Trump touts new Volkswagen electric car project in Tennessee

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico



By CAITLIN OPRYSKO 01/15/2019 08:33 AM EST

President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised German automaker Volkswagen for its announcement this week that it will infuse $800 million into its Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant to build electric cars.

The project is expected to bring 1,000 new jobs to the area, according to The Tennessean, amid a growing consciousness about auto emissions that has propelled the electric car market.

“Congratulations to Chattanooga and Tennessee on a job well done,” Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “A big win!”

Trump has frequently focused on boosting the auto industry in the U.S. since he entered office, pushing for higher standards in a renegotiated NAFTA deal in an effort to boost domestic production of auto parts and threatening steep tariffs on countries like Germany over automotive imports.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/15/trump-volkswagen-tennessee-1100141

[tinrobot]

1. I hate to say it - but I agree. More electric cars is a good thing.

The VW plant in Chattanooga could easily match Tesla in terms of production. Plus, the cars will be a lot more affordable.

[modrepub]

2. TDI Diesel Loss

Not sure how this figures into the total equation. Volkswagen decided to get into electric cars after they were caught violating emission standards with their diesel cars. You’d have to compare their gain in electric car sales with their loss in diesel production. The Volkswagen diesels MPG were very close to hybrids. With such a late start, I don’t know how well they will compete with Honda and Toyota who’ve been in the market for decades.

[tinrobot]

3. Decades? Toyota and Honda aren't really doing pure electric.

Toyota has lots of hybrids and plug-in hybrids, but they have zero pure electric cars on the market and nothing announced. Honda has only one EV planned for Europe in 2020 (and it is very cute). Both are behind the curve when it comes to EVs.

VW, on the other hand, is ramping up factories on three continents and will be shipping multiple electric vehicles by 2020. These cars will be affordable and available in large numbers. They're also creating a coast to coast fast charging network that will rival Tesla's.

It sucks that VW has the diesel thing hanging around their neck, but they're arguably doing more for EVs than any other major car company right now.

[modrepub]

4. I Have A TDI

Went through the emission change and am still assessing my loss in MPG. I do not know what Volkswagen has in the EV works but they had spent a whole lot of resources in the diesel lines for Volkswagen and Audi and they just walked away from that with a huge loss. I can tell you that when the diesel cheating was exposed, VW hadn't told any of their dealers what was going on and that situation didn't change during the whole settlement phase. I took my TDI to get the modification in in December and Volkswagen had a "pause" on the work so I had to wait until that came off. That happened the week after Christmas so I made the appointment with my dealer. I forwarded the email to the service manager who thanked me because the company hadn't even notified them that the "pause" was off. She said she forwarded the message I got to their warrantee coordinator so they would know what was going on. The whole TDI experience should make anyone very cautious touting VW's operations. Given my TDI experience I wouldn't be investing or touting the virtues of this company in a new market. We'll see how this turns out. I do wish them luck and hope they learned a lesson and can bring something innovative to the EV market.

[tinrobot]

5. Yep, VW took a huge loss on TDI.

There were billions in fines, closed factories, trials of top executives. Add to that upset customers (like you) and a loss of reputation with many others.

I really didn't like the diesel fraud, either, but I'm a huge proponent of electric vehicles.

VW could have sat on their hands after the scandal and just absorbed the loss, but they are doubling down on electrification in a way that no other major car company is doing. They could easily outproduce Tesla in a year or two. For that, I have to say VW is changing direction in a positive way in the wake of the scandal.

[rogue emissary]

6. They've both produced and sold electric cars in the U.S.

Honda is selling the 2019 Clarity in CA, and OR. It appears Toyota is jumping past electric as they used to produce the Rav 4EV and now are selling the Mirai. One of the first fuel cell electric vehicles on the market.

I'm all for more electric cars but they're never going to be mass produced like gas cars. As the battery tech improves about around every two to three year. So I think a lot of the company will release a model and discontinue it once they see a significant technological advance.

[tinrobot]

7. I know - I own a RAV4 EV

They produced only 2600 of them from 2012-14 to satisfy California requirements. Motor and batteries in that car came from Tesla, so Toyota did the bare minimum needed to make it happen. Despite that, it was actually a pretty advanced EV for it's time. Really fast, good range, big enough to be useful.

Less than 6000 Mirais have been made globally since 2014, approx 2900 of these came to the US - again to meet requirements. There are currently 39 hydrogen refueling stations in the entire US, so the infrastructure is way behind plug-ins and will continue to be.

The Clarity is a plug-in hybrid like the Volt or the Prius prime. Not a pure electric car. Honda did have the Fit EV, but like the RAV4 EV, it was simply done for California requirements.

As for mass-production, it is already happening. Sales of EVs have doubled year over year and will continue to expand geometrically. By 2030, most cars sold worldwide will be electric.

[rogue emissary]

8. okay so they have produced them and have continued to produce new electrics.

I never said they produced a lot of any of their electric versions. The Clarity does come in an all-electric version. Since you own a RAV I don't get why you suggest that Honda and Toyota are the only ones behind the curve on electric vehicles. They've all had one or two electric models in some stage of production.

[olddad56]

9. why aren't the Russians building cars in Tennessee yet?

with Trump subsidies and illegal Russian immigrant workers. Is Trump dragging his feet?