Volvo Electrifying All Models By 2019

[93Regina]

I read an interview in a Danish paper about a couple of weeks ago when one of the top managers in Volvo Sweden explained how Geely didn't interfere with the 'Swedish' way of thinking in terms of safety, use of quality materials and such.

While You Were Blinking, Geely Bought A Rosy Future


Geely also did what Tata did so brilliantly well — leave the original company and its culture alone. Keep the engineers and bring new blood, but leave the culture alone. (And judging by the rave reviews Jaguar is receiving, we eagerly anticipate the EVs the come soon.)

[oragex]

That the batteries require materials polluting the planet even more than combustion engines do is however a fact not many people seem overly concerned about.

Those chemicals certainly meant pollution, from the raw minerals extraction, to manufacturing, and finally disposal. Not to mention many if not most countries - Canada being one of the exceptions - have to produce the electricity for recharging in good part from coal burning. I like to look into the bright side of the electric powered transportation: one of the most sure advantages will be clean air inside cities which greatly impacts life quality as well as health. Another one will be the end of these economic wars with the countries with petrol reserves as well as an end for pipelines geopolitics interests. This last be a huge change and I'd personally not bet on a Middle East flourishing economy in the middle of the century. It may even cause grave social disturbances in those areas.

One thing about pollution from battery and electricity production is that this type of pollution can be much more localized therefore much easier controlled than the pollution caused by petrol production and burning.

But just to have an 'engine' that doesn't require maintenance, oil changes, spark plugs and generally speaking a trip to the garage, seems attractive.

[precopster]

In 3 or 4 generations' time I wonder what all the descendants of the oil sheiks will be doing for a crust. Perhaps they'll be buying into battery technology in other countries if the Middle East doesn't discover reserves of the raw materials for battery manufacturer.

[93Regina]

I wonder what all the descendants of the oil sheiks will be doing for a crust.

They are investing in solar, and would like a PV manufacturing plant or two.

Saudi Arabia To Spend $50 Billion On Massive Solar Push
- The end goal is to generate 30 percent of the Kingdom’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030, with the remainder to come from natural gas.

[Teddy1975]

By the way, I'm not against electric powered cars, not at all.
I truly like the torque and the silence of the electric engine and how they won't pollute inside the cities.

But, when that is said, they'll still pollute both during manufaction and where the electricity to charge the batteries comes from coal, natural gas or nuclear power. It's the people, who think electric cars are nothing but green and environmentally-friendly, I can't stand listening to. Electric cars are better, that's true, but not the holy grail to stopping pollution.

[93Regina]

Electric cars are better, that's true, but not the holy grail to stopping pollution.

They will reduce total amount of pollution...even bicycles have a pollution costs, just like homes, just like streets...its about decreasing total amounts of pollution.

These are the electric cars arriving by 2020 that you can actually afford