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Race is on as carmakers shut, switch or sell combustion engine factories
The Guardian (UK) ^ | 12/27/2020 | Jasper Jolly

Posted on 12/28/2020 8:38:30 AM PST by RightGeek

Carmakers will increasingly find themselves in a race to shut, switch or sell factories producing vehicles with internal combustion engines to avoid being left with “stranded assets”, as regulators set a course for a decade of electrification to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Traditional manufacturers are currently playing a “zero sum game” because growth in electric car sales eats into the value of internal combustion engine factories, which “are effectively stranded assets”, a leading analyst has warned.

Philippe Houchois, an analyst at Jefferies, an investment bank, said carmakers’ share prices will be in large part dependent on their ability to avoid losses on fossil fuel assets. “If you want to be a better valued carmaker you need to find a way to shrink your assets faster than a gradual transition to electric vehicles would suggest,” he said.

The industry has already made significant steps away from fossil fuels. The year 2020 will be seen as key for electric cars because of new EU regulations that mandated a limit on average carbon dioxide emissions of 95g/km across all cars sold. The UK has committed to carrying on its emissions regime at an equivalent or stronger level after the Brexit transition period ends on 1 January 2021.

The regulations have prompted a rapid increase in electric car sales as carmakers scrambled to avoid fines worth hundreds of millions of euros – although Volkswagen has already conceded that it will miss its 2020 target, incurring a fine estimated at around €270m (£248m).

BMW announced on Sunday it would build 250,000 more electric cars than it had previously planned between now and 2023. Oliver Zipse, the company’s chief executive, said he wanted roughly 20% of cars it sells to be electric by 2023, up from 8% this year.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: evilrollson
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To: nascarnation

Right up until they start taxing the crap out of car recharger usage.


181 posted on 12/28/2020 12:36:22 PM PST by AFreeBird
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To: AFreeBird

The goal is to limit mobility.
So yes.


182 posted on 12/28/2020 12:37:02 PM PST by nascarnation
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To: RightGeek

If you think your electric bill is high now...


183 posted on 12/28/2020 12:42:13 PM PST by McGruff
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To: McGruff

The only hope might be folks down south who can afford to put in solar panels.


184 posted on 12/28/2020 12:43:54 PM PST by nascarnation
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To: V_TWIN
Libs are sooooo smart.

Shoulda told him that the water was too wet. Set it out in the sun to evaporate and dry out a bit, and then pour the air into the carb.

185 posted on 12/28/2020 12:45:45 PM PST by IYAS9YAS (There are two kinds of people: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.)
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To: RightGeek

That new pickup can tow a boat but the lake better be within a few miles. ;-)


186 posted on 12/28/2020 12:50:09 PM PST by HP8753 (Live Free!!!! .............or don't. )
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To: kosciusko51

Pius: is that a typo or a Freudian slip?

That actually was created in our area and extended families by my wife, shortly after the Piuses came on the market.

The doctor she worked for bought one for him and one for his wife and one for the 3 teens.

Several in our neighborhood bought Piuses and a few relatives.

All we heard from them was what a great car/Pius was for the earth and the drivers.

She had a red 68 Camaro convertible with a consul shift with white racing strips and good set of legal pipes. In a good week she averaged 12-15 mpg.

We could see the gas gauge on my Bronco go down while driving.

I did a lot of fly fishing then and pulled/towed smaller trucks out of puddles/creeks with the Bronco. It never got stuck.

One of our sons still has the Bronco and get offers on his windshield on a regular basis.

An older son had inherited a CalTrans Blazer/our pre Bronco and drove it at his jr/sr year at college and had a bidding contest in our driveway when he bought a new pickup. With a tailwind, he got maybe 12 mpg.

I had the OJ Simpson Bronco, and the biggest company car I could get.

So whenever, my wife’s peers, friends or relatives got into their Prius/Pius moments. She would say, “Enough about your holy Piuses!

Having said that some of our neighbors still have their original Piuses. In this area, they are very reliable. They have been very safe when the drivers, we know had accidents while driving or as passengers.


187 posted on 12/28/2020 12:51:41 PM PST by Grampa Dave (If voting could change anything, they would not let us do it...!!! Posted by glasseye, 12/19/2020!)
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To: nascarnation

Urban can make sense, but the expense still isn’t worth it.


188 posted on 12/28/2020 12:59:42 PM PST by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Have!)
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To: CodeToad

Agree, not until the Dems drive the price of petroleum much higher. I think in Europe, they are already close. A lot depends on how many useful years the battery has which will have a big effect on vehicle depreciation.

Those Nissan Leafs which are down to 30-40 miles useful range after 4 or 5 years have almost zero resale value.


189 posted on 12/28/2020 1:03:38 PM PST by nascarnation
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To: nascarnation

A Toyota Corolla is half the cost and a better car. Anyone claiming frugality on an electric is lying their ass off.


190 posted on 12/28/2020 1:04:50 PM PST by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Have!)
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To: CodeToad

At current fuel costs you are correct.
But government can change that quickly.


191 posted on 12/28/2020 1:05:40 PM PST by nascarnation
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To: nascarnation

And they can change it again and so can we.


192 posted on 12/28/2020 1:06:24 PM PST by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Have!)
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To: mund1011

Exactly!


193 posted on 12/28/2020 1:07:29 PM PST by vpintheak (Live free, or die!)
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To: IYAS9YAS

That woulda shortcircuted what brain he has I’m afraid.

Another time the same guy had some sort of insect attacking one of his trees. Once again read on the internet the organic solution to this problem (because you know, chemicals are killing the earth) was ladybugs, because they attack the insects that were making his tree sick. I know all this because we came home from dinner one night and there he was with a container of ladybugs and a butter knife gently placing them on the tree. I had to ask and he told me what he was doing. I didn’t even know you could buy ladybugs but I guess you can. My wife and I could barely contain ourselves until we got into the house busting out laughing.

A week later we started finding a ton of ladybugs in OUR yard........true story...every word.


194 posted on 12/28/2020 1:10:39 PM PST by V_TWIN (Where's Hunter???)
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To: RightGeek
Philippe Houchois, an analyst at Jefferies, an investment bank...
Gee, somebody making a play on "clean tech"?
195 posted on 12/28/2020 3:02:20 PM PST by nicollo (I said no!)
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To: RightGeek

The push for electric cars could make US roadways look like Cuba with fleets of decades old gas vehicles patched together and kept running because the electric vehicles can’t do the jobs currently done by internal combustion vehicles.


196 posted on 12/28/2020 3:29:46 PM PST by The Great RJ ("Socialists are happy until they run out of other people's money." Margaret Thatche)
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To: SamAdams76

The first electric powered car I saw years ago was towing a small trailer which had an electric generator powered by a gasoline motor.

I couldn’t tell if the generator was running, but there was a large wire running up to the car.

I could only tell it was an electric car by the sign on the side of the car (& of course, the generator).


197 posted on 12/28/2020 8:36:59 PM PST by HangThemHigh (Entropy is not what it used to be.)
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To: woodbutcher1963

Except that large transformers are designed that they need to have a period of lower usage to cool down or their working life is drastically shortened, often with spectacular light shows when they fail.

Keeping them working indefinitely WILL cause problems, sooner than later.


198 posted on 12/28/2020 9:32:03 PM PST by Don W (When blacks riot, neighbourhoods and cities burn. When whites riot, nations and continents burn.)
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To: woodbutcher1963
Elon Musk's idea is to have a battery bank at your home to slowly charge from the grid 24/7. Then that battery bank would be used to recharge your vehicle when you bring it home and plug it in at night. This would alleviate this issue of everybody trying to recharge off the grid at the same time.

That is a rather expensive solution. A 13Kw backup battery is around $10K or more after installation costs. That is enough juice to charge a plugin hybrid. If you live in areas that are subject to power brownouts and shutoffs, it might be viable solution. Where I live, power outages are so infrequent having a backup system just isn't worth it. I have been living in the same town for 30 years and only remember about half a dozen power outages of a few hours or more. I can rent a hotel room and replace my refrigerator contents for a lot less if the power goes down for the count..

199 posted on 12/29/2020 12:13:15 AM PST by EVO X
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To: V_TWIN

Given that ladybird larvae are well known as voracious predators of aphids and red spider mite, not entirely crazy - although their proven value as a pest control has mainly been on crops grown under glass, when there are no predators of the ladybird larvae themselves.


200 posted on 12/29/2020 5:03:22 AM PST by Winniesboy
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