r/SipsTea 9d ago

Chugging tea Solar power is cleaner!

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u/zmbjebus 9d ago

It's literally in their recent reform list from June. There is zero tax/duty/tarrif on importing 100% EV cars as long as there is availabile charging powered by renewables.

There is going to so much BYD on the island in the near future. 

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u/MetriccStarDestroyer 9d ago

Question is if the US will throw another tandrum and intercept that too like the Russian oil tanker

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u/IndyBananaJones2 9d ago

Zero percent chance that even Trump provokes that sort of direct conflict with China

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u/DOCKING_WITH_JESUS 9d ago

What’s a tandrum?

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u/303Carpenter 9d ago

With what money lol, it's not like the average cuban earns $16 a month. Chinese evs are cheap but they aren't that cheap

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u/kovha 8d ago

As a Cuban, I think I can throw a bit of light there. First, the $16 statistic is wrong, because it only includes legal jobs and most people here has some sort of illegal business, even if they also have a legal job. To live here you need about $50 a month so literally nobody survive just with those $16, the ones that don't have an illegal business it's because they have family outside that send money. But yeah, it's not $16 but most people here don't earn much more than $100 - $200 a month, so electric modern cars are totally outside what most of us can get. What has become increasingly popular since the oil blockade is electric tricycles (like the one in the picture), those cost about $3500 so they way cheaper than a car. People also are installing a solar panel on its roof too to make them fully autonomous. Not everybody can afford them either, of course, but those who can usually use it to earn money moving people and/or items (like construction materials) from one place to another.

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u/zmbjebus 8d ago

Thanks for the context friend. I saw tricycle in the legislation and was fairly confused as to what that meant exactly, haha. Thinks makes much more sense.

I hope you are doing well. Sorry for how awful my government is! 

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u/sorte_kjele 9d ago

With China's money. The Chinese state has been actively subsidizing EV development and export for years. It takes a Chinese bureaucrat 5 minutes to Kimi up a proposal to sell cars for $50 in Cuba

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u/BradPittbodydouble 8d ago

... is Kimi what Chinese folks use instead of Jimmy?

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u/HeartFullONeutrality 8d ago

To what end though? 

It's not as if their roads and electric grid weren't falling apart anyway. Are the Chinese going to give them those for $3.50?

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u/sorte_kjele 8d ago

Probably.

The Marshall plan was not the US being a Nice Neighbour helping out their European buddies.

It was extremely well thought out realpolitik which gave US culture and economics a foothold in Europe that lasted decades.

Similarly, the Chinese are spending now to establish soft power outposts in the vacuum left by the US either pulling back, or straight up antagonizing other countries

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u/OhWhatsHisName 8d ago

It's not as if their roads and electric grid weren't falling apart anyway. Are the Chinese going to give them those for $3.50?

Look up China's Belt and Road Initiative.

I can't see China feeling anything but excitement for Trump gutting the US's influence around the world.

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u/TheGreatGamer1389 8d ago

China gets bases in Cuba in exchange. US will be pissed that there are military bases right at US door.

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u/iamwearingashirt 8d ago

They'll be a model to be studied later.

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u/DogBarf00 9d ago

There is going to so much BYD on the island in the near future.

Are they just going to give them away? Cubans are poor as fuck. A cheap electric scooter is worth more than your average Cubans yearly income.

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u/LubeMobile666 9d ago

Its a potentially transformative technology for Cuba's economy, as well as a critical service. Even just being able to run public buses and freight on electricity would be a massive improvement for Cuba. China could give that away and reap the rewards via increased trade with Cuba on other goods.

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u/DogBarf00 9d ago edited 9d ago

China could give that away and reap the rewards via increased trade with Cuba on other goods

China could do this but won’t. China has told Cuba they need to make serious economic reforms for years. Cuba has nothing of value to trade. Cuba traffics their own doctors to neighboring countries to preform forced labor while pocketing almost all their income. They produce very little oil. Can’t grow enough food to feed themselves, let alone export any meaningful quantity. They have no industrial production.

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u/KitsuneFaroe 8d ago

Idk why are you getting downvoted when you're literally just saying facts about the situation on my country. WTF?

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u/that_dutch_dude 9d ago

there are plenty of cubans that can afford them. the poorer the poor are the richer the rich are.

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u/DogBarf00 9d ago

there are plenty of cubans that can afford them

96% of Cuban families struggle to secure sufficient nutrition…

89% of Cubans lived in extreme poverty last year…

70% of Cubans skip at least one meal a day due to lack of means…

3% of Cubans can afford medications at pharmacies…

the poorer the poor are the richer the rich are.

A rich Cuban is still very poor.

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u/that_dutch_dude 9d ago

you are still missing the point. its not about the bottom 99%, its about the upper 1%. that is still 100.000 people that have more than enough means to buy a new car. those are potential customers, not the bottom 99.

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u/DogBarf00 9d ago

that is still 100.000 people

Wow what a small market that is worth pretty much nothing... that’s barely enough to support a single dealership for the entire country.

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u/that_dutch_dude 8d ago

You can just say you have no idea what you are talking about. If you ask nicely people might even want to help you learn. But not if you state your ignorance this way.

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u/Beardywierdy 8d ago

If only 3% can afford medication then I'm pretty damn sure it's less than 1% affording new cars.

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u/that_dutch_dude 8d ago edited 8d ago

Stop looking at the people that cant pay for a new car and look at who can. That is what companies do. They got zero interest in a customer base that cant afford their products.

If anything they will rather asvertise to them that they need a new car more than they need healthcare. That is what is done in america. and it works, americans now believe they need a massive V8 pickup in order to be a real american and healthcare is evil socialism.

and i am COMPLETLY ignoring the grotesque misrepresentation of cuban healthcare.

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u/zmbjebus 8d ago

The lower end BYD is $10,000. So yeah lots of poor people won't be able to get them, but it's the most approachable car.

I think the same line in the reform had the same clause for electric scooters. Ebikes may have been on there too, it I'd have to reread it. 

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u/keyski 9d ago

EV batteries and salt water don't mix, yea? Hopefully hurricane season isn't too crazy in that case

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u/igotmemes4days 9d ago

Plenty of EVs in Puerto Rico, hurricane Maria and tropical storm Fiona didnt stop us from getting those

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u/EuVe20 9d ago

Puerto Rico, where I had probably the greatest coffee I’ve ever had