VW – Page 3392 – I wish I had more to offer

Oliver Blume: The Porsche boss holds the VW group together

Oliver flower “Where Porsche starts, we drive to victory,” quotes the Porsche CEO the company founder Ferdinand Porsche. (Photo: Bloomberg) StuttgartOliver flower is a passionate footballer and played in the club Libero. “A position that no longer exists today,” notes the tall figure PorscheBoss who makes his black shirts even slimmer than he is anyway.… Continue reading Oliver Blume: The Porsche boss holds the VW group together

Why Volkswagen now mimics the climate protector

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VW threatens to leave the industry association VDA

VW boss: Volkswagen supervisory board reprimands this because of “Ebit macht frei” statement

Herbert dies The VW boss visited the former concentration camp Auschwitz last year. (Photo: AP) DüsseldorfThe supervisory board of the VolkswagenCorporation reprimands its CEO Herbert dies because of whose controversial statement “Ebit makes free”, “The history of the VolkswagenGroup and the resulting responsibility is an important part of corporate identity. The statement of the chairman… Continue reading VW boss: Volkswagen supervisory board reprimands this because of “Ebit macht frei” statement

BMW, Varta apply for funds in battery cell push for e-cars

HAMBURG/BERLIN (Reuters) – Luxury carmaker BMW and Germany’s Varta have both applied for state funding aimed at supporting battery cell production for electric vehicles, they said on Friday, hitting a deadline set by the German government. FILE PHOTO: The BMW logo is seen on the second press day of the Paris auto show, in Paris,… Continue reading BMW, Varta apply for funds in battery cell push for e-cars

UPDATE 1-BMW, Varta apply for funds in battery cell push for e-cars

HAMBURG/BERLIN (Reuters) – Luxury carmaker BMW and Germany’s Varta have both applied for state funding aimed at supporting battery cell production for electric vehicles, they said on Friday, hitting a deadline set by the German government. FILE PHOTO: The BMW logo is seen on the second press day of the Paris auto show, in Paris,… Continue reading UPDATE 1-BMW, Varta apply for funds in battery cell push for e-cars

Electric vehicles could cost the auto industry millions of jobs, a top analyst says

Tesla competition heats up as big autos roll out electric car plans
5:38 PM ET Mon, 14 Jan 2019 | 06:01

The electric car has become so popular that it could cost 3 million auto industry jobs in the next three to five years, according to a prominent analyst.

Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas said in a research note Friday that the auto industry is going to see serious, widespread changes to its labor force. Jonas said electric vehicle production will lead to heavy workforce cuts as companies like Elon Musk's Tesla push big automakers to make them part of the mainstream.

“As auto companies shift production towards electric vehicles, we expect increased pressure on a 100-year-old auto ecosystem supporting millions of jobs globally…representing a risk to labor relations, earnings and the balance sheet,” he said.

Jonas earned a wide following on Wall Street for his early calls on Tesla, as well as his thoughts on electric vehicles. He recently has begun highlighting how electric vehicle start-ups are challenging automakers by transforming the way cars are made.

Morgan Stanley estimates that the global auto supply chain employs “in the range of 11 million people.” Jonas pointed to recent statements by VW Group CEO Herbert Diess, who said it takes 30 percent less labor to produce an electric vehicle than a similarly priced car that has the traditional internal combustion engine. This would result in a headcount cut of more than 3 million workers from the global auto industry.

But that number could increase, Jonas said.

Jonas said tech start-ups like Tesla and Rivian could build electric vehicles at “a 50 percent reduction in direct labor … or more.” That would reduce the global auto supply chain labor force even further. Even at just a 30 percent cut, Jonas estimates the labor force reduction would cost automakers “collectively and over time upwards of” $60 billion.

Maintenance and servicing for electric vehicles is less expensive than traditional cars, another consideration in terms of the labor force needed as the switch to the newer cars continues.

WATCH: Former Tesla CEO on electric vehicle growth

Former Tesla CEO on electric vehicle growth
2:44 PM ET Thu, 7 Feb 2019 | 04:06

Ford is cutting 5,000 jobs in Germany with more cuts coming for the UK

Oliver Berg | picture alliance | Getty Images
North Rhine-Westphalia, Köln: An employee installs a door in a Ford Fiesta at the Ford plant. The US car manufacturer Ford wants to cut 5000 jobs in Germany.

Ford is cutting 5,000 jobs in Germany and more in the U.K. as part of an effort to reduce costs in Europe, the company said Friday.

The automaker offered voluntary separation packages for employees in Germany and the U.K. to help accelerate its plan to improve performance in the region, where Ford has struggled. The total number of jobs affected in the U.K. have yet to be determined.

The automaker is undergoing a larger plan to restructure its operations worldwide, which it's said will cost $11 billion. Ford is reshaping its European business into three different business groups that focus on commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles, and imports. The carmaker plans to simplify its product lines and focus on the most profitable vehicles.

Ford said in January it plans to partner with German carmaker Volkswagen on a number of initiatives, including trucks and commercial vans for markets around the world.

Europe has also been difficult for Ford's Detroit rival General Motors sold off its European business entirely in 2017, to French automaker Groupe PSA and French banking groun BNP Paribas.

Audi plans to put old EV batteries to work in factory tugs

Audi factory tug uses recycled e-tron batteries
Factory tugs in Audi's Ingolstadt factory now sport the latest in second-hand lithium-ion batteries.

With automakers on the hook in jurisdictions around the world to take back and properly reuse or recycle all the batteries they install in electric cars, various automakers are experimenting with different ways to reuse the depleted batteries that come back from their old electric cars—from using them in new charging stations to selling them to wind farms, to installing them on the roofs of solar-powered apartment complexes.

Now Audi is installing them on fork lifts and the tugs it uses to move parts around its main factory in Ingolstadt, Germany.

MUST READ: As used electric-car batteries set to flood market, Automakers ramp up reuse efforts

The tugs, which resemble larger versions of those that pull baggage trains at airports, are normally equipped with heavy trays of lead-acid batteries, which workers have to remove from the vehicles using heavy equipment several times per day to install on charging stations.

Instead, Audi fits 24 of the e-tron's 36 battery modules into an identically sized tray to give the tugs and fork lifts up to perhaps between 30 and 50 kwh of battery capacity, depending on how much the cells degraded in their original cars.

With charging hardware like that in a car, the tugs and fork lifts can be driven to a charging station in the factory and plugged in, saving countless man-hours on the factory line and clearing out space that the large, old lead-acid battery chargers consumed.

READ MORE: Volvo reuses bus batteries for solar storage

The new batteries also improve the performance of the machines, allowing them to maintain a constant speed while climbing ramps in the factory, for example.

“Every lithium-ion battery represents high energy consumption and valuable resources that must be used in the best possible way,” said Peter Kössler, Audi board member for Production and Logistics, in a statement. “For us, a sustainable electric-mobility strategy also includes a sensible second-use concept for energy carriers.”

CHECK OUT: Formula E signs on to complete battery recycling

Overall, Audi estimates that reusing e-tron batteries in fork lifts and tugs throughout its 16 factories could save millions of dollars.

Of course, those factories churn out many more EV batteries than the number of such factory vehicles can absorb, so the company may still need to find more ways to reuse old EV batteries before they are recycled.

Dieselgate continued: SEC charges VW and its ex-boss with fraud

Volkswagen TDI diesel vehicles owned by Phil Grate and family, Seattle, Washington
Amazingly, the diesel emissions case against Volkswagen in the U.S. is still gaining steam.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged VW and its former CEO Martin Winterkorn on Thursday with defrauding investors, according to wire-service reports.

READ MORE: Gauging VW's progress on second diesel-settlement anniversary (Updated)

The charges are tied to bonds that VW sold to investors in the U.S. in 2014 and 2015, when the SEC alleges the company and its chief executive knew that more than half a million of the diesel cars and SUVs it sold in the U.S. didn't comply with emissions regulations and so should have known they could face a massive recall.

The lawsuit alleges that VW misled investors who bought $13 billion worth of those bonds about the quality of its cars.

CHECK OUT: Report: Former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn criminally charged over dieselgate

“Volkswagen hid its decade long emissions scheme while it was selling billions of dollars of its bonds to investors at inflated prices,” said Stephanie Avakian, the co-director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, in a release.

In a prepared statement, Volkswagen responded to the new charges by calling them “legally and factually” flawed, and said the SEC was “piling on.”

“The SEC has brought an unprecedented complaint over securities sold only to sophisticated investors who were not harmed and received all payments of interest and principal in full and on time,” VW's statement (via the Wall Street Journal) continued.

DON'T MISS: VW boosts electric car plans with more models, 22 million EVs in 10 years

The new charges follow ones that Volkswagen settled with the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department by recalling all those cars and buying back most of them. Criminal charges in the U.S. are still outstanding against Winterkorn and several other German VW executives, over the emissions cheating scandal. Since Germany does not extradite its citizens to the U.S., they have not faced the charges. Two VW executives have been convicted in the scandal and are now serving sentences in U.S. federal prisons.

The diesel emissions scandal is reported to have already cost VW more than $30 billion, and the company has since shifted its focus to developing electric cars, where the company has invested as much as $50 billion to make the transition to EVs as it attempts to put the diesel scandal in its rearview mirror. The first electric models from VW's resulting modular-platform mass-market push are slated to go on sale in the U.S. starting next year.