As EV sales slump, Volkswagen scales back battery factories
Volkswagen will wait to see what electric car demand is like before building out all six of its previously planned battery factories. Thomas Schmall, VW’s board member in charge of technology, told a German newspaper that “building battery cell factories is not an end to itself” and that a goal of 200 GWh of lithium-ion cells by 2030 was not set in stone.
It’s a bit too simplistic to say that all new technologies conform to the now-infamous Gartner hype cycle, but it’s hard not to think of that squiggly line when discussing EVs. After years of hearing lofty goals of all-electric lineups and an end to internal combustion engines from OEMs, Tesla’s skyrocketing valuation got investors interested in electrification, and for a while, things just went mad.
But the promised fall in battery costs never really materialized, and in the US, EVs still command a price premium, at least for the first owner. The initial hype, coupled with the limited availability of new models, saw dealers load the cars and trucks they could get with hefty markups, further alienating potential customers. And now, when those markups and inventory shortages are mostly a thing of the past, interest rates have soared.
Bubble?.. I hear Pepsi is ramping up production because everybody wants to drink Pepsi?..
Fact.. 2/3s of the vehicles on the road wont have access to a private charging station.. One house, 3 cars and the wife hogs the charging station.. Make no mistake, you are kicked to the curb :).. Idiots..
let me see. Soviet Clusterfukastan has just signed a deal with volkswagen for a battery plant ?
no , no , keep your money . we promised it without any results expected .
But don’t kid yourself, places like California – We Are The Leader In Authoritarianism – aren’t going to back down on their elimination of ICE cars.
“35 percent of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in California be either zero-emission, plug-in hybrid or hydrogen-powered models by 2026” and in 2035 all ICE cars sales are banned.
That’s not far away. It is for a car company, but not iron-fisted governments.
And as the proggiest of progs, they’ll double down in the darkness.
And their economy wields an awful lot of clout.
Don’t forget, up here in Canada, Phagboy and the Grifters are also phasing out ICE cars the same year.
Until that legislation is changed, it looms.
California is actively building public transit to nowhere.
Window dressing. EVs will be made commonplace in the US, but the US will not benefit financially. China will. Currently, they are ramping up their EV manufacturing in Mexico (which only has a 2.5% tariff as opposed to the over 25% one on vehicles manufactured in China. It was a deceitful act by Biden (likely paying China back for the hard cash over the years). Biden came out and stressed how he was being strong armed with Chinese auto makers, but neglected to say that the tariffs were only a small percentage on vehicles made abroad (Mexico).
And, folks. Despite the fire hazard….the Chinese EV’s cost a fraction of what the Big 3 are charging. China’s Dolphin Mini vehicle is all electric and sells for about $14,000 to $20,000. Say goodbye to Ford, GMC and the rest when China makes their move.
Cool story bro!
The only way to meet 2035 targets is to sell chicom EV’s. There’s no way in hell to meet ’35 domestically.
The “Trough of Disillusionment”? Hahahaha ha ha …. Sorry … but my version of that swanky graph includes a “Chasm of Disillusionment” from which there is no recovery. Because, you see … not all technological “innovations” are equal.
Can’t be so! I mean it was only a few months ago that the twat twins (blubber douggie and tudo) “invested” billions of our dollars into EV battery factories.
China has outfits that instead of waiting an hour or more to charge the batteries, they spend 10 minutes just swapping out the discharged one for a charged one.
North America is a legislative/regulatory nightmare, where the legislators use the pretext of safety to fleece the masses, and the masses eat it all up like good peons they are.
Musk did have battery swap-out for a while but discontinued it. It must not have made business sense or he would have kept it up.
Didn’t work ie. Took far too long to make the swap.
As I recall it had nothing to do with improved functionality for customers, but did unleash a slew of new subsidies.
Swap out what? The massive EXTRA battery packs that are required if you want a range of more than 220 miles (nameplate rating). That’s what? 4,000 lb of batteries swapped out in 10 min.? Yeah, I don’t think so. At best, you’ll get a 100 mi. range swap out … so long as no: radio, ac, lights, power windows, or heater are being used.
My mistake. They’ve got it down to 144 seconds for 150kWh batteries.
I had never heard of the Gartner hype cycle before, searched it, and recognized it immediately. That’s an underdamped step function.
I thought dancing in the shower was an underdamped step function.
“But the promised fall in battery costs never really materialized, and in the US, EVs still command a price premium, at least for the first owner.”
There are second owners? Who knew?
Tha be da recyclers
Lotsa aluminium in a Tesla
Will people steal Teslas for the aluminum?
Good point, joe. And what about all the copper in the motor windings?
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@No lo se – So, Teslas will be worth more dead than alive?
EXACTLY H.R.
“…EVs still command a price premium, at least for the first owner. ”
As if anyone in their Right mind would buy a Used EV.
Shortfagnugen.
Did you watch the DNC?
The hall was filled with folk who would love to buy a second-hand Tesla, to go along with second-hand Communist policies from the freshly re-treaded Hyena Harris.
Leave all EVs in China. They are impractical in North America, and we have good infrastructure for normal cars. Electric stuff is not terribly eco-friendly either, especially when accounting for building an entirely new infrastructure.
What do you mean not eco-friendly? Something wrong with coal fired cars? Don’t they use special coal, powered by fairy farts, to generate electricity?
Until They build the Professor’s Flux Compassitor—–Marty and I are not interested ! Ha
Just look at how they are going to be charged and used. Going no where is what will happen.