The same price difference exists with things like heat pumps - I've seen people in the US talking about installing single-head Japanese brand mini-split systems for US$5000 to even over US$10,000, when I can get the same sized units fully installed for AU$1600 to AU$2500 (about US$1000 to US$1600).
Just makes no sense why it should be that different. The units seem to cost similar prices in Europe to what we pay here in Australia so why is it so much more in North America? I assume part of it is that they are not quite as common but it still boggles the mind.
Fossil fuel companies choose the president and legislature in the US—not exclusively, but they do evidently at least have veto power, and the current president campaigned on an anti-renewables platform which he has delivered on. Bipartisan tariff policy in the US is basically completely locking Chinese solar panels and EVs out of the market, doubling the costs of those products to US consumers and sabotaging any chance of future competitiveness in heavy industry. I don't know if the same thing is happening with Japanese air conditioning systems.
Drives me bananas. Aussie in the US - I’m very reluctantly going to spend 4-5x what I would pay in au for a heat pump. I have no explanation for why it can possibly cost so much more, it’s infuriating. You can DIY for a lot less but it’s a big complicated project
Just makes no sense why it should be that different. The units seem to cost similar prices in Europe to what we pay here in Australia so why is it so much more in North America? I assume part of it is that they are not quite as common but it still boggles the mind.