Comments by "Andy Monaghan" (@229andymon) on "The Electric Viking" channel.

  1. If you think the shop floor workforce are to blame for the position VW is in, you’re very wrong. While VW management has been managing its decline, they’ve been paying insanely high dividends and top executives packages. Plus, the amount a shop floor increase would mean in respect of the selling price of a vehicle is routinely exaggerated to a crazy degree. It’s actually quite insignificant. The management isn’t going to criticise itself, is it?
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  2.  @rogergeyer9851 I agree with him buying Twitter being a mistake, but surely you’d have to concede that, overall, what he’s done with Tesla is really impressive. My view of Musk is that if he stuck to technology and manufacturing he would be far better off? He needs to keep out of politics, I’ll listen to him about tech and cars etc, but not when he enters a world he knows no more than any other big mouthed politician. Incidentally, when (not if) FSD becomes mainstream, which I’m sure it will, it’ll revolutionise transport. Whether that’s next year or next decade doesn’t really matter, and Tesla are at the forefront of it.
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  3.  @brendanpells912  How would that help the UK Govt meet its commitment for no new ICE sales by 2030?
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  4.  @Brian-om2hh  There was a couple of surveys done on the subject in UK, this year and last, by EY and OVO. Both found not just acceptance but general support for EVs. Why anyone would instead prefer to have ICEs, burning expensive, difficult to obtain fossil fuels and spewing toxic fumes along our roads, towns and cities defeats me.
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  5. Really? I dont remember that. What I do remember is when the Japanese entered the UK market, especially in the English NE then and turned it around completely. Which should lead to the conclusion - British management and British worker equals failure, Japanese manager and British worker equals success. No? Workers don’t lead a company, workers don’t make decisions. It was really poor Brit management that sunk Brit auto excellence, not the poor schmuck on the shop floor. Don’t believe everything the Express tells you.
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  6.  @krossbolt4100  Which shop floor worker or union official came up with dieselgate? Which worker decided to ignore the rise of EVs? Which worker decided to plunder the Chinese market while teaching the Chinese how to make better cars better than them? Yeah, sure, it was the guy on assembly line 6.
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  7. In Europe (and the US), the car markets are a zero sum game. So, every time a Chinese car is sold there, it’ll mean one less Merc, VW, Renault etc. While the China market is still rising, that situation is pretty much replicated there too. Same with all other global markets. In the UK, there will be no tariffs against Chinese EVs, so I foresee a happy hunting ground for them there. The US has raised the drawbridge against them, which will buy them time, at the expense of the US public, but the tariffs imposed by the EU won’t be enough to stop the Chinese invasion destroying much of the European car industry, IMO. What the US does in the longer term - I don’t know, coz, whether they like it or not, ICE is dead car walking. I can’t see a way out for the Euro auto industry. Anybody got any suggestions?
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  8.  @caulkins69  Not sure I'd agree with that, but even if true, the battery won't bake the earth.
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  9. The West was able to sanction Russia “safely” because the Russians buy relatively little from the West. So they couldn’t effectively retaliate by stopping importing Western goods and thereby hurting Western exports. But the dynamics between Japan and China are very different. If Japan pulls up the auto drawbridge to Chinese EVs, then China can do the same back and deprive Japan of its biggest export market. For any car exporting nation in that situation that would be very difficult, for Japan, given their reliance on their auto industry, the Chinese market and also their failure to adopt EVs in time, it would be catastrophic. Japan may be about to find out the Chinese dragon bites.
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  10. Sam, I enjoy your comments regarding renewables and electric vehicles. I do not enjoy your political views, which appear to be very similar to Elon Musk’s, which are also right wing tripe. If you feel you must comment on union actions, you should at least have the grace to include their explanations. Keep politics out if it, buddy!
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  11. Perhaps the answer is to give the unions decision making capability then? Let’s face it, the reason we’re on this forum is due to atrocious leadership of VW and other legacy auto makers. Difficult to see them making a worse job, eh?
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  12. US politicians openly talk of China in terms of "the enemy", and enact policies accordingly. So what do they expect.?? Did they seriously think the Chinese would just roll over? Is this not the ultimate ignorance and arrogance - to believe yourself so right, so superior and so entitled that your wants will be unquestioned?
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  13.  @zofe  The $bns that used to be spent by the global auto industry on ICE R&D is now shifting to battery tech. Add to that the $bns already being spent by battery companies to meet the EV and storage bonanza and you have a tsunami of resources (public and private) being directed toward better battery tech. I'm sure when the age of steam ships arrived there were sailing ship magnates saying "Yeah, but where will they get the steel, how much will coal cost, etc etc"....
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  14. I agree there is often more sizzle than sausage at times wrt battery tech improvements, however I believe we are, generally, in an environment of continual, steady improvement. Batteries appear to be getting cheaper, more power dense and faster to recharge. At every stage, reasons to not buy an EV are reduced.
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  15.  @hz8913  Exactly, we're being asked to judge China pretty much on what it might do compared to what we've seen US actually do !
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  16. Same basic problem. Bad management.
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  17.  @AMortalDefiant  Agreed. In fact we only need look at how the Japanese came in and usurped a huge chunk of the US vehicle market in a competition that was far more evenly matched to see that. The Japanese were doing pretty much the same as what the US companies were doing, just much better. For me, EV production is significantly different to ICE production, meaning the lead China has already established will be that more difficult to catch up to, far less overtake. Frankly I see the US, Japanese and European legacy companies looking over the edge of a precipice, with perhaps Europe being best positioned out of the 3, but only just. The times, they are a’changin.
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  18.  @shyviking  Continent sized Cuba - I love it. At least they have some kind of capacity to adopt an ICE fortress strategy something akin to that, albeit suicidal, one. I suppose Japan also has the same. But think of Germany, also a massive legacy auto nation, but with few means to do much to stop the Chinese tsunami.
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  19.  @Mrbfgray OK, no more unions. So, who protects the shop floor workers rights and livelihoods?
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  20.  @HonestJohn-y3k  According to a poll last week, the number of people in UK that hold a favourable/unfavourable opinion on Trump is 57% unfavourable vs 25% favourable. However, in Scotland where I’m from that climbs to 71% unfavourable vs 18% favourable. The rest undecided.
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  21. I guess his source is an article in CGTN a couple of days ago - “China’s non-fossil fuel power generation capacity exceeds 50%”. Whether you choose to believe this or not is of course up to you, but that’s where he got it.
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  22. Same as electric vehicles…
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  23.  @Leo555ZZZ  Do they? Appears to me Brits take what’s served up to them. Besides, where is your evidence Brits feel EVs are “pointless and harmful”?
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  24.  @taylorc2542  I expect the Chinese would be generally OK with that. They already have several such ventures. Volvo cars being a good example. Either way, they win. What I reckon European companies need to do is try to compete with China, albeit they’ve left that really late.
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  25.  @philiptaylor7902  Pretty much, yes. If you think about it, the same logic also applies to China. The Chinese are progressing well with ending their reliance on suppliers of fossil fuels.
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  26. What is the situation regarding EVs and insurance? As far as I hear it costs hugely to insure one, is that correct and is this just the insurance companies profiteering or instead actually reflects real costs and concerns? It doesn’t seem sensible, or fair, if manufacturers come to the party while insurance companies kill the market. I don’t have an EV, so have no personal experience.
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  27.  @22nikkoAA  The river Clyde used to be so covered with shipyards the people of Glasgow famously could never see it. All gone, and for the self same reason - atrocious management. And, like what we’re seeing here, who gets blamed? The people at the bottom of the heap, the ones who never made any decisions.
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  28.  @Withnail1969  I’m being realistic. From what I can see, humanoid robots seem to be pretty close to being up to low level human tasks. Take the cost of a robot and amortise it over say 10 years of working 24 hrs and I see cost advantages. Bring robot production costs down, improve task ability and it gets better and better. We there yet? Nope. Are you correct? Also nope.
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  29.  @No1careabU  I’d suggest this isn’t necessarily the case. Because, VW is seriously inhibited with liabilities that used to be assets. Their once impressive ICE manufacturing capacity is fast becoming a massive anchor they’re having to drag behind them. They can’t just dump it, but their ICE sales are failing and going nowhere but south. Companies like Tesla, NIO etc that set up from the beginning as EV makers are at a serious advantage.
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  30. Scotland has achieved that as well. And with more than the same capacity of green energy production either in planning or construction now we hope to become an exporter of green energy very soon. Mind you, we are a nation that has been producing bio-fuel for 500 years... ;)
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  31. Yeah, GMs probably terminal situation is entirely due to shop floor people wanting a decent return for their labour. It’s got nothing to do with the fact GM leadership, like other legacy auto leaders in the States and Japan, Germany etc have been asleep at the wheel while China and Tesla recognised where the world was going and planned and executed accordingly. GM are now trying to play catch up in a race they’ve already been lapped in. The shop floor people are building the obsolete, unwanted dinosaurs the leadership are telling them to, buddy. Blame the poor sods on the shop floor that rely on a salary every month if you prefer fantasy to reality.
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  32. Ehhh, what’s sun? Thanks, Scotland. We have the best wind in Europe, not too bad a deal either.
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  33. JMEV selling a sodium battery EV in China for $8400. That sounds cheap to me.
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  34. I don’t have much sympathy for the people running Nissan, they are much to blame for their current situation. However, it must be acknowledged that legacy auto makers have a really difficult job keeping their huge operational base afloat through selling ICE vehicles - while efficiently and rapidly transitioning to EV. What were massive assets for them (their ICE production capacity) are fast becoming expensive liabilities. Some are doing it better than others. Nissan is one of the others. I hope the poor folks working on the Nissan production lines don’t get screwed.
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  35. America is about to find out the world can live without it.
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  36.  @ryanrobinson2129  No, I reckon I’m entitled to my opinion about the Tesla design. Just as much as you are to disagree (politely). Enjoy the rest of your day.
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  37.  @MrEroshan  Beats me why EVs are considered "political".
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  38.  @teem5642  Elitism, that stays.
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  39. @mkashay  After 2030 in UK and 2035 in the EU, no matter how cheap any new ICE car is, it won't be sold.
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  40. @DG-hw8it  And what about when demand was booming? Which has been many, many years incidentally. Should a good company not make provisions for inevitable lean years? Seems like the shop floor is asked to shoulder the burden when the going is bad, but don't get a seat at the table when the going is good.
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  41. I’m fairly sure if you ask any of the people that have already lost their job, or those about to, what their feelings are about this incompetent carpetbagger, it won’t be “jealousy”.
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  42.  @yamerojones  Evidence?
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  43.  @danharold3087  Thanks, I was assuming you are in USA. I’m surprised at what you say, given I reckon people here in Scotland are generally positive toward EVs. There is range and charging anxiety, but not at a serious level and wouldn’t apply to school buses. With respect, what you’re saying sounds a bit Luddite.
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  44. Sorry, but I disagree, Kevin. Assuming they own a house, the second most expensive thing working class people buy in their lives is a car. It usually represents a fair chunk of their disposable income and cost usually influences their decision far, far more than where it's made. Here in Scotland I doubt they give a continental where a car is made - so long as it's priced competitively and gets a good reputation for reliability, back-up, running costs, style and performance. For me - politics comes at the very back of that decision making process.
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  45. If USA wants to become an American manufacturing nation again, they’re going to have to manufacture, in America ..! Given there’s only so much the management can screw shop floor wages down, if they want to manufacture competitively, they’ll have to do what they’re already paid a lot of money to do. Which is - learn how to design and build good stuff that people want at prices they can afford, and do it well..! That should prove a novel exercise for many of them…
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  46. Here in Scotland, we’re not exactly famous for sunny weather, but what we do have (in spades) is wind. Scotland today produces the equivalent of our entire electricity consumption from renewable sources. In addition to this, we also have as much again in planning or construction.
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  47.  @marvin3935  Yes, one of the most ambitious in the world. No more new ICE sales by 2030.
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  48.  @sargfowler9603  So did I. I seen how the Japanese turned things around. They did that using the exact same workforce. How do you explain that?
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  49. I'm in Scotland and can tell you Volvo semi's aren't "all over UK". In Scotland we have 2, that have arrived very recently and are part of a trial. I don't know the numbers for rest of UK, but I'm fairly certain there are very few EV semi's on the roads from any manufacturer.
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  50.  @dianewallace6064  Hi, there are many lighter EV trucks around, and buses, but the 44 ton class is still very much a rarity. On the other hand, we are seeing more and more projects being announced.
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