They could just say ‘screw it’ and decide on their own to only build BEV.
And then they would go bankrupt pretty fast. EVs are more expensive and don’t have a massive infrastructure to refuel them, build over decades (also still heavily subsidised indirectly).
The company saying “screw it” today just cut their available market down to a fraction of its former size, down to the small amount of “we have money to spare anyway and already have our own home and garage to refuel”-people. The majority can’t afford to buy a car for twice the price because it’s better for the environment. And they don’t even have a spot to park them other than on the side of the street (maybe some countries are better than others in that regard but here having to charge at the few publically available chargers doubles the cost compoared to just plugging it in over night at home).
So yes, the companies actually need guidelines. They are no startup that can produce a few EVs and then scale up over the next decade. They are full fledged businesses with massive production facilities and tens of thousands of workers. They indeed need to know when to reach 100% EV production as they are depending on gradually changing over production. We will kill our ICE production today and only produce EVs isn’t an option when 80% of the people either can’t afford one or have no valid charging option yet.
And then they would go bankrupt pretty fast. EVs are more expensive and don’t have a massive infrastructure to refuel them, build over decades (also still heavily subsidised indirectly).
The company saying “screw it” today just cut their available market down to a fraction of its former size, down to the small amount of “we have money to spare anyway and already have our own home and garage to refuel”-people. The majority can’t afford to buy a car for twice the price because it’s better for the environment. And they don’t even have a spot to park them other than on the side of the street (maybe some countries are better than others in that regard but here having to charge at the few publically available chargers doubles the cost compoared to just plugging it in over night at home).
So yes, the companies actually need guidelines. They are no startup that can produce a few EVs and then scale up over the next decade. They are full fledged businesses with massive production facilities and tens of thousands of workers. They indeed need to know when to reach 100% EV production as they are depending on gradually changing over production. We will kill our ICE production today and only produce EVs isn’t an option when 80% of the people either can’t afford one or have no valid charging option yet.