Fines like this should be calculated based on % of corporations net assets. Something like this, say 5-10%. That would at least get their attention.
Same with personal fines honestly, percentage of income or total wealth, depending on the crime.
I have mixed feelings on this. I think there were a few good reasons to move to sealed batteries. In an ideal world you could give consumers choices between the various trade-offs and offer multiple models or variants.
But of course that will never happen because non-replaceable batteries present a far better business case. If they were forced to offer options, the manufacturers would deliberately make the user-replaceable models far shittier and then complain to the regulators that they were unpopular.
Why does this article say they’re headquartered in Israel? Their HQ is in San Francisco. In any case, I’m curious to see how the dust settles on all of this.
I think it’s more like top 5%. Between my husband and I we’re top 30% and it’s still terrible for us. But, point taken, like everything else in the US it’s serving the powerful few so it’s unlikely to change.
No need for regulations, just set a price floor please. Only billionaires allowed.