VW is doubling its e-Golf electric car production

[nerk]

hopefully not fake news...

https://electrek.co/2017/12/27/vw-doubling-e-golf-electric-car-production-strong-demand/

 

[miimura]

That is only for the Transparent Factory in Dresden. They are bringing the Dresden production up from 35/day to 70/day. A user on the Facebook group says that the Wolfsburg factory is additionally producing 75-80 cars per day. So, in total, they're only increasing production by 30%. They also said that the Dresden production is only for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. e-Golf cars for all other markets are made in Wolfsburg.

 

[RonDawg]

They also said that the Dresden production is only for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

I wonder why that is? There's really only a small number of unique car specifications, basically right-hand drive markets, North America, and everybody else. Thanks to the EU, a car built for Germany, Austria and Switzerland (though they're not part of the EU) should have the same specifications as one sold in other LHD European markets.

 

[nerk]

Ahh ok...

Thanks for the clarification... I guess not so great news afterall for us North Americans...

 

[Kosta]

They also said that the Dresden production is only for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

I wonder why that is? There's really only a small number of unique car specifications, basically right-hand drive markets, North America, and everybody else. Thanks to the EU, a car built for Germany, Austria and Switzerland (though they're not part of the EU) should have the same specifications as one sold in other LHD European markets.

I wonder if crash test requirements require a different engineering for NA ? than EU ..

 

[Verkehr]

They also said that the Dresden production is only for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

I wonder why that is? There's really only a small number of unique car specifications, basically right-hand drive markets, North America, and everybody else. Thanks to the EU, a car built for Germany, Austria and Switzerland (though they're not part of the EU) should have the same specifications as one sold in other LHD European markets.

Wolfsburg was the original location; Dresden was converted from Phaeton to e-golf in 2017:
https://www.automotiveworld.com/news-releases/volkswagen-produce-new-e-golf-dresden/
http://www.sz-online.de/nachrichten/vom-phaeton-in-den-e-golf-3847544.html

One would expect Wolfsburg production was shifted to other markets or Golf variants once Dresden made the switch.

 

[RonDawg]

I wonder if crash test requirements require a different engineering for NA ? than EU ..

EU does have different requirements of all sorts than the US, but that doesn't explain why Dresden is only building it for Germany/Austria/Switzerland but not for other LHD EU markets like France or Spain. The cars should be identical.

[One would expect Wolfsburg production was shifted to other markets or Golf variants once Dresden made the switch.

I would think it would be the other way around, that Dresden be used for low production markets (RHD versions for example) since it was designed for low-production number vehicles like the Phaeton. Or perhaps all eGolfs since they represent a fraction of worldwide Golf sales.

 

[Verkehr]

The transparent factory is much more than a factory, though, it is a flagship facility that gives tours and whose output could be seen as both symbolic and automotive. Taking a tour and watching only foreigners' cars being made might be less pleasing.

Personally, I think the conversion was just another move to showcase VW's atonement for its dieselgate sins.

 

[JoulesThief]

Personally, I think the conversion was just another move to showcase VW's atonement for its dieselgate sins.

MB got pinched, RAM and Jeep got pinched with their 3.0 Eco Diesel models too, as did BMW. What it really is, is people in control pulled a number out of their butt for NOX standards, that are virtually unobtainable, thereby indirectly banning the sales of diesel cars. It's really mad scientists in control for too long at CARB and the EPA, whose jobs and positions need to be terminated, along with their anti diesel agendas. I'd take a TDI any day, over an e-Golf, for 95% of the miles that I drive. My Passat and my Touareg TDI's are far nicer driving cars than my e-Golf, which has the suspension package of a brick, and an interior comfort that is completely lacking compared to my Passat or Touareg. I don't think VW needs to atone, more I feel that CARB and EPA need to drop their Nazi dictatorship standards for NOX levels on diesels.

 

[NurStrom]

I don't think VW needs to atone, more I feel that CARB and EPA need to drop their Nazi dictatorship standards for NOX levels on diesels.

Except ... all the masses in SoCal have the right to breath air with least amount of particulates and oxides of nitrogen reasonably possible.

 

[f1geek]

I'm guessing JoulesThief isn't Jewish. If he were, he wouldn't compare the EPA and CARB to Nazis. When someone compares organizations they don't like to the Nazis, it makes the people in those organizations comparable to Nazis. The Nazis mission was to MURDER and commit GENOCIDE, and they were very successful at those two tasks since the Nazis murdered 6 million Jews as well as millions of non-Jews. Anyone who makes this type of comparison either doesn't know history or is a Nazi sympathizer. Since JoulesThief is old enough know better, it's likely he's a Nazi sympathizer. If JoulesThief is a Nazi sympathizer, then he deserves whatever misfortune comes his way.

 

[msvphoto]

Agreed, my former wife and my two adult children are Jewish so I get that using the "n-word" is not okay.

Dieselgate happened. VW has atoned for their sins. It was as much a Bosch issue since it appears pretty much all diesel cars in Europe spew excess NOX, but VW was caught really cheating here in the US.

JoulesThief is also old enough to know that one could not see blue sky in the LA basin back in the 1960s, I remember vividly and we are the same age. You can now, thanks to CARB and other agencies like them for pushing the industry towards cleaner engines with volumetric efficiency that is truly impressive.

That said, I am never a huge fan of CARB. I panic a little every two years when my garage queen 1983 Audi Ur Quattro needs to get smogged. The car is ultra-rare, drives only few hundred miles per year, and at 36 years old really should be smog exempt. Meanwhile, you can drive a late model American diesel pickup that belches huge clouds of soot because the American car makers had their way with the EPA. From that aspect, and in light of so many other automakers having higher than legal NOX emissions in European model diesels, I think VW was over-penalized but they seem to be rebounding nicely since they are already back to being the world's largest automaker.

I am excited about the VAG EVs coming soon. Might have to sell the UrQ to help fund an Audi e-tron quattro someday.

 

[JoulesThief]

Except ... all the masses in SoCal have the right to breath air with least amount of particulates and oxides of nitrogen reasonably possible.

A right? Go in the San Joaquin Valley where all our crops are grown, and breathe all the pesticide and pollution and VOC's in the air. Any idea how bad the air quality is in Bakersfield. All that pollution is not caused by cars.

Clean air is not a right. It's nice to have, but not a right. Not on the Bill of Rights. Driving a car is a privilege, the license to do so can be removed. An industrialized nation will have higher pollution conditions, air, land water or sea. If you think it a right, tell you what drive on I-8 from San Diego to Yuma AZ, and look at all the pollution blowing in from the south, from Mexico. Sometimes, I see it all the way up in the Coachella Valley and Palm Springs area. Worse than what I grew up with in the 60's and 70's. Nope, it's not a right. Wishful thinking.

 

[RonDawg]

I panic a little every two years when my garage queen 1983 Audi Ur Quattro needs to get smogged. The car is ultra-rare, drives only few hundred miles per year, and at 36 years old really should be smog exempt.

Do you know someone who lives in a non-smog-test area whose address you can use? There are some counties in California that are smog-test exempt, including the less populated zip codes of the following counties: El Dorado, Placer, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Sonoma. Other counties not on the following list have no smog test requirements: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1dmy&urile=wcmath:/dmv_content_en/dmv/vr/smogfaq

 

[NurStrom]

Any idea how bad the air quality is in Bakersfield. All that pollution is not caused by cars.

Clean air is not a right. It's nice to have, but not a right. . Worse than what I grew up with in the 60's and 70's.

I travel to BFL twice a year for business. Their poor air quality is greatly influenced by orographic features of the valley and farming.

You're correct (as usual) regarding clean air is not a right in a literal sense. Remember when SoCal communities allowed incinerating in their back yards? Or when cat converters were added to the exhaust systems and when tetra ethyl lead was removed because it was plugging up the converters? Or when most of the body shops used solvent based paints (they still can but far more regulated). MEK is a great solvent too. SoCal has come along way from the poor air quality days in the last 60 years.

 

[msvphoto]

I panic a little every two years when my garage queen 1983 Audi Ur Quattro needs to get smogged. The car is ultra-rare, drives only few hundred miles per year, and at 36 years old really should be smog exempt.

Do you know someone who lives in a non-smog-test area whose address you can use? There are some counties in California that are smog-test exempt, including the less populated zip codes of the following counties: El Dorado, Placer, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Sonoma. Other counties not on the following list have no smog test requirements: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1dmy&urile=wcmath:/dmv_content_en/dmv/vr/smogfaq

I do have a very close friend in an exempt county, and have thought about trying if I run out of old school smog guys who understand CIS.