Vauxhall Plant to make electric vans

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Great for jobs, great for the UK economy. good for everybody.. apart from the poor owners of these who will have a Vauxhall..
 
The Ellesmere Port plant will also make electric passenger car models for Vauxhall, Opel, Peugeot and Citroën.
RHD models perhaps? I would assume that EV being more modular in design would present less of a problem to convert LHD to RHD. One problem cited may be battery supply with not enough battery manufacturing plants in the UK but many ICE cars are contructed with powertrains made in other countries and shipped en mass to the final assembly plant.
Mercedes Citan small panel van in this sector in reality a Renault Kangoo has yet to make an appearance in E form as yet Renault Kangoo - Wikipedia
 
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With a massive bung from the uk tax payer, 40 million I believe. Vauxhall says without it, it wouldn’t have happened. Plus the hundred million or so for Nissan, not an insignificant amount, but how to you cherry pick which industries you help out with tax payers money British Leyland springs to mind.
 
With a massive bung from the uk tax payer, 40 million I believe. Vauxhall says without it, it wouldn’t have happened. Plus the hundred million or so for Nissan, not an insignificant amount, but how to you cherry pick which industries you help out with tax payers money British Leyland springs to mind.
Vehicle manufacturers do not want to make electric vehicles. Harry Metcalfe says as much in his review of Audi's latest electric device the RS e-tron. They are being forced to make the switch by EU7 emissions regulations, just like consumers will be forced to make the switch post 2030 (if you decide you need to own a new vehicle). Does forcing people to do things ever work?
 
Of course it does. We are forced to do and pay for many things that I suspect very few of us would do voluntarily.

£40M to save quite a lot of jobs directly and otherwise seems like good value compared to the cost of the furlough scheme.
 
Its pretty much de rigour for large multinationals to hawk their proposed production plants round the world now looking for government subsidy. One can only hope that the government ministry involved have done their research on the long term strategic economic benefits before dipping their hands in our pockets.
 
Of course it does. We are forced to do and pay for many things that I suspect very few of us would do voluntarily.

£40M to save quite a lot of jobs directly and otherwise seems like good value compared to the cost of the furlough scheme.
All depends on how long the electric car is going to be touted as the saviour of the environment. How long did low CO 2 diesel last? 20 years?
 
I think the whole diesel thing just shows the power of the oil/vehicle manufacturers lobby. Anyone with half a brain and a nose could tell they were a bad idea. What we are seeing now is a response to a whole different set of pressures. Real threat of extinction being one of them.

Apart from Tesla, none of the manufacturers wanted EV - why upset that gravy train? A whole load of political shift has made them reconsider that position.
 
I think the whole diesel thing just shows the power of the oil/vehicle manufacturers lobby. Anyone with half a brain and a nose could tell they were a bad idea. What we are seeing now is a response to a whole different set of pressures. Real threat of extinction being one of them.

Apart from Tesla, none of the manufacturers wanted EV - why upset that gravy train? A whole load of political shift has made them reconsider that position.
There is always a dominant lobby of one sort or another looking after their own interests. That dominant lobby is changing, or so it would seem. The move from an economic model based on mass consumption to a new model based on people living an aspirational green 'good life' via technological progress / scientific paradigms is what is proposed.

The aim of both models is the same. To foster demand and perpetuate mass consumption under a new 'green' guise. The use of existential threats such as disease/ extinction are used to facilitate this shift of economic model, imho.

 
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I think the whole diesel thing just shows the power of the oil/vehicle manufacturers lobby. Anyone with half a brain and a nose could tell they were a bad idea. What we are seeing now is a response to a whole different set of pressures. Real threat of extinction being one of them.
But the big car space with the small car fuel bills was irresistible to the buying public....
That affordability killed off LPG and for a decade or more the auto industry bet the farm on diesel and had to cheat when they started to lose. Petrol engine development is being pushed down the same ever higher operating pressure, complexity, cost, route that diesel travelled. I guess it's limited shelf life will make that of little consequence.
Apart from Tesla, none of the manufacturers wanted EV - why upset that gravy train? A whole load of political shift has made them reconsider that position.
Like 4 valves per cylinder and turbocharging, electrification arrived via the high performance end of the motoring spectrum. The first two became mainstream but were mere adaptations to the existing tech.
The S-curve analogy siting auto electrification as a mirror of laptop/smart phone adoption is wrong IMO. Laptops and phones are cheap and within everyone's reach. Electrification is as remote to the average motorist as exotic 4 valve and turbo motors were when they first appeared with hefty price tags.
 
£40M to save quite a lot of jobs directly and otherwise seems like good value compared to the cost of the furlough scheme.
But seeing as this country is on the bones of its backside, a bit here and a bit there it all adds up. 1,000 jobs directly, good news for all those employed.
 
There is always a dominant lobby of one sort or another looking after their own interests. That dominant lobby is changing, or so it would seem. The move from an economic model based on mass consumption to a new model based on people living an aspirational green 'good life' via technological progress / scientific paradigms is what is proposed.

The aim of both models is the same. To foster demand and perpetuate mass consumption under a new 'green' guise. The use of existential threats such as disease/ extinction are used to facilitate this shift of economic model, imho.

That's an interesting article ChipChop - thanks.
While not everything in it is quite so predictable as implied (the citing of previous resistance to change doesn't completely answer that a restive global public may be less than co-operative) it is hard to envisage 'business as usual'. Possibly because we are already some way down the new path.
But the author shows no inclination to change the economic model - being keener to preserve the current position shown on the graph on page# 15. Talk of ''a positive-sum game for all participants'' with so many references to the 'middle class' does raise the question of who all is going to participate and what is the fate of those who don't or can't?
 

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