It appears that I'm not the only European cross about the German car lobby...
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It appears that I'm not the only European cross about the German car lobby...
Germany needs to get a grip, the curve has been bent, EVs are basically inevitable now. -
It appears that I'm not the only European cross about the German car lobby...
Germany needs to get a grip, the curve has been bent, EVs are basically inevitable now.The future is EVs. The future structure of current car companies is...problematic.
An average EV will legitimately last 20 years, probably see a good number past 30. A business that struggles when avg lifespan starts pushing 12-15, isn't capable of that transition.
Add in the almost complete drop off in maintenance needs and it's a financial death spiral.
And a problem we need to figure out b/c we need to be in EVs.
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It appears that I'm not the only European cross about the German car lobby...
Germany needs to get a grip, the curve has been bent, EVs are basically inevitable now. -
It appears that I'm not the only European cross about the German car lobby...
Germany needs to get a grip, the curve has been bent, EVs are basically inevitable now.@Ruth_Mottram
Moin!
thank you for this toot!No, you're definitely not alone!🤬
The car-lobby ist the driver but the infrastructure is the brake!
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It appears that I'm not the only European cross about the German car lobby...
Germany needs to get a grip, the curve has been bent, EVs are basically inevitable now.@Ruth_Mottram The green candidate for chancellorship (Habeck) has already told the German car industry in 2019 that if they don’t have a cheap EV by 2024 they risk being left behind:
Robert Habeck kritisiert Elektro-Strategie von Volkswagen
Der Elektro-Volkswagen zu erschwinglichen Preisen kommt - aber zunächst wird der Konzern die Technologie in teure Autos einbauen. Für Grünenchef Habeck Anlass zu einer Breitseite gegen die Wolfsburger.
(www.spiegel.de)
So no: you’re not the only European who’s angry.
That said: VW is now the largest seller of EV’s in the EU:
https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/e-autos-volkswagen-ueberholt-tesla-in-europa,volkswagen-234.html(because most people don’t want a Tesla anymore)
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R relay@relay.an.exchange shared this topic
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@sorenhave @Ruth_Mottram
it's a trick question?
at least one country in each pair can, by definition, not have long distance trains? -
@sorenhave @Ruth_Mottram
it's a trick question?
at least one country in each pair can, by definition, not have long distance trains?@sorenhave @Ruth_Mottram
he, guessed it right
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@sorenhave i got it right too! Though I quibble with definition of "long distance" in Netherlands..
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It appears that I'm not the only European cross about the German car lobby...
Germany needs to get a grip, the curve has been bent, EVs are basically inevitable now. -
@Ruth_Mottram The green candidate for chancellorship (Habeck) has already told the German car industry in 2019 that if they don’t have a cheap EV by 2024 they risk being left behind:
Robert Habeck kritisiert Elektro-Strategie von Volkswagen
Der Elektro-Volkswagen zu erschwinglichen Preisen kommt - aber zunächst wird der Konzern die Technologie in teure Autos einbauen. Für Grünenchef Habeck Anlass zu einer Breitseite gegen die Wolfsburger.
(www.spiegel.de)
So no: you’re not the only European who’s angry.
That said: VW is now the largest seller of EV’s in the EU:
https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/e-autos-volkswagen-ueberholt-tesla-in-europa,volkswagen-234.html(because most people don’t want a Tesla anymore)
VW has nearly three times the EV market share in Europe as the runner-up.
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The future is EVs. The future structure of current car companies is...problematic.
An average EV will legitimately last 20 years, probably see a good number past 30. A business that struggles when avg lifespan starts pushing 12-15, isn't capable of that transition.
Add in the almost complete drop off in maintenance needs and it's a financial death spiral.
And a problem we need to figure out b/c we need to be in EVs.
@pixelpusher220 @Ruth_Mottram it’s only recently that I learned that indeed maintenance is a large part of car companies’ revenues. We need to find a completely different business model. I don’t know if any ideas are floating around.
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The future is EVs. The future structure of current car companies is...problematic.
An average EV will legitimately last 20 years, probably see a good number past 30. A business that struggles when avg lifespan starts pushing 12-15, isn't capable of that transition.
Add in the almost complete drop off in maintenance needs and it's a financial death spiral.
And a problem we need to figure out b/c we need to be in EVs.
@pixelpusher220 @Ruth_Mottram I'm unconvinced that an *average* EV will last that long. My ICE cars have always been written off because of body rust, the majority of their maintenance has always been stuff like suspension components - all of that is essentially unchanged on an EV. Comparatively, my EV seems to have a large number of extremely expensive to replace electronic modules which could easily write off the car (I have seen figures such as £6k to replace a module, which is nuts).
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@pixelpusher220 @Ruth_Mottram I'm unconvinced that an *average* EV will last that long. My ICE cars have always been written off because of body rust, the majority of their maintenance has always been stuff like suspension components - all of that is essentially unchanged on an EV. Comparatively, my EV seems to have a large number of extremely expensive to replace electronic modules which could easily write off the car (I have seen figures such as £6k to replace a module, which is nuts).
@steve @pixelpusher220 @Ruth_Mottram
this is my experience too - extremely expensive to maintain because 1. the parts are super-expensive, and 2. there is very little competition for those qualified to do the maintenance
this is also my experience of air-source heat-exchangers - they were supposed to save money but they have cost thousands more to maintain, they keep breaking, and again, the market is not yet mature and competitive, and often a monopoly.
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@steve @pixelpusher220 @Ruth_Mottram
this is my experience too - extremely expensive to maintain because 1. the parts are super-expensive, and 2. there is very little competition for those qualified to do the maintenance
this is also my experience of air-source heat-exchangers - they were supposed to save money but they have cost thousands more to maintain, they keep breaking, and again, the market is not yet mature and competitive, and often a monopoly.
@charlesdelavalleepoussin @pixelpusher220 @Ruth_Mottram I can't see a good reason for the parts being so expensive - if each part *really* cost what it does as a replacement, the cars would be unaffordable. It just looks like the manufacturers charging stupid sums because they are the only source for the parts, so they can. Time for some regulation?
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@charlesdelavalleepoussin @pixelpusher220 @Ruth_Mottram I can't see a good reason for the parts being so expensive - if each part *really* cost what it does as a replacement, the cars would be unaffordable. It just looks like the manufacturers charging stupid sums because they are the only source for the parts, so they can. Time for some regulation?
@charlesdelavalleepoussin @pixelpusher220 @Ruth_Mottram A bigger problem for dealers than the longevity of EVs is probably the reduced servicing demands - the routine servicing an EV requires is negligable. No annual oil change, etc. At the moment, the dealers are getting away with charging £400 for an "annual service" that boils down to kicking the tyres and changing a £10 pollen filter - I can't see that continuing forever.
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@charlesdelavalleepoussin @pixelpusher220 @Ruth_Mottram A bigger problem for dealers than the longevity of EVs is probably the reduced servicing demands - the routine servicing an EV requires is negligable. No annual oil change, etc. At the moment, the dealers are getting away with charging £400 for an "annual service" that boils down to kicking the tyres and changing a £10 pollen filter - I can't see that continuing forever.
@charlesdelavalleepoussin @pixelpusher220 @Ruth_Mottram although, people are concerned that if they don't pay the dealer's rip-off "servicing" rates, their warranty won't be honoured.

