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Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) intends to sell electric cars for less than 20,000 euros ($22,836) and protect German jobs by converting three factories to make Tesla (TSLA.O) rivals, a source familiar with the plans said.
VW and other carmakers are struggling to adapt quickly enough to stringent rules introduced after the carmaker was found to have cheated diesel emissions tests, with its chief executive Herbert Diess warning last month that Germany's auto industry faces extinction.
Plans for VW's electric car, known as "MEB entry" and with a production volume of 200,000 vehicles, are due to be discussed at a supervisory board meeting on Nov. 16, the source said.
Fallout from cheating on diesel emissions tests continues. If German automakers, of which VW is the largest, switch to electric vehicles (EVs), will other car companies have to follow suit?
(Score: 2) by rleigh on Saturday November 10 2018, @01:24PM (1 child)
If you look at history, Standard Oil did a number of rather dodgy things to force the adoption of oil and motorised transport. Later government policy encouraged it with the development of motorways and interstate systems etc. These actions displaced the previous systems, some forcibly through legistation and sharp business practices.
I can't see much difference with this change. The technology is here, and the infrastructure is being slowly rolled out. It's not yet ready for universal adoption, and won't be for a good while until we have the electrical generation and distribution capacity to match. But it's coming is an inevitability. Just like haymaking and distribution was once of great concern to driving our economies and feeding us, oil product manufacture and distribution will eventually decline as well. The legislation in progress to e.g. ban diesel in cities and eventually sale of diesel cars is harsh, but necessary given the problems we face. Is that any different than the banning of horse-drawn vehicles from fast roads?
The points about the electricial grid being a single point of failure are well made. We do need independence in case of failure. Be it diesel or other fuel generators, solar panels, wind or whatever you can make work for you. Important buildings already have this capability in place for short-term failure, but we are already mostly entirely reliant on a functional grid, and it's not realistic for all of us to go off-grid. The point about distributed storage is also well made. It may well be that car batteries themselves are part of that solution, as well as PowerWall type domestic storage systems.
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday November 11 2018, @12:06AM
Company I work for has large headquarters in Manhattan and we produce our own electricity using fuel cells. Yes, we burn fossils for electricity right in the middle of the island.
The reason is that it is cheaper than to pay for grid electricity plus to have backup generators. We, however, still attached to the grid in case of emergency.
Now, look at it from the power company point of view where cheap electricity especially a reliable kind is a matter of scale which we reduce. If I were their boss, I would not give us emergency power.
Here is the punch line: imagine Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and all the follow up because it was refused power. That's where we are now.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.