The manufacturer’s announcement this week that it is considering the closure of two German factories has shocked its workforce, who gave a first taste of the opposition they will mount with protest banners carried into a meeting of thousands of employees with executives on Wednesday.
Union/management issues may be difficult in the US, but they pale in comparison to those in Europe.
If the article is to be believed, VW appears to have placed themselves between a rock and a hard place. Hopefully they’ll figure out a viable solution.
How so? They are required to reduce the production (sales) of ICE vehicles in order to comply with the Paris Agreement.
The same has occurred in the United States, a reduction in vehicle models under the guise of “Our commitment to go all electric by 2035”.
The U.S. withdrew from the Paris Agreement, then re-admitted in January 2021. For the unemployed, allow me to paraphrase an old man: “Let them make solar panels”.
Automobile prices will increase when the only options are plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles.
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I am not certain that.going to EVs will increase automobile prices. I rrmember seeing a flat screen television at Sears back about 2002. The price was almost $5000. This was a plasma television. Now at Walmart, a flat screen LED television can be puchased for less than $200. The plasma flat screen was phased out in 2015 for the improved LED technology.
When I was in high school back in 1958, one of my friends had a 4 transistor a.m. pocket radio that cost $49.95 in 1958 dollars. In 1973, I bought a similar radio for $2.95.
As the battery technology improves, it is possible that EVs will become cheaper than cars with an internal combustion engine.
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That television analogy has been used for 15 years, a Nissan Leaf is still $29,000.
Perhaps after another 15 years new car prices will decline, in the meantime you are going to look silly riding your television down Main Street.
The problem is battery cost. Technology will improve with more efficient batteries, allowing greater range at a lower cost. It doesn’t happen quickly. Another one or two generations of battery technology will eventually lead to lower costs.
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