The challenges facing the German and by extension the European car industry<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The challenges are huge for the German automobile industry, since it\ncontributes more than 4.5% annually to the GDP of the German economy and having\nbeen identified over the years since the Decade of 1960 and to date with the\nEconomic miracle of Germany, while also being a barometer of the exports of the\nGerman economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The EU and having set strict target rules for reducing exhaust emissions by\n42% by 2030, has effectively put on the table the forced future technological\nshift of German and generally European automotive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to adapt the German car industry to these low-level emission\ncriteria, they will must change from their base the technological and\nmanufacturing culture that governs it and as it concerns the mass production of\nits products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, turning to the mass production of electric cars is a one-way street for\nboth the German and the European car industry, if it wants to achieve these EU\nobjectives. If the objectives are not achieved, due to the existence of the\nmass production of petrol and diesel -powered cars that will not achieve the\ntargets, heavy fines will be imposed on the car manufacturers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These fines will unleash any profits that the automakers will have. If these fines are added and the reduced global demand that will cause reduced profitability due to the trade wars that will be raging on the planet which will hold at least until the new elections in 2020 for the Presidency in the US, the future for the German car industry looks bleak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The “cost” of technological conversion<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But the technological shift from the mass production of petrol and diesel cars to the mass production of electric cars is not easy and without price. It requires:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1.<\/strong> The massive manufacture of lithium batteries for electric cars in EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2.<\/strong> There should be full control over the entire value chain from the automakers themselves, so that the German and European car industry itself can determine the pricing and finished processed lithium products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3.<\/strong> The full control and ownership of the mining, separation and processing of lithium (value chain) should be in the EU automakers themselves, in order to reduce drastically the proportion of lithium imports and imports of manufactured lithium products (e.g. lithium batteries for electric cars) from abroad and mainly from China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 4.<\/strong> The cost of extracting, separating and processing lithium should be borne jointly by all European automakers so that they are able to have direct access based on the percentages of their participation in the cost of extraction, separation and treatment of raw lithium and then use it-they are processed at the same time and as any car industry wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These investments will have to be made through the purchase of already existing mines of lithium or the purchase of areas that in the future will be able to take place on them mining, separation and processing of lithium. These joint investments should be made in European territories which have been proven to have certified lithium stocks but also in other countries’ territories abroad. In other words, the European car industry should acquire lithium \u201cplantations\u201d not only in the Europe but globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5.<\/strong> In this way, the German and by extension the European car industry will be able to protect itself if, due to the imposition of an embargo on lithium exports and not only, an active restriction of this metal that will eject dramatically soaring its prices. In such an undesirable scenario of an increase in lithium prices it will become extremely difficult for the massive lithium battery production for electric cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6.<\/strong> Then each car industry alone and with its own funds should develop its own mass production factories for lithium batteries in European territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7.<\/strong> The construction of lithium batteries for electric cars entirely on European soil does not mean that the problem of competitiveness in this sector is automatically solved. To be highly competitive in the global Market (in terms of purchase cost\/value) the German and in general European electric cars, the lithium batteries produced for electric cars should be of low cost. In order to achieve this, there must be a massive production of lithium batteries for electric cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8.<\/strong> If the replacing of a lithium battery of an electrically powered car costs as much as 2\/3 of the original purchase price of the car itself then consumers will avoid buying this type of car (electrically powered) and will continue to are necessarily directed towards the purchase of petrol or diesel cars since their maintenance cost in the long term will be much lower than the corresponding electric car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9.<\/strong> In addition, the electric cars to be competitive in the market of second-hand electric cars the lithium batteries they will use should have a lifespan of more than fifteen years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10.<\/strong> Otherwise, if the cost of replacing a lithium battery is close to 2\/3 of the original electric car purchase price and its lifespan is 10 years maximum then there will be no market of second-hand used electric cars because consumers will switch away from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11.<\/strong> The gradual contraction in the production of petrol and diesel cars will lead to the mass redundancies of existing workers in the German and European car industry in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12.<\/strong> The combined application of artificial intelligence, robotics and technology 3d printing in the factories of mass production of electric cars in order to drastically reduce labour costs, will eject the unemployment figures in the automotive industry at high levels. This means that the car manufacturers themselves together with the assistance of the EU member state in which these workers work should prepare retraining plans for workers who should lay off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 13.<\/strong> In large manufactures of high-tech products e.g. airplanes, ships, etc. are used dozens if not hundreds of specialized companies in the form of undertaking sub-project of the main manufacture-project, which with these type of sub-project that they used to undertake these specialized companies acquire work and purpose of business existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same is true in car production but on a much smaller scale. There are\nspecialized companies around the mass production of petrol and diesel cars that\nin a state of shrinking their production will face a serious problem of\nsurvival if not extinction. That is why these small specialised companies\nshould now start to think about their next step and whether this should be in\nthe automobile industry but in another form of specialisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The proposed strategy for the German and European automotive industry<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our proposal for the survival of the German and European automotive industry respectively in order to successfully address all these new challenges is the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1.<\/strong> Due to increased costs in the processes of acquiring lithium and in general other rare earths used in the mass production of electric cars, the European Parliament will have to vote on a bill that commits 1% of the initial purchase price of each car in the EU, with a view to creating a specific investment fund which will be designed to strengthen the extractive industries of EU car manufacturers for the initial purchase of soils or existing mining with certified lithium stocks both in the EU and abroad for the purpose of extracting, separating and processing lithium which will be used for the mass production of lithium batteries for electric cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Together, European automakers should contribute an initial amount of funds to create the above investment fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2.<\/strong> In the same way the European Parliament could vote on a bill that would commit 1% of the general costs (overhead costs) of each EU member country’s defence budget in order to create an investment fund that strengthens through low-interest loans to European extractive enterprises for a series of metals-rare earths-which are strategically\/critically considered in the production of high-tech systems. These extractive activities will be carried out both in the EU and abroad on behalf of EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3.<\/strong> European automakers will receive their share of the lithium metal derived from mining, separation and final processing of lithium by these mining companies based on the total sales rate in produced cars. Since 1% of the original purchase-sale price of a car that will be earmarked for the financing of this investment fund will come from their own products-cars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 4.<\/strong> Each EU car industry should, on its own, invest in the creation of mass-produced lithium battery factories to be used for their own manufactured electric cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The law of\nintellectual property is prohibited in any way unlawful use\/appropriation of\nthis article, with heavy civil and criminal penalties for the infringer.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the industries worldwide is constantly being applied to technological innovation, with the result that innovative products are being produced continuously because of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[620,946],"tags":[161,25,690,749,750,747,748,751],"class_list":["post-761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-companies","tag-china","tag-eu","tag-european-parliament","tag-lithium-batteries","tag-lithium-batteries-for-electric-cars","tag-the-challenges-facing-the-german-car-industry","tag-the-costs-of-technological-shift-in-a-car-industry","tag-the-proposed-strategy-for-eu-car-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=761"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5209,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions\/5209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/1000000th_Beetle.jpg\")
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