Cashmere
RPM Ruler
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-v...3a2c&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
Times are changing quickly. 3 months ago, Muller dismissed the idea of building a battery factory as "nonsense".
VW CEO now sees case to build own battery factory
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-v...3a2c&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
Times are changing quickly. 3 months ago, Muller dismissed the idea of building a battery factory as "nonsense".
EnI
Piston Pioneer
Daimler is expanding its battery / 48-Volt-system / stationary battery system plant in Kamenz, Germany. Tesla (in J/V with Panasonic) is currently looking for location for their European battery plant. Samsung SDI (BMW's battery supplier) is building a new battery plant in Hungary. BMW is mulling a battery plant in Thailand. BMW + JLR + Ford are looking into building a joint-venture battery plant in UK. So ... much is going on in this particular field.
Cashmere
RPM Ruler
Tesla and GM have already shown that current technology is sufficient to make a car that is a) affordable and b) drivable long range. As competition increases, it is certain that battery technology/efficiency will only get better (and it will be at a much faster pace than what we're used to with internal combustion engines).
If you look at all the repercussions of climate change, they're affecting the whole world with greater ferocity and frequency - time is of the essence. The quake in New Zealand this week ripped a fault that was 50KM in length and raised the entire seabed by 2 meters. Germany, Norway and several other countries are already proposing the ban of gasoline powered cars within the next decade.
There really is no time to "watch and see where the market goes". Its either you go "all in" on battery tech or become irrelevant within the next decade. IMO, the car companies that are well invested in battery tech from a supply chain perspective are going to be the ones that will prevail.
Its also worth mentioning that building a battery factory now compared to even 10 years ago, makes a lot of financial sense because battery usage will only increase, as not only will cars be powered by batteries but so will homes, planes and a myriad of other new technologies.
Centurion
Apex Apex Predator
Do you think lithium-ion batteries are definitely the future power source to bet on, and that there isn't any viable option to hold out for?
Cashmere
RPM Ruler
Batteries certainly are, the only thing that will change is the way they get produced and the materials used.
For the past decade, scientists around the world have been touting Graphene as the miracle material that will revolutionize our world. Problem with Graphene (just like any new technology), is that it is initially too expensive to produce and therefore difficult to scale. However, I feel that within the next 2 years, graphene batteries are going to go mainstream with consumer devices as some of the new quadcopters are now shipping with graphene batteries. There's a ton of great uses for Graphene with virtually no downsides. In order for it to go mainstream, we first need to build the battery factories so that they can be mass produced at an affordable cost.
Sunny
Premium
With that mindset, invest in what? I don't know, a coal mine? an ice plant? an ICE plant? All very stable and not much scope for development. But risk & reward and all that...
Gianclaudio
Aerodynamic Artisan
I've a hunch....not only they won't be fined/jailed in Europe, but once VAG has its ambitious electric plan running well, the german legislation will ban ICE cars. There has been proposals for 2025, which is about when VAG goal of 60% of their new car offer being electric, should have been met (I don't recall the exact numbers)
But it hasn't been approved by the legislators yet.
chonkoa
Aerodynamic Artisan
Cashmere
RPM Ruler
VW suggests imminent plug-in and electric vehicle battery shortage
As consumers continue to buy more electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids worldwide, lithium-ion battery packs continue to drop in price while offering increasing energy density. So what could possibly be the problem? A global battery-pack shortage, that's what.
Volkswagen Group executive Thomas Sedran says his company may sell as many as 3 million electric vehicles a year within the next decade, and such an expansion, combined with bigger EV sales by other automakers, may spur a battery shortage, according to Automotive News Europe. Sedran's comments contrast with those of Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, who said early last year that his company wouldn't invest in battery production because of the possibility of oversupply.
VW estimates that $21 billion in investments in battery capacity will be required to supply its projected increase in EV sales. Meanwhile, Nissan is looking to substantially increase its EV sales in Europe, while Ford estimates that as much as 20 percent of China light-duty vehicle sales will be electric. Daimler and BMW are also looking to increase EV sales, while demand for General Motors' electric and plug-in vehicles are on the verge of a jump as the automaker broadens sales of its new Chevrolet Bolt EV.
The good news is that Exane BNP Paribas is estimating that technological improvements will reduce battery-pack production costs by 50 percent by 2020, even as energy density climbs.
Among lithium-ion battery-cell suppliers, Panasonic has the world's largest market share at 20 percent, while Automotive Energy Supply, LG Chem, and Samsung SDI account for 15 percent, 13 percent and 11 percent, respectively, Automotive News Europe says, citing IHG Markit.
Among automakers, Tesla is rapidly expanding its battery-production capacity, while Nissan makes its Leaf EV batteries in England. Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler ceased production of its own battery-pack cells in late 2015.
http://www.autoblog.com/2017/01/12/vw-suggests-plug-in-electric-vehicle-battery-shortage/
As consumers continue to buy more electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids worldwide, lithium-ion battery packs continue to drop in price while offering increasing energy density. So what could possibly be the problem? A global battery-pack shortage, that's what.
Volkswagen Group executive Thomas Sedran says his company may sell as many as 3 million electric vehicles a year within the next decade, and such an expansion, combined with bigger EV sales by other automakers, may spur a battery shortage, according to Automotive News Europe. Sedran's comments contrast with those of Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, who said early last year that his company wouldn't invest in battery production because of the possibility of oversupply.
VW estimates that $21 billion in investments in battery capacity will be required to supply its projected increase in EV sales. Meanwhile, Nissan is looking to substantially increase its EV sales in Europe, while Ford estimates that as much as 20 percent of China light-duty vehicle sales will be electric. Daimler and BMW are also looking to increase EV sales, while demand for General Motors' electric and plug-in vehicles are on the verge of a jump as the automaker broadens sales of its new Chevrolet Bolt EV.
The good news is that Exane BNP Paribas is estimating that technological improvements will reduce battery-pack production costs by 50 percent by 2020, even as energy density climbs.
Among lithium-ion battery-cell suppliers, Panasonic has the world's largest market share at 20 percent, while Automotive Energy Supply, LG Chem, and Samsung SDI account for 15 percent, 13 percent and 11 percent, respectively, Automotive News Europe says, citing IHG Markit.
Among automakers, Tesla is rapidly expanding its battery-production capacity, while Nissan makes its Leaf EV batteries in England. Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler ceased production of its own battery-pack cells in late 2015.
http://www.autoblog.com/2017/01/12/vw-suggests-plug-in-electric-vehicle-battery-shortage/
Cashmere
RPM Ruler
Slowly but surely, the Germans are coming around:
Volkswagen to Spend $300 Million on Charging Stations As Part Of 'Electrify America'
As part of the settlement for its diesel-emissions cheating, Volkswagen must spend $2 billion to promote zero-emission vehicles. The company is now finalizing the first phase of this program, which it calls "Electrify America."
In the first of four 30-month, $300 million investment cycles, Electrify America will focus primarily on the installation of charging stations for electric cars, according to details published on the program's website. The $300 million will fund infrastructure outside California, as VW has a separate commitment with the Golden State that includes four $200 million investment cycles, also covering 30 months each.
In the first investment cycle outside California, Volkswagen plans to to build 240 charging-station sites along major highway corridors. Each site will have four to 10 DC fast-charging stations, capable of charging at 150–320 kilowatts. That makes them pretty powerful by current standards. [No pun intended. —Ed.] Non-Volkswagen electric cars will be able to use the stations, the company says.
Charging sites will be built in 39 states, and will roughly correspond with the EV Charging Corridor routes outlined by the federal government during the Obama administration. Sites will be an average of 66 miles apart, with no more than 120 miles between any two. These sites will help facilitate long-distance highway trips—much like Tesla's Supercharger stations, which only Tesla owners can use.
In addition to the highway charging sites, the first phase of Electrify America will include over 300 "community-based" charging sites. These will be built in 11 metropolitan areas, and will include a mix of DC fast-charging stations and slower Level 2 AC stations, with charging rates of 50–150 kW. While they will take longer to charge cars, the stations will also be placed at locations where cars are likely to remain parked longer, including workplaces, shopping centers, public parking garages, and multifamily residences.
The cities Volkswagen is eyeing for this part of the program include Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, Raleigh, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. The charging infrastructure in these cities will be geared more toward shorter trips, but that's what urban residents are more likely to use electric cars for.
Volkswagen is also moving ahead with its plans for California, which include a larger number of charging stations, education initiatives, and a "Green City" project meant to showcase alternatives to current transportation infrastructure. The California Air Resources Board must approve the plan for the Golden State, while the Environmental Protection Agency is in charge of the 39-state plan
Volkswagen to Spend $300 Million on Charging Stations As Part Of 'Electrify America'
As part of the settlement for its diesel-emissions cheating, Volkswagen must spend $2 billion to promote zero-emission vehicles. The company is now finalizing the first phase of this program, which it calls "Electrify America."
In the first of four 30-month, $300 million investment cycles, Electrify America will focus primarily on the installation of charging stations for electric cars, according to details published on the program's website. The $300 million will fund infrastructure outside California, as VW has a separate commitment with the Golden State that includes four $200 million investment cycles, also covering 30 months each.
In the first investment cycle outside California, Volkswagen plans to to build 240 charging-station sites along major highway corridors. Each site will have four to 10 DC fast-charging stations, capable of charging at 150–320 kilowatts. That makes them pretty powerful by current standards. [No pun intended. —Ed.] Non-Volkswagen electric cars will be able to use the stations, the company says.
Charging sites will be built in 39 states, and will roughly correspond with the EV Charging Corridor routes outlined by the federal government during the Obama administration. Sites will be an average of 66 miles apart, with no more than 120 miles between any two. These sites will help facilitate long-distance highway trips—much like Tesla's Supercharger stations, which only Tesla owners can use.
In addition to the highway charging sites, the first phase of Electrify America will include over 300 "community-based" charging sites. These will be built in 11 metropolitan areas, and will include a mix of DC fast-charging stations and slower Level 2 AC stations, with charging rates of 50–150 kW. While they will take longer to charge cars, the stations will also be placed at locations where cars are likely to remain parked longer, including workplaces, shopping centers, public parking garages, and multifamily residences.
The cities Volkswagen is eyeing for this part of the program include Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, Raleigh, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. The charging infrastructure in these cities will be geared more toward shorter trips, but that's what urban residents are more likely to use electric cars for.
Volkswagen is also moving ahead with its plans for California, which include a larger number of charging stations, education initiatives, and a "Green City" project meant to showcase alternatives to current transportation infrastructure. The California Air Resources Board must approve the plan for the Golden State, while the Environmental Protection Agency is in charge of the 39-state plan
Cashmere
RPM Ruler
Industry needs 40 gigafactories, VW says
EHRA-LESSIEN, Germany — A massive shortage of lithium ion battery cells could plague the global car industry in the coming decade if capacity equivalent to 40 Tesla gigafactories is not added by 2025, according to estimates from Volkswagen Group.
Ulrich Eichhorn, head of r&d for the world's largest carmaker, increased projections made just 13 months ago for his company's needs in 2025. Eichhorn's forecast is based on targets that a quarter of its group volume will come from the sale of electric vehicles by then.
"We will need more than 200 gigawatt-hours," Eichhorn told reporters on June 30 during a presentation here at the group's otherwise highly secretive proving ground a half hour drive north of Wolfsburg.
In June 2016, CEO Matthias Mueller estimated during the group's strategy announcement that Volkswagen would face "an enormous purchasing volume" in 2025 when it needs to source cells with a combined capacity to deliver 150 gigawatt-hours of electricity.
This would be enough to power a single 60-watt bulb for 2.5 billion hours, or more than 285,000 years.
Should each manufacturer also target 25 percent of sales volumes from battery-electric vehicles in 2025, Volkswagen believes global carmakers will require a supply of more than 1.5 terawatt-hours. That equates to more than 40 Tesla gigafactories, each with an annual capacity to produce 35 GWh of lithium ion cells.
"That's the demand we've extrapolated assuming other OEMs have a similar target," said Volkswagen Group researcher Linda Brinkhaus.
For that reason, German supplier Robert Bosch is considering whether to manufacture battery cells. If so, it may choose solid-state technology where there is no electrolyte liquid to transport ions back and forth when charging and discharging energy. One advantage is greater safety should a crash compromise the structural integrity of the cell.
Ulrich Eichhorn:
"We are in the middle of development work. That means we are producing new results every week," Bosch Mobility Solutions chief Rolf Bulander told Automotive News Europelast week. A decision would likely be made at year end at the earliest.
One solution that could help reduce industry constraints could be a next generation of battery technology. The greater the energy density of the cells, the fewer factories are needed to produce the same capacity.
Here Volkswagen electrochemical engineers continue to look at ways to make energy-rich battery cells using lithium sulphur or more advanced lithium air chemistry sufficiently safe and durable for automotive uses. A rule of thumb is that a cell's life cycle should last 10 years.
Eichhorn predicted, however, that it could be 15 years before either technology is commercially available. Nevertheless he said Volkswagen has been researching electrically powered cars for 50 years and is convinced that the time for electric drive has arrived, regardless of the comparatively low amount of cell supply.
He said the refining industry was built around the combustion engine and suggested that, if not for the oil boom in Texas at the dawn of the automobile era, cars might have been powered by electricity from the start.
Volkswagen founder Ferdinand Porsche, for example, unveiled at the 1900 Paris World Exhibition an electric car with wheel-hub motors for propulsion, a vehicle he designed long before the original Beetle.
"If the technologies had been reversed, it would be hard to conceive an engineer now successfully proposing that combustion engines replace electric cars," Eichhorn said. "Imagine that person would say, 'Rather than having maximum torque available from the start like an electric car, it had to ramp up over time.'
"Imagine he then said it involved a device where thousands of tiny explosions occur every minute using a toxic and highly flammable liquid that had to be stored in the vehicle somewhere. And then imagine him saying that this fuel came almost entirely from crisis regions. What do you think his boss might have said to him?"
link: VW r&d chief sees need for more battery production capacity
For the head of VW's R&D to say what he did in the last 2 paragraphs is pretty incredible. Accepting that you've been wrong for the past 100 years is a brave thing to say. Kudos to him.
EHRA-LESSIEN, Germany — A massive shortage of lithium ion battery cells could plague the global car industry in the coming decade if capacity equivalent to 40 Tesla gigafactories is not added by 2025, according to estimates from Volkswagen Group.
Ulrich Eichhorn, head of r&d for the world's largest carmaker, increased projections made just 13 months ago for his company's needs in 2025. Eichhorn's forecast is based on targets that a quarter of its group volume will come from the sale of electric vehicles by then.
"We will need more than 200 gigawatt-hours," Eichhorn told reporters on June 30 during a presentation here at the group's otherwise highly secretive proving ground a half hour drive north of Wolfsburg.
In June 2016, CEO Matthias Mueller estimated during the group's strategy announcement that Volkswagen would face "an enormous purchasing volume" in 2025 when it needs to source cells with a combined capacity to deliver 150 gigawatt-hours of electricity.
This would be enough to power a single 60-watt bulb for 2.5 billion hours, or more than 285,000 years.
Should each manufacturer also target 25 percent of sales volumes from battery-electric vehicles in 2025, Volkswagen believes global carmakers will require a supply of more than 1.5 terawatt-hours. That equates to more than 40 Tesla gigafactories, each with an annual capacity to produce 35 GWh of lithium ion cells.
"That's the demand we've extrapolated assuming other OEMs have a similar target," said Volkswagen Group researcher Linda Brinkhaus.
For that reason, German supplier Robert Bosch is considering whether to manufacture battery cells. If so, it may choose solid-state technology where there is no electrolyte liquid to transport ions back and forth when charging and discharging energy. One advantage is greater safety should a crash compromise the structural integrity of the cell.
Ulrich Eichhorn:
"We are in the middle of development work. That means we are producing new results every week," Bosch Mobility Solutions chief Rolf Bulander told Automotive News Europelast week. A decision would likely be made at year end at the earliest.
One solution that could help reduce industry constraints could be a next generation of battery technology. The greater the energy density of the cells, the fewer factories are needed to produce the same capacity.
Here Volkswagen electrochemical engineers continue to look at ways to make energy-rich battery cells using lithium sulphur or more advanced lithium air chemistry sufficiently safe and durable for automotive uses. A rule of thumb is that a cell's life cycle should last 10 years.
Eichhorn predicted, however, that it could be 15 years before either technology is commercially available. Nevertheless he said Volkswagen has been researching electrically powered cars for 50 years and is convinced that the time for electric drive has arrived, regardless of the comparatively low amount of cell supply.
He said the refining industry was built around the combustion engine and suggested that, if not for the oil boom in Texas at the dawn of the automobile era, cars might have been powered by electricity from the start.
Volkswagen founder Ferdinand Porsche, for example, unveiled at the 1900 Paris World Exhibition an electric car with wheel-hub motors for propulsion, a vehicle he designed long before the original Beetle.
"If the technologies had been reversed, it would be hard to conceive an engineer now successfully proposing that combustion engines replace electric cars," Eichhorn said. "Imagine that person would say, 'Rather than having maximum torque available from the start like an electric car, it had to ramp up over time.'
"Imagine he then said it involved a device where thousands of tiny explosions occur every minute using a toxic and highly flammable liquid that had to be stored in the vehicle somewhere. And then imagine him saying that this fuel came almost entirely from crisis regions. What do you think his boss might have said to him?"
link: VW r&d chief sees need for more battery production capacity
For the head of VW's R&D to say what he did in the last 2 paragraphs is pretty incredible. Accepting that you've been wrong for the past 100 years is a brave thing to say. Kudos to him.
Similar threads
Volkswagen
Volkswagen AG, also known as the Volkswagen Group,
is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in
Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 in Berlin, Germany,
the Volkswagen Group sells passenger cars under the Audi, Bentley,
Bugatti, Cupra, Jetta, Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Škoda, and
Volkswagen brands; motorcycles under the Ducati name, light commercial
vehicles under the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand, and heavy
commercial vehicles via the marques of the listed subsidiary Traton
(Navistar, MAN, Scania and Volkswagen Truck & Bus).
Official website: Volkswagen
Official website: Volkswagen
Trending content
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
S-Class [Official] Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupé Facelift (C217) 2017-- Latest: hoffmeister_fan
-