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Bet everything on electric: Inside Volkswagen's radical strategy shift
Source: Reuters
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS FEBRUARY 6, 2019 / 2:04 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Bet everything on electric: Inside Volkswagen's radical strategy shift
Edward Taylor, Jan Schwartz
11 MIN READ
WOLFSBURG, Germany (Reuters) - If Volkswagen realizes its ambition of becoming the global leader in electric cars, it will be thanks to a radical and risky bet born out of the biggest calamity in its history.
The German giant has staked its future, to the tune of 80 billion euros ($91 billion), on being able to profitably mass-produce electric vehicles - a feat no carmaker has come close to achieving.
So far mainstream automakers’ electric plans have had one main goal: to protect profits gleaned from high-margin conventional cars by adding enough zero-emission vehicles to their fleet to meet clean-air rules.
Customers have meanwhile largely shunned electric vehicles because they are too expensive, can be inconvenient to charge and lack range.
The biggest strategy shift in Volkswagen’s 80 years has its roots in a weekend crisis meeting at the Rothehof guesthouse in Wolfsburg on October 10, 2015, senior executives told Reuters.
-snip-
Bet everything on electric: Inside Volkswagen's radical strategy shift
Edward Taylor, Jan Schwartz
11 MIN READ
WOLFSBURG, Germany (Reuters) - If Volkswagen realizes its ambition of becoming the global leader in electric cars, it will be thanks to a radical and risky bet born out of the biggest calamity in its history.
The German giant has staked its future, to the tune of 80 billion euros ($91 billion), on being able to profitably mass-produce electric vehicles - a feat no carmaker has come close to achieving.
So far mainstream automakers’ electric plans have had one main goal: to protect profits gleaned from high-margin conventional cars by adding enough zero-emission vehicles to their fleet to meet clean-air rules.
Customers have meanwhile largely shunned electric vehicles because they are too expensive, can be inconvenient to charge and lack range.
The biggest strategy shift in Volkswagen’s 80 years has its roots in a weekend crisis meeting at the Rothehof guesthouse in Wolfsburg on October 10, 2015, senior executives told Reuters.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-electric-insight/bet-everything-on-electric-inside-volkswagens-radical-strategy-shift-idUSKCN1PV0K4
6 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
In addition, the battery in an electric car will warm up with use so only the first few miles will be driven at the lowest temperatures.
