Volkswagen puts pressure on Tesla with $25 billion investment in electric car tech

midian182

Posts: 9,662   +121
Staff member

Volkswagen AG, the largest carmaker in the world, has announced it is pouring a massive amount of resources into electric vehicle development. The company has just secured $25 billion in battery supplies and related technologies, a move that could worry rival automaker Tesla.

Bloomberg reports that Volkswagen currently has just three factories equipped to produce electric vehicles, but that number will rise to 16 within the next two years. By 2025, it plans to output up to 3 million EVs, thanks to deals with suppliers that include Samsung and LG Chem Ltd. The firm hopes to offer an electric version of each of its 300 models by 2030.

Volkswagen said it had secured battery technology deliveries for Europe and China, which make up 80 percent of its vehicle sales, and it will soon select a supplier for North America. It plans to purchase a total of 50 billion euro’s worth of batteries to power its vehicles.

“Building up expertise and mastering the technology does not necessarily imply that we want to start large-scale assembly of batteries ourselves,” said CEO Matthias Mueller. “Others can do it better than we can.”

Volkswagen had never shown much interest in electric vehicles before 2015, but following the Dieselgate emissions scandal, in which it was found to be using “defeat devices” to beat inspections, the firm started to focus on environmentally friendlier projects as a way of improving its tarnished image.

Volkswagen’s investment in electric vehicles will no doubt put the pressure on Tesla. Elon Musk’s firm has faced issues with its Model 3 sedan, having missed some production targets.

Permalink to story.

 
IF Volkswagen invests their engineering capabilities as they once did, their automobile has every possibility of being the leader in the industry, but it will take nothing less than this kind of effort. Their best efforts should be directed toward more efficient battery technology, especially since this is the hottest topic in that industry. Were they able to develop and bring to market the new carbon/oxygen battery technology they could be years ahead of the competition.
 
This is big news! Last time Volkwagen did big investments was in the late 90s early 2000s and it slowly became the biggest car maker in the world. This change will shake up the industry for the better. Here's to cleaner air!
 
VW also said that they are going to invest in diesel as well since they still believe that it is clean!!! So I call BS on everything they say.
 
IF Volkswagen invests their engineering capabilities as they once did, their automobile has every possibility of being the leader in the industry, but it will take nothing less than this kind of effort. Their best efforts should be directed toward more efficient battery technology, especially since this is the hottest topic in that industry. Were they able to develop and bring to market the new carbon/oxygen battery technology they could be years ahead of the competition.
When you say "every possibility of being the leader in the industry" do you mean the EV industry?
 
Click-bait title, but I think that Tesla's days are numbered. Not only VW, but Toyota, and others, have announced a shift to EVs or PHEVs. Compared to Tesla, any car maker is a giant, and, as I see it, that is what Tesla has to be most worried about.

In addition, while Tesla's concept might be novel, that is, making cars by using off-the-shelf components such as the batteries, the other manufacturers (in particular, Toyota) are developing new battery technologies. If they are successful at this, Tesla's off-the-shelf batteries will be yesterday's tech that will likely make Teslas obsolete.
 
Last edited:
I think this has nothing to do with Dieselgate and everything to do with China. From an FT report in December 2017:
"Beijing has pressured automakers into ramping up EV production in September when it announced a system of steadily increasing quotas that will reward carmakers for producing more battery-powered vehicles starting in 2019, while forcing them to buy EV “credits” from other producers for every conventional car they make."

China is the world's largest car market. In response, VW, Ford, Renault and Nissan have announced massive (multi-billion dollar) investments in EV car manufacturing, including plans to open factories in China. Naturally, the advances they make in cars destined for the Chinese market will trickle down to cars that get sold in other markets. And Europe is starting to clamp down on pollution caused by both diesel and petrol cars. But for now, it is the Chinese demand that is driving the sudden investment in eletctric cars. If it's only Dieselgate, then why has Ford committed that 70% of its cars sold in China in 2025 will be electric or hybrid and are investing $11 billion in electric vehicles over the next 5 years?
 
I have about 10 friends that have VW's. Out of those friends 4-6 of them always have electrical issues. I also notice if there is even a VW on the roads their lights or signal lights are always out and window issues as well. Why would I rely on a car maker that can't fix their electrical issues. Audi's and VW's are overrated and once they hit high miles they're garbage. I hope they changed their act............................
 
I have about 10 friends that have VW's. Out of those friends 4-6 of them always have electrical issues. I also notice if there is even a VW on the roads their lights or signal lights are always out and window issues as well. Why would I rely on a car maker that can't fix their electrical issues. Audi's and VW's are overrated and once they hit high miles they're garbage. I hope they changed their act............................

Welll....... I don't know what models your friends have, but all my friends that drive cars from VW Group have nothing but god words to sayabout them. On that note I own A Skoda Fabia (the chipest model of 2006 1,2 liters and 50 HP) wich is also made by VW and I haven't had any big issues with it, and I traveled all over Europe With it 1000KM 1500Km at a time. My next car will also be one made by VW, Not a fanboy just a practical boy:)
 
I have about 10 friends that have VW's. Out of those friends 4-6 of them always have electrical issues. I also notice if there is even a VW on the roads their lights or signal lights are always out and window issues as well. Why would I rely on a car maker that can't fix their electrical issues. Audi's and VW's are overrated and once they hit high miles they're garbage. I hope they changed their act............................
In theory, anyway, electric cars have less things that can go wrong with them; however, VW and Audi are both typically rated well behind other brands in terms of reliability. Not to mention that they are sometimes difficult to repair due to the location of the parts that need replacing.

If you ask me, BMW is also over-rated.
Welll....... I don't know what models your friends have, but all my friends that drive cars from VW Group have nothing but god words to sayabout them. On that note I own A Skoda Fabia (the chipest model of 2006 1,2 liters and 50 HP) wich is also made by VW and I haven't had any big issues with it, and I traveled all over Europe With it 1000KM 1500Km at a time. My next car will also be one made by VW, Not a fanboy just a practical boy:)
I am not saying this applies to you or your friends, however, in some cases, how good a car is can be a matter of not having experienced something better. In the US, Consumer Reports did a report on what constitutes reliability, and people who always owned cars that were in the shop needing repair were likely to say that their cars were reliable - even though there are cars out there that rarely need repairs.
 
Back