VW to invest $40 billion in EVs in the next 4 years

unkel

Linky


Now that's a serious commitment. And there was I reading in one of the Irish newspapers today that there's a lot of life left in diesel :rolleyes:

I read somewhere else this was mainly for the Chinese market, they'll continue to sell their ( clean diesel technology) in the European market.

goz83

Deleted User wrote: »

I read somewhere else this was mainly for the Chinese market, they'll continue to sell their ( clean diesel technology) in the European market.

That makes sense when you look at the crazy designs they are coming up with. I can't imagine most of their concepts on European roads.

Not going to happen any time soon as there’s no real push in Europe to change to electric, looks like the car makers again are successfully getting emissions regulations watered down , I posted a link on boards a while ago. E.U legislators really have no balls to stand up to car manufacturers it appears as if they’re intimidated by them.

cros13

The big thing was, back in September, they announced investment in battery production facilities as part of partnerships with several companies and future as-yet unannounced projects.

The problem with that is they are only doing this now..... when it was painfully obvious two years ago that it would be necessary. So as a result, instead of being ready to start launching new cars next year..... they'll be waiting until 2021 to have any volume production worth the name.

Maybe they've secured a few batteries for Audi's e-Tron SUV next year.... but it won't be produced in any real numbers.

cros13

cros13 wrote: »

it won't be produced in any real numbers.

And that suits them just fine as they make billions from selling ICEs

thierry14

cros13 wrote: »

The big thing was, back in September, they announced investment in battery production facilities as part of partnerships with several companies and future as-yet unannounced projects.

The problem with that is they are only doing this now..... when it was painfully obvious two years ago that it would be necessary. So as a result, instead of being ready to start launching new cars next year..... they'll be waiting until 2021 to have any volume production worth the name.

Maybe they've secured a few batteries for Audi's e-Tron SUV next year.... but it won't be produced in any real numbers.

Yeah until we see gigafactories going up in Germany, its all just bull****.

They will probably just release an updated E-Golf in China and sell at breakeven, which should be enough for a while

cros13

thierry14 wrote: »

Yeah until we see gigafactories going up in Germany, its all just bull****.

There are two factories of that scale planned in europe, one in Germany from TerraE, and one in Sweden from NorthVolt.

Both in good positions relative to raw material supplies.
Both are still trying to get investors. Neither have broke ground.

Some people point to Daimler Accumotive's new "$1 billion" plant in Kamenz, which has often been mentioned by the ill-informed as europe's answer to the gigafactory... However it's just a battery integration plant AFAIK, no cell production whatsoever... and cell production is the problem.

On a technical level I think Northvolt actually are the most likely to succeed. They should partner with an existing battery manufacturer though.
TerraE plans to be a foundry and do contract production, Northvolt plans to make two standard cells with their own standard chemistry and just sell them per kWh.