DE: How many electric cars are being made in a week?
Established carmakers have repeatedly tried to ridicule Tesla because of their production problems. Yet, a quick round of calls by Handelsblatt shows, the Californians currently make many more EVs per week than all German automakers combined.
But let’s start with the nitty-gritty details and more so with Tesla, who inspired the survey in the first place. The EV maker has had a tough year so far and went from manufacturing hell into delivery inferno before finally reaching the doors of profitability heaven in the last quarter.
By now, Tesla is making about 7,000 electric cars per week at their EV factory in Fremont. A rate, that is huge for them but had volume car manufacturers make fun of them. Ford Europe boss Steven Armstrong for example ridiculed Tesla’s tough counting in a tweet and was echoed across the industry.
7000 cars, circa 4 hours. ❤️Ford Team❤️ https://t.co/FZSclsFoS0
— Steven Armstrong (@StevenArmstrong) July 1, 2018
Alas, Ford is making mostly gas guzzlers and so are the others. To even the score, Handelsblatt asked Germany’s carmakers, how many electric cars they actually make in a week in the country and got rather sobering answers.
Take BMW for example. They only have one all-electric model to start with, the i3. The EV is made in Leipzig and BMW told the reporter that they make about 180 units there a day, meaning 900 electric cars a week.
Daimler denied any comment and Opel, well, their only electric model Ampera-e is made by GM in America and mostly sold as Chevy Bolt.
Then there is Porsche but their Taycan will not hit the market before next year and they are only running a test series at the factory in Stuttgart at the moment.
So this leaves Volkswagen, the self-declared, soon-to-be volume manufacturer of electric cars. The reporter waited days for an answer before VW replied that the Volkswagen brand builds about a 1,000 EVs a week in Germany, namely the e-Golf and e-Up.
To sum up, there are 1,800 electric cars made here a week plus a few unknowns so things smell of fossil fuel in the state of Germany but – this is to change. All manufacturers have declared large electrification campaigns said to hit within the next five years. Let’s just say, it is about time.
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