Electric car thread

[facthunter]

I've actually done competitive Rally driving in an OLDER VW owned by my Boss at the time. I think it broke about 4 crankshafts and eventually broke the chassis where the Motor is bolted on. It was NEVER rolled though which is quite remarkable as the Mass at the rear makes then GO from wild oversteer to rolling on the inside of the curve in a flash.. There was a saying at Newcastle Teacher's College at the time. "BUY a VW and ROLL your OWN".. They DO float in water. Nev

[Marty_d]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

I've actually done competitive Rally driving in an OLDER VW owned by my Boss at the time. I think it broke about 4 crankshafts and eventually broke the chassis where the Motor is bolted on. It was NEVER rolled though which is quite remarkable as the Mass at the rear makes then GO from wild oversteer to rolling on the inside of the curve in a flash.. There was a saying at Newcastle Teacher's College at the time. "BUY a VW and ROLL your OWN".. They DO float in water. Nev

Well that makes up for it then.

[onetrack]

It must have been some wild ride inside that "Sea-Bug", in that heavy sea!! (watch the 2nd YouTube clip). I'll wager they went through a few sick bags!!

 

https://www.jalopnik.com/i-finally-found-what-the-ocean-going-vw-beetle-that-ins-1846145700/

 

Edited January 6 by onetrack

[red750]

We talk about the Chinese car industry, but this story from BBC News may surprise you.

 

In a giant factory surrounded by mountains covered in snow, a lift lowers the steel bodies of cars onto the start of an assembly line.

 

They've just been welded together by robots - there are 690 working in this factory.

Next an army of human workers in red trousers and white t-shirts will transform these steel shells into finished cars.

 

One of these vehicles drives off the end of the assembly line every minute, flashing its headlights.

This is the European factory of Korean car company Kia, just outside the city of Zilina in the north of Slovakia.

 

It represents, Kia says, an investment of €2.5bn ($2.9bn; £2.2bn).

 

Volkswagen also produces cars in Slovakia. So does Stellantis (formerly Peugeot-Citroen, Fiat and Chrysler), and Jaguar Land Rover. Volvo is opening an electric car factory here in 2027.

 

Slovakia, which is home to 5.4 million people, makes almost a million cars a year. This is a small number compared to the world's largest producers, such as the biggest, China, which manufacturers a whopping 31 million cars per annum.

 

Kia's factory in Slovakia.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Why can't Australia make cars? 

 

OK, Slovakia probablky has a lower wage.. But you really don't need an army of people to make cars anymore.

Edited 6 hours ago by Jerry_Atrick

[old man emu]

If you think about those production figures, and then extend your thinking to all other types of manufactured products, you might link the destruction of the environment to what those figures indicate - over production. Forget about the environmental effects of obtaining raw materials to make all that stuff. How can the world's population use all that is produced. Just think about the amount of household packaging you have to get rid of each week. Walk through a shopping centre and look at all the clothing shops. Most of what you see is never sold. In fact, look at any shop in a shopping centre. Even supermarkets toss out great amounts of unsold products, and I don't mean only out-of-date foodstuffs.

[onetrack]

Slovakia has been a major manufacturing centre for many years, from the early 2000's. The Slovak Govt introduced tax incentives for businesses to relocate there.

The country has a simplified flat rate tax system. The Slovak people are good workers. The country has a major steel industry, that was inherited from the Communist era.

The Danube forms the Western third of their border with Hungary, and is a substantial transportation route - and it also brings lots of tourists to the country, which is very scenic.

The Slovak rail system is modernised, and links with the rest of Europe. The country is well placed in amongst many other European nations with whom it trades, and it is part of the EU.

All in all, it is a very favourable place to manufacture. 

 

Meantimes, Australia is placed in the most isolated and Southerly part of the globe, well away from any potential trade neighbours. Our tax system is complex and fragmented. Our rail system is poor.

Our highway system is fairly good, but trucking is expensive as compared to rail, even with the use of road trains.

Our workforce declines to work in factories, so trying to find lowly factory workers is difficult. Every Australian aspires to be a major property investor, and to find highly-paid managerial-style jobs.

We are last on a long list of requirements to be a major manufacturing economy. We dig up lots of valuable minerals, and sell them to the rest of the world, that is our forte.

We also bring in a serious level of money via the education system, which, while not as strong as it was pre-pandemic, still carries out a major level of quality education to the nations in Asia and the Subcontinent.

[onetrack]

The article about Chinese robots, in the link below is interesting, and the comments, which are mostly from Americans, are just as interesting. 

 

https://electrek.co/2026/01/21/humanoid-robots-build-a-new-excavator-every-6-minutes-right-now/

[facthunter]

Misleading, because that is NOT the type of Robot that Builds things on an assembly Line. The Orange U Tan should visit China and see for Himself what is Happening there..  Nev