cars are in variations of charcoal, grey, black, silver and other colours that seem designed to blend in with roads (and heat up more).
Show threadMilesMcBainJul 16, 2023
@jroper given the known tendency of these things to do Serious Kilometres Off Road I’d have thought something that takes the dust well could easily be justified on the basis of utility. So some shade of brown. Maybe a Latte to maintain visibility at night? ☕️
Show threadJosephine RoperJul 17, 2023
@milesmcbain but if they were genuinely work vehicles it shouldn't really matter how it takes the dust!