U.S. Protectionism stays Electric Car Imports from China

Written by John Winger

There have been some recent concerns from Electric Car manufacturers in China that U.S. protectionism is alive and well. Imports of some of the most prolific manufacturers of Chinese made Electric Cars have, in some cases, gone to zero.

One manufacturer, Flybo Electric Cars from Jinan, China reports strict problems with U.S. customs preventing import into the U.S. market. The company was previously importing their Smart car knockoff electric car which had a top speed of 42mph and sold for a reasonable $9,950 or less.

"...due to the crisis,the US government is much more strict with the products from China,our import have problem to clear the customs at present,so we don't export to US now." reports a representative from Flybo. "The main problem is your government's policy regarding protectionism,also the customs now is much strict with products from China,please note it."

"It stands to reason that the U.S. would enact such policies." states Robert Wiley of Consumer Electronics Advisory Group. "The U.S. government has invested billions in GM, Chrysler, and U.S. battery companies." Recently, the U.S. Dept. of Energy has loaned $11Billion to U.S. car manufacturing firms for electric car research, electric car battery research and manufacturing.

Chrysler owns GEM Electric Cars and Peapod Electric Cars. GM has the coming electric car Volt coming out. Ford, Nissan, Fisker, and Tesla have also been recipients of U.S. loans/grants from the U.S. government.

Many of the current U.S. offerings seem expensive for what is offered. Zenn Electric Cars which would compare with the Flybo to some extent sell for around $16K. A fully loaded GEM Electric Car can sell for upwards of $14K. "It appears that the U.S. government might like to surpress foreign competition to keep prices superficially high for U.S. based manufacturing. That protects high paying American union jobs at the expense of the U.S. consumer," states Wiley.

High prices could also keep the U.S. consumer from adopting this super new technology...

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