Cleantech has an enshittification problem

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the limitations of electric vehicles (EVs) in solving the environmental challenges facing cities and the planet. It argues that while EVs can reduce personal emissions, the future of sustainable transportation requires a greater focus on public transit. The article also highlights the issue of "enshittification" - the ability of EV manufacturers to remotely control and degrade the functionality of their vehicles, which poses a risk to long-term ownership and the viability of new EV startups. The article extends this concern to other cleantech products, such as rooftop solar and heat pumps, and calls for policy-level interventions to address the issue of enshittification and ensure that cleantech devices are designed to be enshittification-proof.

🙋 Q&A

[01] EVs Won't Save the Planet

1. What are the key reasons why EVs alone won't save the planet?

• The material bill for billions of individual vehicles and the unavoidable geometry of more cars, more traffic, more roads, and greater distances dictate that the future requires more public transit.
• Even with increased public transit, there will still be a need for some personal vehicles, and these should be electric.
• In places lacking the political will or means to create working transit, EVs can still significantly reduce personal emissions.

2. What are the three main EV problems identified in the article?

1. Affordability and logistics of EV adoption
2. The ability of manufacturers to remotely control and degrade the functionality of EVs ("enshittification")
3. The risk of EV startups going bankrupt and bricking their vehicles, leaving owners with expensive e-waste

[02] The Risks of Enshittification

1. What are the ways in which EV manufacturers can exert control over their vehicles?

• Remotely "killswitching" vehicles to pressure owners into paying car notes on time
• Limiting access to battery capacity
• Locking cars and sending their location to repo agents
• Detecting and punishing owners for using independent mechanics

2. How does the risk of enshittification extend beyond EVs to other cleantech products?

• Cleantech products like rooftop solar, heat pumps, and home storage batteries also require large capital investments and are expected to last for decades.
• These products are also being designed with digital features that can be controlled and altered by manufacturers, posing the same enshittification risks as EVs.

[03] Policy Solutions to Enshittification

1. What policy-level responses does the article propose to address the issue of enshittification?

• Designing cleantech devices to be impossible to enshittify, which would also make them impossible to brick.
• Using government procurement policies to only purchase cleantech devices that are designed to be enshittification-proof.
• Creating legal reforms to prevent companies from being able to enshittify the products they sell.

2. What are the potential challenges in implementing these policy solutions?

• Legal challenges and the need for significant action from Congress and the executive branch to create new rules and laws.
• Concerns that these measures could reduce investment in innovative cleantech by limiting expected profits from enshittification practices.