Posted on 09/08/2023 9:47:42 AM PDT by nickcarraway
THE approaching net zero ban on petrol and diesel vehicles could put Europe’s car firms at disadvantage compared with China.
Speaking to the Financial Times ahead of the annual IAA Mobility conference in Munich, Oliver Zipse, BMW’s chief executive, warned that European electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers could not compete with China over prices.
European Union plans to eliminate combustion engine vehicles are not welcomed by the car industry, which provides direct and indirect work for almost 14 million people.
Misgivings extend from inconsistent access to the raw materials necessary for making car batteries to concerns that charging infrastructure was still “far behind expectations.” Some countries have done nothing at all, Zipse said.
“The base car market segment will either vanish or will not be done by European manufacturers. I want to send a message: I see that as an imminent risk,” he said.
Factories in China were able to turn out EVs more cheaply than their rivals in Europe, Zipse declared.
Last year China produced EV’s for less than £27,300 (€32,000) compared to Europe’s €56,000 according to Jato Dynamics studies. The cheapest Chinese EV, the BYD Seagull, was selling in China for less than £8,000 (€9,348), while the Fiat 500 – the cheapest available in the UK – cost £28,195 (€32,934).
Zipse explained that he was more uneasy about the cheaper market, as manufacturers like BMW were in a better position to protect themselves, owing to their higher margins and brand image.
Under Zipse, BMW has also become a comparatively isolated supporter of hydrogen-powered cars as an alternative to battery-driven EVs as this technology is less reliant on lithium and other difficult-to-source battery parts.
Like Renault, BMW has announced that it would continue to market combustion engine vehicles outside Europe.
“If you want to be a participant in the 80 million worldwide car market, you have to do all technologies, otherwise you are not participating,” Zipse said to the Financial at the same time that the company presented a prototype for its Neue Klasse electric series, which is expected to begin production in 2025.
As long as China controls the ‘rare earth’ battery market they can afford to give the cars away...
If they were giving them away, I might take one to scavenge components for useful endeavors.
Take the Chinese top half off, store it, put a European top half on, sell the result for a premium price and then sell the Chinese top half years later for Chinese model top replacement to cut off a future Chinese sale.
https://www.carscoops.com/2023/04/byds-seagull-starts-at-just-11300-and-has-sodium-ion-battery/
Just try fitting an average American into the tiny thing.
True that. And on that note, EV's and batteries are like oil and natural gas in that our #1 enemy is ourselves blocking mining of cobalt, nickel and lithium in the U.S. In a perfect world we'd drill baby drill and mine baby mine and let the free market choose what people drive and who best provide the energy.
Anybody dumb enough to buy a Chinese manufactured EV probably deserves one.
Companies in China make EVs abandon them in fields tell the government they sold them and the government gives them money , China is one big SCAM LOL
If its like most industries of the past 30 years, Chinese companies over-invested in capacity, using state-run bank debt or local/provincial government debt/equity.
Many will go bankrupt, Chinese banks and local governments will bury the bad debt, and those producers that remain will be quite large, and lean and technology leaders - and be government favorites
As a communist-fascist form of economic planning, China is able to make it work for a few industries.
It’s hard to compete against subsidized products. Companies in the Chinese system are not intended to make a profit. They are intended to keep people employed. For China it’s all about social stability. Unemployed people create problems with social stability...riots, going on long walks together, etc. This is how the CCP came to be and they’re not about to give up power. Any product can be sold at any price without regard for its cost to produce. The Chinese intend to run the competition out of business so then they can charge whatever price they want. They tried to do this when the captured a huge percentage of the rare earth market. The problem for the Chinese is the rare earths are not rare. The reason they aren’t produced in other countries is because the process is VERY “dirty.” If you don’t care about the quality of the ground water and rivers, then that isn’t a problem. A typical process might involve six or more acid washes with progressively more toxic materials as waste. As soon as the Chinese tried to use their advantage it suddenly became possible to produce the metals elsewhere. (Yes, it can be done cleanly but it ain’t cheap.) The same can’t be said for starting a car factory. Once those go out of business, they’re probably out of business forever.
The Chinese are not stupid. I've always said there was a niche for EV's -- urban, short-range commuter cars -- and this pretty well covers it.
Stop trying to sell expensive, exotic long range road cruisers. That's for IC cars, at least for now.
I'm sure Harley and BSA and Triumph laughed when Honda imported those 50cc and 90cc microbikes into the USA in the 60's. Who's laughing now?
The EV market is about to release a BUNCH of cheap models.
Next year or so, we will likely see a number of models which will be very remarkable values. And the mechanics of EVs will continue to improve rapidly.
Keep watching.
More charging options, quicker chargers, and aggressively cheaper vehicles.
We are our own worse enemies
ItâÂÂs self inflicted
Nobody to blame but ourselves.
All in the name of environment.
The key concept here is ‘rare earth elements’...
Putting them in disposable cars is nuts. These elements are the materials we MUST have for cellphones, missiles, and most of not all our high tech gear.
It’s like taking diamonds - that are relatively rare - and grinding them up to be used in paper plates to make them stronger and to sparkle. It’s that kind of stupidity.
Chinese EVs are shit boxes.
Rolling crematoriums.
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