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VW Says the Next Generation of Combustion Cars Will Be Its Last (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Volkswagen AG expects the era of the combustion car to fade away after it rolls out its next-generation gasoline and diesel cars beginning in 2026. "Our colleagues are working on the last platform for vehicles that aren't CO2 neutral," Michael Jost, strategy chief for Volkswagen's namesake brand, said Tuesday at an industry conference near the company's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany. "We're gradually fading out combustion engines to the absolute minimum."
The world's largest automaker has started to introduce its first wave of electric cars, including next year's Porsche Taycan. The rollout across its stable of 12 automotive brands is forecast to comprise about 15 million vehicles, as the company earmarks $50 billion over the next five years to spend on its transformation to self-driving, electric cars. Production of the VW brand's I.D. Neo hatchback will start in 12 months in Germany, followed by other models from the I.D. line assembled at two sites in China as of 2020. VW plans to launch fully or partly electric versions across its lineup of more than 300 cars, vans, trucks and motorbikes by 2030. The company "will continue to modify its combustion engine technology after the new platform is introduced next decade," reports Bloomberg. "After 2050, there may still be some gasoline and diesel models in regions where there is insufficient charging infrastructure, according to Jost."
The world's largest automaker has started to introduce its first wave of electric cars, including next year's Porsche Taycan. The rollout across its stable of 12 automotive brands is forecast to comprise about 15 million vehicles, as the company earmarks $50 billion over the next five years to spend on its transformation to self-driving, electric cars. Production of the VW brand's I.D. Neo hatchback will start in 12 months in Germany, followed by other models from the I.D. line assembled at two sites in China as of 2020. VW plans to launch fully or partly electric versions across its lineup of more than 300 cars, vans, trucks and motorbikes by 2030. The company "will continue to modify its combustion engine technology after the new platform is introduced next decade," reports Bloomberg. "After 2050, there may still be some gasoline and diesel models in regions where there is insufficient charging infrastructure, according to Jost."
I hardly see it as that ambitious of a statement. They'll be introducing the new generation in 2026. A platform can last decades.
That said, of the major automakers, VW is the most ambitious regarding EVs. It'll be interesting to see how they translate their talk into action over the coming years; I'm watching them closely.
I was disappointed to find out recently that the Ionity network which was supposed be the first real competition with the Supercharger network in Europe is... I hesitate to call it a "fraud", so let's just call it "poorly advertised". They're billing it as a network of 350kW chargers, but what they're actually installing at present in most locations is just your typical high-end V1 CCS chargers (maxing out at 200A - and some people are claiming that it only supports ~400V charging, although I don't know if anyone has actually tested ~800V charging on it). The 500A V2 CCS charging is supposed to be a "modification at a later date". Basically more of the "okay, not today, but we'll be competitive tomorrow" stuff we've been getting from major automakers for the past decade.
To major automakers and infrastructure developers: I'm a big Tesla fan, but I don't want you guys pulling this sort of stuff. I want you guys to be competitive. Put up a fight, for Thor's sake, don't just talk about doing it "in the future"!
A recent survey found that 45% of current non-Tesla EV owners want their next EV to be a Tesla (I expect these numbers to apply to the "buying their first EV" crowd as well). This was celebrated as great news for Tesla. But it also means that there's 55% of non-Tesla owners out there who want their EV to be a non-Tesla brand. We need you guys to serve them. We're not even close to this being a zero-sum game; right now, and for the forseeable future, the game is "cannibalize the ICE market".
Make it happen. VW (and Porsche), you're my best bet on serving the non-Tesla crowd. Let's see it. :)
Seen on a Japanese food processor: "Not to be used for the other use."
Actually, there still is.... even in areas where electricity production is still dirty, an electric car will still "produce" about 3 tons less carbon pollution per year than an ICE vehicle itself would. While that savings might not be as significant in terms of its environmental impact in areas where energy production is coal based, it is still quite far from "nothing".... and would definitely add up quickly as electric cars become more common.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
My 250HP Tesla 0 to 60 in 5 seconds. It is like getting gasoline at 75 cents a gallon. That is my running costs. You have no idea how cheap electrics are to run. Gasoline has to fall below 60 cents a gallon to match the running cost of BEV. It is the purchase price and lack of availability that is holding back BEV.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
The very simple solution to that is to encourage slow charging overnight with discounted rates. Demand is low at night anyway.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
The Zero is pretty exciting.
https://www.zeromotorcycles.co...
Let's tackle a few of these:
1. Temperature shifts. Battery packs in EVs come with battery management systems. The evidence to date is that they provide excellent protection of battery state of health. EVs are pretty common in Norway, which gets pretty damn cold, for example.
2. Environmental costs of lithium extraction. There are worse chemicals in most EVs. Lithium extraction is about as benign as you can get for a metal. It's certainly nowhere near as damaging as extracting oil.
3. Power generation. Most EVs will be charged at night, and this is when other power demands are low. So the net additional capacity required is low as a result. Additionally, the average American car is driven 30 miles per day. At 3 miles per kWh, that's 10kWh of power. So that would be just over 3 hours of a 3kW outlet. Not exactly a massive strain between say 2 and 5am.
4. Disposal of used EVs (due to batteries wearing out in 6 to 7 years). Battery packs last a lot longer than that. Once they do wear out -- likely 10 to 20 years in the future, they can be second-lifed as home power management systems (where SoH matters less). Once they're no good for that either, the lithium can be recycled. That makes them much easier to manage than engine blocks.
5. Cheap EVs. Second hand EVs are routinely available for under the $10k you mentioned. Not there with new EVs yet, but it'll happen.