<story><title>VW brand joins Audi in ending combustion engine development</title><url>https://www.electrive.com/2021/03/22/vw-brand-joins-audi-in-ending-combustion-engine-development/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>IgorPartola</author><text>I suspect swappable batteries and&amp;#x2F;or standardized battery tech would be a huge boon. Plus expansion of available charging stations. Those kinds of things would really move the tech forward.</text></item><item><author>agumonkey</author><text>I wonder how much improvements EV will see now that capitals are going into it hard. Beside economy of scale.. really new battery chemistry, induction motor efficiency etc</text></item><item><author>oblio</author><text>Well, it&amp;#x27;s a huge decision and my guess is that they want to have as much exposure as they can get from this decision.&lt;p&gt;They&amp;#x27;re the world&amp;#x27;s second largest automaker (and they tend to switch places with the first one, Toyota, periodically): &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Automotive_industry#By_manufacturer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Automotive_industry#By_manufac...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;And they&amp;#x27;ve just announced they&amp;#x27;re going to invest $86 bn in electric vehicles over the next 5 years: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;volkswagen-strategy-idUSKBN27T24O&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;volkswagen-strategy-idUSKBN2...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;They&amp;#x27;ve just launched a modular electric platform that will probably be used in tens if not hundreds of new models (in the US only VW ID.4 has been launched so far).</text></item><item><author>arethuza</author><text>This just sounds like VW Group have made a strategic decision to stop ICE development and they are letting each subsidiary announce it separately. Perhaps Porsche, Bugatti and Lamborghini will take longest to admit it?&lt;p&gt;Edit: VW Group already has a &lt;i&gt;huge&lt;/i&gt; range of petrol engines:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;List_of_Volkswagen_Group_petrol_engines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;List_of_Volkswagen_Group_petro...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>intrasight</author><text>Of course swappable and standardized would be a huge benefit. Imagine if AA, C, a D batteries hadn&amp;#x27;t been made a thing and instead we just had every maker of flashlights and transistor radios use their own proprietary batteries. Never mind - we don&amp;#x27;t have to imagine, as that&amp;#x27;s where we&amp;#x27;ve now arrived with consumer electronics. Nowadays, companies like &amp;quot;standards&amp;quot; only when used as a weapon to undermine their competitors.&lt;p&gt;But in the long run, I do suspect a return to swappable and standardized. It many require government regulation.</text></comment>
<story><title>VW brand joins Audi in ending combustion engine development</title><url>https://www.electrive.com/2021/03/22/vw-brand-joins-audi-in-ending-combustion-engine-development/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>IgorPartola</author><text>I suspect swappable batteries and&amp;#x2F;or standardized battery tech would be a huge boon. Plus expansion of available charging stations. Those kinds of things would really move the tech forward.</text></item><item><author>agumonkey</author><text>I wonder how much improvements EV will see now that capitals are going into it hard. Beside economy of scale.. really new battery chemistry, induction motor efficiency etc</text></item><item><author>oblio</author><text>Well, it&amp;#x27;s a huge decision and my guess is that they want to have as much exposure as they can get from this decision.&lt;p&gt;They&amp;#x27;re the world&amp;#x27;s second largest automaker (and they tend to switch places with the first one, Toyota, periodically): &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Automotive_industry#By_manufacturer&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Automotive_industry#By_manufac...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;And they&amp;#x27;ve just announced they&amp;#x27;re going to invest $86 bn in electric vehicles over the next 5 years: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;volkswagen-strategy-idUSKBN27T24O&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;volkswagen-strategy-idUSKBN2...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;They&amp;#x27;ve just launched a modular electric platform that will probably be used in tens if not hundreds of new models (in the US only VW ID.4 has been launched so far).</text></item><item><author>arethuza</author><text>This just sounds like VW Group have made a strategic decision to stop ICE development and they are letting each subsidiary announce it separately. Perhaps Porsche, Bugatti and Lamborghini will take longest to admit it?&lt;p&gt;Edit: VW Group already has a &lt;i&gt;huge&lt;/i&gt; range of petrol engines:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;List_of_Volkswagen_Group_petrol_engines&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;List_of_Volkswagen_Group_petro...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>VBprogrammer</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t see swappable batteries in the future. Those things weigh 500kg or more. Sure you could theoretically build a machine which is capable of swapping it but that&amp;#x27;s a big bit of infrastructure and the constraints it would impose on the design of the car would be huge.&lt;p&gt;That said, I do have hopes for more standardisation in battery form factors. I&amp;#x27;d like for there to come a day when changing a battery is no more hassle than say having a new exhaust installed currently.</text></comment>