
VW to Reshuffle $56B Battery Push as Samsung Deal at Risk - okket
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-27/vw-to-reshuffle-56-billion-battery-push-as-samsung-deal-at-risk
======
hinkley
> Tesla, beset by concerns over demand and its ability to make a profit, last
> month accused its battery supplier, Panasonic Corp., of being the culprit
> for tepid production rates of the affordable Model 3.

I'm confused. I thought the Gigafactory was supposed to be building batteries,
as in building cells, not just building battery packs from third party cells.

~~~
vikramkr
The gigafactory is building the batteries and cells and all, it's just that
the gigafactory != Tesla. Panasonic is their partner and is responsible for a
significant chunk of the space and equipment for manufacturing cells.

[https://electrek.co/2016/07/29/tesla-gigafactory-
panasonics-...](https://electrek.co/2016/07/29/tesla-gigafactory-panasonics-
machine-battery-cell/)

~~~
pkaye
So what is Tesla's contribution to this? They always make it seem like its
their baby.

~~~
DeonPenny
The chemistry of the battery. They just don't package them

~~~
toomuchtodo
Panasonic is the bottlers as Tesla is to corporate Coca Cola. Is Coca Cola any
less real because someone else is churning out the soda?

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konschubert
Is this putting the ID.3 at risk?

~~~
rasz
aww, you really expected VW to be serious about electric cars?

~~~
woodandsteel
Yes. [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-12/vw-s-
audi...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-12/vw-s-audi-porsche-
margins-sag-in-costly-shift-to-electric-era)

The real news here is that the EV revolution is finally starting to really
take off. The auto companies that are not already pushing hard on developing
EV's are going to be left behind and go bankrupt. Of the incumbent auto
makers, VW is the most committed.

~~~
thrower123
I really don't buy it. In the US, the best-selling vehicles are SUVs and
trucks, and it has only gotten more pronounced now that the US has become a
net oil exporter and the spectre of $5/gallon gas that we approached 15 years
ago is just a bad memory.

Ford alone sells more F150s in a single year than all the EVs all together.

~~~
gvb
You picked a good example with Ford that illustrates the parent's point,
probably in a way not intended by the parent post. Soon Ford will no longer be
an automobile manufacturer - they will only be building trucks and SUVs (aka
fake trucks) with the lone exception of the Mustang.

Ref: [https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/ford-stop-making-
all-...](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/ford-stop-making-all-
passenger-cars-except-mustang-n869256)

~~~
petre
Aren't SUVs and truck protected from foreign competition by the chicken tax?

VW is also building more SUVs. They have like 4 models not counting Audi,
Skoda and Seat.

~~~
cwilkes
I didn’t know what the chicken tax was. Here’s a write up on it:
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-
strange-...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-strange-case-
of-fords-attempt-to-avoid-thechicken-
tax/2018/07/06/643624fa-796a-11e8-8df3-007495a78738_story.html)

In short: the EU wanted to stop a flood of US chickens in the 60s so they
imposed a tariffs. The US then retaliated by tariffing trucks, mainly from VW.

But what is a truck? Is a minivan a truck? I didn’t know this but the Ford
Transit is built in Spain and comes to the US with rear seats and also glass
windows in the rear. At customs the seats are ripped out and the rear windows
are plated over now making it a popular delivery truck, this voiding $250M in
taxes.

