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posted by martyb on Friday April 12 2019, @08:17AM   Printer-friendly
from the no-more-roar dept.

Bloomberg:

The fact that both combustion engines and electric motors find themselves inside the same 18,000-person complex in Dingolfing, BMW’s largest in Europe, makes it a microcosm of a shift overtaking automakers the world over. A visitor can see that 625-horsepower engine—more than twice as powerful as the original from 1985, a luxury product relentlessly branded as “the ultimate driving machine”—then walk around the corner and see its puny electric replacement. You start thinking the better slogan might be “the ultimate combustion engine.” As in: last of its kind.

Deep within Dingolfing you can find the human representations of the end of a 100-year technological era. These workers have electric flashes stitched onto their blue factory smocks, and their jobs are focused on the BMW i3—the company’s only all-electric model—as well as a lineup of plug-in hybrids. There were just a few employees marked with electric patches in a remote corner of the factory back when BMW first started gearing up for electric vehicles. Today, electric works occupy about 10 percent of Dingolfing.

In just a few years BMW will sell a dozen battery-powered models. The transition is already proving painful and expensive. Last month, expecting a 10 percent slump in profit this year, the company said it would begin a 12 billion-euro efficiency campaign to pay for this battery-focused revamp. Starting in 2021, meanwhile, BMW plans to eliminate up to 50 percent of drivetrain options. About a third of its 133,000-strong workforce has been trained to handle production of electric vehicles—and it’s clear that all of today’s employees won’t be necessary for tomorrow’s tasks.

Soon BMW's engines will roar no more?


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  • (Score: 2) by fritsd on Friday April 12 2019, @03:48PM (1 child)

    by fritsd (4586) on Friday April 12 2019, @03:48PM (#828645) Journal

    Germany's trick is: start early.

    Their "Energiewende" [wikipedia.org] study and planning phase took off in 1980.

    Germany has made significant progress on its GHG emissions reduction target, achieving a 27% decrease between 1990 and 2014. However the country will need to maintain an average GHG emissions abatement rate of 3.5% per year to reach its Energiewende goal, equal to the maximum historical value thus far.

    It's a fascinating Wiki article, actually.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 13 2019, @04:14AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 13 2019, @04:14AM (#828864) Journal
    Doesn't sound like it includes either fossil fuel electricity imports or the actual GHG emissions [wikipedia.org] for Germany (22% decrease 1990 to 2017). What's bizarre is despite the difficulty of achieving the paltry amount they managed, they're planning extremely ambitious reductions with almost complete elimination by 2050. I think it'll be educational for anyone paying attention.