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The story
Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson told Fortune magazine that seeing 49-ton electric trucks running in China made him realize “how serious electrification really is,” arguing that Europe has fallen behind on electrification because it’s too busy protecting its established automakers. The comment was picked up on Lemmy’s c/europe, where it drew a wave of pushback: “Europe already has electric trucks on the road too, like Mercedes’ eActros.” At the same time, commenters pointed out that the batteries in those trucks are ultimately made in China, pushed back against framing China as a “dictatorship,” and debated whether Europe’s stalled environmental policy is really a political failure.
“It’s only when you see 49-ton trucks in China running purely on batteries that you realize how serious electrification is” — Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson on Europe’s incumbency problem
“If you want more growth, you need to tolerate creative destruction and let new companies drive the productivity gains that are needed.”
Source: fortune.com / Read the original article
What people said
https://feddit.org/pictrs/image/cd9811c2-c5c0-45f3-94a6-510827406662.png
Background and Key Points
The “incumbency problem” Jackson points to refers to a structural issue where established automotive and energy giants, having dominated the market for years, slow down new entrants and technological shifts — making electrification harder to advance. In the thread, commenters pushed back by noting that electric trucks already exist in Europe, but others pointed out that most of the battery cells are made in China, highlighting an easily overlooked distinction between where a vehicle is assembled and where its components come from. A side exchange about a map that came up mid-discussion was unrelated to the main topic and amounted to a simple misunderstanding between posters.
※This article is a condensed, loosely translated summary by our editorial team of the Lemmy c/europe thread “‘It’s only when you see 49-ton trucks in China running on batteries that you realize how serious electrification is’: Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson on Europe’s incumbency problem.” Responsibility for the translation lies with this site.
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