Electric Cars Still Struggling.

philw696

philw696

Member
Volkswagen is considering closing its first European factory in Brussels due to declining EV sales. Audi's Q8 e-tron production may end earlier than planned at this site. The company's EV sales dropped 8% in H1 2024, with a notable 20% decrease in China. However, VW saw a surge in Western European orders. The closure would be VW's first plant shutdown in 26 years. This move reflects broader challenges in the luxury EV market. VW remains hopeful that new models like the ID.7 Tourer and Audi Q6 e-tron will reverse this trend.



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no surprise there, electric was IMO always going to be an "emperor clothes" situation, they will never, NEVER be able to have the right infrastructure in place to support a move to full electric. getting the production costs of bio alternatives to petrol down to comparative levels should have been the priority to keep cars on the road and save all the additional carbon going into building new electric cars..........
 
While i still have my 3200 and its a hoot, i drive an EQC EV these days for my daily. I am constantly puzzled by the anti EV sentiment around the world, some people seem to think we have a choice on global warming and we can just ignore it? What makes the anti EV thing more puzzling to me is that they are good cars, I love my EQC EV and anyone I know who actually has one loves it too, so why are people who have never tried owning an EV so easily swayed by a bunch of scare stories, which in reality in my experience are not true. Owning an EV seems to have little downside, it's reliable, quick, cheap to run and by any scientific measure is better for the climate problem than an ICE so why would people develop such a profound negativity? I think we should be ashamed that EV sales are not picking up, personally.
 
I'm not going to argue with you and have driven a few from a Renault Twizy to top end Lexus and they are interesting just not for myself.
I would rather spend my money looking after my little collection well and enjoying them for what they are.
I have zero interest in EV but at nearly 62 and working on the internal combustion engine they still excite me especially the ones I have that are 05 or older.
 
I have no problem with people just not getting into EV's its the rampant anti-EV thing i am just puzzled about, they really don't deserve such hate and it's driving this lack lustre sales performance i suspect. I am 65 and only work on my old 3200 my self don't touch the EV really, but then it doesn't need stuff done to it :cool: , no oil changes, no clutches, no gearbox and you don't use the brakes much so they last for ever.
 
davy83 said:
While i still have my 3200 and its a hoot, i drive an EQC EV these days for my daily. I am constantly puzzled by the anti EV sentiment around the world, some people seem to think we have a choice on global warming and we can just ignore it? What makes the anti EV thing more puzzling to me is that they are good cars, I love my EQC EV and anyone I know who actually has one loves it too, so why are people who have never tried owning an EV so easily swayed by a bunch of scare stories, which in reality in my experience are not true. Owning an EV seems to have little downside, it's reliable, quick, cheap to run and by any scientific measure is better for the climate problem than an ICE so why would people develop such a profound negativity? I think we should be ashamed that EV sales are not picking up, personally.
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EV’s are soulless transport, ICE’s are emotional and engaging.
Along with the high purchase price for average vehicles, massive depreciation and being sold the lie of virtually cost free motoring.
I will concede that they make sense as a small city car though.
 
1900 writes: They will never, NEVER be able to have the right infrastructure in place to support a move to horseless carriages. The priority should be increasing the number of coaching inns with a ready supply of hay and oats, so that travellers are protected from range anxiety when their horses start to get hungry.
 
3hcp said:
EV’s are soulless transport, ICE’s are emotional and engaging.
Along with the high purchase price for average vehicles, massive depreciation and being sold the lie of virtually cost free motoring.
I will concede that they make sense as a small city car though.
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I think you mean “Some ICEs are emotional and engaging”.

Why anyone would describe a Nissan Qashqai as an emotional and engaging is beyond me.
 
philw696 said:
Volkswagen is considering closing its first European factory in Brussels due to declining EV sales. Audi's Q8 e-tron production may end earlier than planned at this site. The company's EV sales dropped 8% in H1 2024, with a notable 20% decrease in China. However, VW saw a surge in Western European orders. The closure would be VW's first plant shutdown in 26 years. This move reflects broader challenges in the luxury EV market. VW remains hopeful that new models like the ID.7 Tourer and Audi Q6 e-tron will reverse this trend.



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Another I don’t like EVs thread? Slow news day?
 
Out of interest, to me anyway, what is being done if anything re electrification of flights? It seems strange to just target one source of emissions.
 
davy83 said:
While i still have my 3200 and its a hoot, i drive an EQC EV these days for my daily. I am constantly puzzled by the anti EV sentiment around the world, some people seem to think we have a choice on global warming and we can just ignore it? What makes the anti EV thing more puzzling to me is that they are good cars, I love my EQC EV and anyone I know who actually has one loves it too, so why are people who have never tried owning an EV so easily swayed by a bunch of scare stories, which in reality in my experience are not true. Owning an EV seems to have little downside, it's reliable, quick, cheap to run and by any scientific measure is better for the climate problem than an ICE so why would people develop such a profound negativity? I think we should be ashamed that EV sales are not picking up, personally.
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Depreciation is eye-watering. If you bought it new, you’d be crying. And they’re not good for the planet, people just tell you they are.

As annoyed as some EVangelists get about us being ‘anti EV’; I get even more annoyed about the ‘cheap to run’ rhetoric when they’re insanely expensive. A new EQC was £75k, they’re retailing at £22-24k at a present. That may be lots of things, but not cheap.
 
Rampant is a subjective term that is probably best left to my wife's imagination, but in the meantime:

In the dim and distant past Mr Selwyn Francis Edge, star salesman of Napier fame, described the sound of crankshaft flex as 'Power Rattle'; since then the automotive industry has used all kinds of trickery to lull the unwary into parting with cash, with EV's being the latest example.

We might have global warming now, but the media didn't run live reports on the end of the ice age!
We might have international pressures applied to combat the greenhouse effect, but China has continued to build coal fired power stations which negate the benefits of EV's they produce.
The combined 'green savings' of UK EV's is too small to make any difference to global temperatures.
The motor industry has been given moving targets for EV production because policy makers at home and abroad differ on critical milestones and strategies to achieve them.
The 'good and the great' have fleets of cars and private jets at their disposal while they tell the rest of us to be more considerate of environmental issues.
Etc, etc, etc.

So, for now everyone is just riding the EV gravy train and making money while they can. That's not a luddite view, just a dose of realism in a world where smoke and mirrors are the norm; if there was true international intent to reduce global warming, the effort would go elsewhere. Motorists are an easy target - and guaranteed cash cow.
 
Stop the tax payers support for the purchase of EVs would be one way to even out the resentment especially when our country is broke.

Yes, continue with the ban on new sales of petrol vehicles in 2030 2035 and then people will transit to the new stuff if they want a new car.

As others have said it will make little difference in the scheme of things and it is driven by the big corporates to get more money from you and I, be it by purchase or tax.
 
3hcp said:
EV’s are soulless transport, ICE’s are emotional and engaging.
Along with the high purchase price for average vehicles, massive depreciation and being sold the lie of virtually cost free motoring.
I will concede that they make sense as a small city car though.
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Clearly i dont agree. I take it you don't have one. I like the burble off my 3200 and that won't change. I like the EV too, it's different, and I am not sure that it not breaking down like the 3200 really means it has no soul, not posessed by demons like the 3200 perhaps. i have not found any drawback to using it long range or short range and all the **** about infrastructure I suspect is just doubters looking for a reason to decry perfectly good cars. i am also not expecting to have to replace the battery. no one suggested to me it would be cost free, it is however a lot cheaper to run that any ICE car, and that does not hurt, given that the acceleration is just a bit quicker than the 3200.
 
I think you are fighting a lost cause asking a Maserati forum to vote for EVs.

It would have been like writing into Horse and Hound in 1901 asking readers to get rid of thier horses and buy a car.
 
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