VW is apparently very committed to EVs

VW accidentally leaks new name for its U.S. operations: Voltswagen (cnbc.com)

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Has anyone looked at the date? Late March heading into
 April 1
 April Fools Day.

Maybe this is a prank?

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If it’s a prank, then it should be like that Star Wars Tauntaun sleeping bag April Fools joke that ended up getting so much interest that they actually made it to sell commercially.

Voltswagen is a brilliant re-brand for the electric division.

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THAT is so cool! I had not seen that. It appeals to me on so many levels!

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Well, if it’s a joke, it’s fooled the major new outlets:
Volkswagen America says it’s changing its name to ‘Voltswagen’ (msn.com)

Of course, VW could be pulling a “IHOP/IHOb” publicity stunt - remember that?

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Wouldn’t be the first time. The Onion (satire paper) snags the media all the time. They once printed a fake Tiger Beat (teen magazine) issue about Obama singing in the shower, and picturing him on the cover with a couple of pop singers. The New York Times fell for it and ran a whole article talking about Tiger Beat’s supposed shower-singing issue and how it boosted Obama’s popularity with young people.

I remember many years ago when football teams were in the news for demanding new over-the-top stadiums, The Onion ran a story that the US Congress was refusing to convene until we built them a new capitol building with a retractable dome. Chinese media picked it up and reported it as news.

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Just like the IHOP/IHOb ploy:

Volkswagen’s name change of U.S. ‘Voltswagen’ operations was April Fool’s marketing prank, source says (msn.com)

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My watch says March 30, otherwise it would be pay day. I noticed whatever their name is now that they were reducing staff by about 4000 due to great sales I suppose. At any rate, I didn’t write down the actual numbers but it seems like California represents 40% of current electric sales and the East coast another big percent. The country as a whole though is less than 2% so sales between the poles are just not too great, but hey if we pass enough laws and regulations we may force people to buy what they otherwise wouldn’t.

I just caught the comment in passing one morning but it was a guy from Maine talking about how their strategy to get enough electric sales/usage to justify clean reactors, they have to force electric cars. Otherwise the numbers just don’t make it. Crazy times indeed. A couple days ago a column in the paper said to be ready for increased natural gas costs, like if your current bill is $40, your new bill might be $400. Never said why but you could tell he was busting his buttons with pride.

what do you think about the diesel 0.9 hybrid one?

An update at 5:38pm EDT says it is indeed a prank.

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I am not familiar with that vehicle . Where did you see one and is it a Volkswagen ?

It is SOOO easy to fool major news outlets


Sad isn’t it?

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Could refer to the XL1, which VW Sold 200 to the public in 2014 or thereabouts
 The Lane Motor Museum has one in it’s collection in Nashville.

Do we really have the batteries for this big switch? With the necessary power and range?
Is this actually doable now?

Precious metals?

It’s very doable. Stop into a Tesla store and drive one.

If you look at your neighborhood electric grid
 No, if even half your neighbors buy EVs and charge at night, you don’t have enough capacity

If you look at your states power grid
 No, there isn’t enough electical capacity to charge your cars at work instead of at home

If you consider the volume of battery materials
 No, there is not enough being mined to support the battery production

Other than those 3, smooth sailing!

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Obviously, most of the news media will run any old stories without verifying. I stopped watching/listening to and reading “news,” except for entertainment (like reading the funnies) and to see how the latest “news” is being spun to feed an agenda.

Then I do my own investigating. Take the recent Boulder grocery store shooting incident, for example.

When all those “clean” electric cars hit the streets we’ll need lots of fossil fuel at lots of electric generating facilities to power them! Electricity at my northern home comes mostly from fossil fuel.
CSA
:palm_tree::sunglasses::palm_tree:

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It will take time to make any meaningful conversion to EVs, and there is plenty of time to react to the needs. Certainly there are issues that need solving as mentioned above, but the can be solved in the next 25 years or so if we really want to.

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Aw you suckerd me in. I think it was about 1830 when de Tocqueville toured the country trying to understand what made us different. He concluded that our spirit and news media was what protected us from tyranny. One by one the pillars fall.

So you really think in 25 years twice the current world supply of precious metals for batteries will be discovered? Not to mention the disposal issue. Or the grid will be expanded and hardened with excess supply when nothing has been done for the past 50 years? Naw, it’s just another special interest group again.