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Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by nedsma on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @08:29AM (#12900024)
I'd love to agree with you, but major European car manufacturers have excellent relationships with the EU and the national governments and they will lobby whatever is necessary to keep their industries running.

Even though there are initiatives to sell only electric cars in Germany by 2030, I doubt this is going to happen. The switch from ICE powered cars to electric ones is being observed with great uncertainty as the car industry keeps warning the public that the eventual switch is not going to come without losing jobs since it's apparently simpler to manufacture electric cars.

And the average German employee (Arbeitnehmer) who accidentally happens to work in the automobile sector will not be considering buying an electric car for the fear that it might cost him the employment.

German automakers actually worry about the trends in the US, the southeast Asia & China, and it's realistic to expect that their image/sale numbers is going to suffer if they don't offer viable electric cars and not unpractical and expensive concept cars.

At home, their power is unrivaled.

Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by ff10 on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @08:35AM (#12900058)
Do you have any evidence that buying an electric car is costing an automobile employee the employment? Provocatively: If I would buy an i3 while working at BMW I might lose my job?
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by nedsma on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @09:04AM (#12900268)
Try different perspective: if in the next decade German automakers don't make an electric car(s) for the masses, while at the same time it becomes very convenient buying one, would the German employee who still works in the car industry (that, BTW has continued relying heavily on ICE cars) consider buying an electric car from Tesla or Nissan/Toyota that is clean, has great millage and costs a fraction to maintain?
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by doczoidberg on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @08:39AM (#12900094)
this statement is wrong.

Nobody buys EVs because they are not an alternative yet. However this may change in 3-8 years. And then there will be german automakers with the best EVs in the world.

Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by ff10 on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @08:42AM (#12900121)
The i3 is a fantastic alternative for short to medium range already.
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by Tepix on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @11:29AM (#12901540)
However the Model 3 will beat it on range. Most people think they need the range (even if they don't). Plus BMW doesn't have a Supercharger network.
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by ff10 on Saturday November 12, 2016 @11:01AM (#12938471)
That might change until the 3 is being delivered in Europe. BMW has a network called ChargeNow or something. However, it is not sufficiently large yet.
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by doczoidberg on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @08:47AM (#12900158)
no. It's still too expensive.
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by ff10 on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @08:59AM (#12900232)
Okay, I can see that. One could then argue that Tesla is too expensive as well. From that I'd say that high premium EVs are too expensive in general.
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by cobookman on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @10:09AM (#12900788)
Not when you look at the used car market or lease options. Here's an article describing how you can get one for 130/month on lease: http://leasehackr.com/blog/2015/11/8/californians-lease-a-bm...
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by wibr on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @08:43AM (#12900125)
That's just not true, especially the part about warning the public and people fearing to lose jobs over buying electric cars. Sounds completely made up to me.
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by usrusr on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @03:21PM (#12903585)
I think there is a misunderstanding here about the "lose their job" part. This is not about a factory floor worker getting fired for buying the wrong brand of car (they might even take public transport to work), it's about a general fear that if the car industry breaks down, everything breaks down. Imagine how people in silicon valley would feels if there was a risk of all forms of electronic communications getting phased out. They might be quite reluctant to adopt that newfangled form of messaging by avian carriers that some Hogwarts company is bringing to market.
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by nedsma on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @08:55AM (#12900211)
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by wibr on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @09:08AM (#12900292)
Maybe Germans are afraid of many things, but none of those listed things in the article have something to do the buying electric vehicles. Regarding "warning the public", from your statement I would have assumed a larger effort than simply mentioning a possible loss of jobs in production in an interview.
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by nedsma on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @09:19AM (#12900377)
The report in the Post may appear soft, however, this is how German media treated the same report: http://www.focus.de/auto/elektroauto/auto-vw-personalchef-we...

The title translated: "The awful truth: Electric cars destroy jobs".

Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by wibr on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @09:34AM (#12900507)
That's just clickbait, it's not something that the guy actually said.
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by mioelnir on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @03:05PM (#12903477)
Just two paragraphs in the article says that they expect at least every 4th car to be electric by 2025, and that this of course means different supply requirements which they have to start planning for now. That's just regular market forecast planning.
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by flexie on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @08:40AM (#12900098)
They will face tougher times if they have to rely on their home market. They are already operating on razor thin margins as it is.

Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens, Alcatel were large, and valued EU companies producing cell phones. Where was the EU when the iPhone happened? Luckily, EU stayed out of it.

Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by lispm on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @09:08AM (#12900290)
> They will face tougher times if they have to rely on their home market.

They don't do that.

> They are already operating on razor thin margins as it is.

Porsche's profit margin is over 16%, BMW at 8.5%, Mercedes at 11.4%, Audi at 6.9%.