Posted on 09/12/2017 9:10:52 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
FRANKFURT - European car bosses are beginning to address the realities of mass vehicle electrification, and its consequences for jobs and profit, their minds focused by government pledges to outlaw the combustion engine.
As the latest such announcement on Monday by China added momentum to a push for zero-emissions motoring, Daimler, Volkswagen and PSA Group gave details about their electric programs that could give policymakers some pause.
Planned electric Mercedes models will initially be just half as profitable as conventional alternatives, Daimler warned - forcing the group to find savings by outsourcing more component manufacturing, which may in turn threaten German jobs.
“In-house production is almost irrelevant to the consumer,” Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche told reporters in the midst of a German election campaign in which automotive jobs have loomed large.
A phase-out of combustion engines by 2030 could cost 600,000 jobs in Germany alone, the country’s Ifo economic institute has warned.
Since the battery is the single biggest-value item in an electric car, however, experts point out that mass adoption would shift business and jobs from European suppliers to China, which already dominates the automotive power-pack market.
Independent analyst Richard Windsor warned that far from boosting the industry, a shift to electric cars - which are expected to last longer than combustion-engined equivalents and require less maintenance - could inflict long-term damage.
“Vehicle makers are queuing up to announce their commitment to electric vehicles but at the same time they may be cheering for their own demise,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Almost time to buy a few tow trucks...
I hate e-cars but recharging is less than gas per mile.
Does this mean our gas prices will go down?
Will they bring back 100 octane? Cleaner burn, higher mileage)
You’ll have to pry my 3/4 ton diesel from my cold dead hands!
Until there is a technological breakthrough reducing recharge times to minutes, the internal combustion engine will reign supreme.
Range is meaningless. It’s the slow recharge time which is THE showstopper for me.
The only reason i would buy top line Tesla is because they are frigging FAST.....they look pretty cool too.
Fixed it.
My car get 30 MPG. To go 100 miles it takes around three gallons. I can pump three gallons in 1 minute. You say 20 minutes for a 100 mile recharge? So it takes 20 times long to recharge. Sucks. Not even in the same ball park.
Add to that the fact that in some areas they give you the electricity for free. I spent an hour with the Tesla salesman in the dealership in Seattle by Amazon. It was very informative. And I’d have been tempted if I lived there. The subsidies, free power, acceleration, and the bragging rights (in liberal seattle) would be worth it.
But I live in rural KY and drive 150 miles every day on my commute. And the power is not free.
And when you rack up the negatives in the Adam Ruins Electric Cars video, NOT getting an electric car is, for my needs, a no brainer. If only the arrogantly ignorant liberals understood that electric is anything BUT green.
Here in MA my electric bill is almost 200 bucks a month and that is with me shutting lights off 24/7. Plug my car in every night along with everybody else......how much will i be paying then?
don’t even get me started with my frigging water bill!
WTF...WATER
I am looking forward to buying a 2019 800hp Shelby GT500. Some of us still prefer real cars.
If you do the math recharging an e-car is cheaper per mile than gasoline. I say this as someone who thanks e-cars are a joke.
People here couldn’t make it in to work before their batteries died.
Oh sure. And how are they gonna charge those cars?
The internal combustion engine gives more band for the buck than most anything else out there
Let the idiots pile onto trains and busses
Ironically, it was electric motor technology that doomed the early electric vehicles, once Cadillac introduced the electric starter in 1912, and car buyers recognized that gasoline power gave them the range and the fast recharge that a mobile society needed (and no broken arms from cranking).
We’re still waiting for EVs to catch up.
From a personal standpoint, the pure EVs as they exist today would not be a complete solution for my transportation needs.
I would consider owning a low-end EV for local trips (e.g. grocery runs), but the added insurance cost of a second car would kill any long-term economic benefit of owning a highly efficient electric runabout. Yes, I live in a high-insurance rate area, where location (and not driving record) is the primary determinant.
If the insurance environment changes significantly, then I will reconsider.
Yes recharge time is the current show stopper. Who wants to hang out a charging station for an hour or two.
These people who think the outlet on the wall supplies the electricity are the same people who think the styrofoam tray supplies the steak...
I always get a kick out of the outrage liberals display when they are told they are driving a coal-powered car!
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