3 ms·

Weak that they’re not partnering with CATL or Panasonic to build stationary storage with excess manufacturing capacity.

by toomuchtodo 4mo ago

verdverm 4mo ago
They are switching some lines to building military vehicles aiui
- alephnerd 4mo ago
  > switching some lines to building military It got vetoed by Qatar (their SWF owns 17% of all voting shares in Volkswagen) because that would have meant working with Israeli companies [0] despite Germany being dependent on the Israeli Arrow system [1] to counter Russian systems. Now that factory (Osnabrueck) is one of the factories on the chopping block. And this is why Volkswagen is going to be a slow moving train crash - Lower Saxony, the Qatari royal family, the Pötsch/Porsche family, and IG Metall are not aligned. [0] - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-10/qatar-blocks-defense-joint-venture-between-vw-and-israeli-firm https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-10/qatar-blo... [1] - https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/germany-deploys-arrow-air-defence-counter-russian-missile-threat-2025-12-03/ https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/germany-d...
  - jacooper 4mo ago
    Bohoo, can't build weapons for genociders, poor me! What a shitty management that can't find any solutions other than building weapons for war criminals.
    - alephnerd 4mo ago
      > What a shitty management that can't find any solutions other than building weapons for war criminals No one else wants the factory nor the workers other than Rafael's JV with the German government. Now they are part of the 100,000 being laid off. Germany (and Romania) will still use the Iron Dome and other Israeli systems, but now it'll be "Made in India" [0], so the only people impacted were VW employees in Osnabrueck who are now laid off. [0] - https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/byaub5cmfl https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/byaub5cmfl
      - jacooper 4mo ago
        Again, Bohoo, shitty management can't find another solution somehow.
alephnerd 4mo ago
> CATL Battery technology and chemistry is export controlled by China [0], which has hurt European attempts at doing what you mentioned [1]. > Panasonic They have chosen to concentrate on America instead [2] [0] - https://www.mayerbrown.com/en/insights/publications/2025/10/prc-announces-new-export-controls-on-rare-earth-and-battery-materials-and-technology https://www.mayerbrown.com/en/insights/publications/2025/10/... [1] - https://merics.org/en/comment/chinese-restrictions-threaten-europes-hopes-absorbing-battery-tech https://merics.org/en/comment/chinese-restrictions-threaten-... [2] - https://www.reuters.com/technology/panasonic-localise-its-us-data-centre-battery-production-ceo-says-2026-06-30/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/panasonic-localise-its-us...
- toomuchtodo 4mo ago
  CATL is building one of the largest battery manufacturing facilities in Europe in Spain. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-catl-breaks-ground-huge-spanish-battery-plant-bringing-its-own-workers-2025-11-26/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-catl-breaks-groun... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46061492 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46061492 (“CATL's Spain plant will likely be one of Europe's largest LFP battery production hubs at ~50GWh of production capacity, employing ~4k workers with an investment of ~€4.1B.”)
  - alephnerd 4mo ago
    China views Spain as a better strategic partner [0] than Germany. China and Spain signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2021 [1] and Spain is lobbying on behalf of China against the "Made in EU" act [2]. On the other hand, Germany is backing EU quotas and origination requirements to push back against Chinese overproduction [3]. Of course, China and Germany have fallen out due to Ukraine [4] as well as China's negative perception about the EU as an institution [5]. [0] - https://cn.chinadiplomacy.org.cn/2026-06/19/content_118558534.shtml https://cn.chinadiplomacy.org.cn/2026-06/19/content_11855853... [1] - https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/gjhdq_665435/3265_665445/3356_664772/ https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/gjhdq_665435/3265_665445/3356_6... [2] - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-16/china-lobbies-spain-to-sink-eu-plans-to-boost-its-companies https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-16/china-lob... [3] - https://www.ft.com/content/06b7fe04-25f7-445b-824a-135ae73596a5?syn-25a6b1a6=1 https://www.ft.com/content/06b7fe04-25f7-445b-824a-135ae7359... [4] - https://www.reuters.com/world/china/germany-closer-us-than-china-despite-recent-tensions-foreign-minister-says-2026-02-02/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/germany-closer-us-than-c... [5] - https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/_t2515/57/f8/c21257a743416/page.htm https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/_t2515/57/f8/c21257a743416/page.ht...

Weak that they’re not partnering with CATL or Panasonic to build stationary storage with excess manufacturing capacity.

verdverm 4mo ago

They are switching some lines to building military vehicles aiui

alephnerd 4mo ago
> switching some lines to building military It got vetoed by Qatar (their SWF owns 17% of all voting shares in Volkswagen) because that would have meant working with Israeli companies [0] despite Germany being dependent on the Israeli Arrow system [1] to counter Russian systems. Now that factory (Osnabrueck) is one of the factories on the chopping block. And this is why Volkswagen is going to be a slow moving train crash - Lower Saxony, the Qatari royal family, the Pötsch/Porsche family, and IG Metall are not aligned. [0] - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-10/qatar-blocks-defense-joint-venture-between-vw-and-israeli-firm https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-10/qatar-blo... [1] - https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/germany-deploys-arrow-air-defence-counter-russian-missile-threat-2025-12-03/ https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/germany-d...
- jacooper 4mo ago
  Bohoo, can't build weapons for genociders, poor me! What a shitty management that can't find any solutions other than building weapons for war criminals.
  - alephnerd 4mo ago
    > What a shitty management that can't find any solutions other than building weapons for war criminals No one else wants the factory nor the workers other than Rafael's JV with the German government. Now they are part of the 100,000 being laid off. Germany (and Romania) will still use the Iron Dome and other Israeli systems, but now it'll be "Made in India" [0], so the only people impacted were VW employees in Osnabrueck who are now laid off. [0] - https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/byaub5cmfl https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/byaub5cmfl
    - jacooper 4mo ago
      Again, Bohoo, shitty management can't find another solution somehow.

alephnerd 4mo ago

> CATL Battery technology and chemistry is export controlled by China [0], which has hurt European attempts at doing what you mentioned [1]. > Panasonic They have chosen to concentrate on America instead [2] [0] - https://www.mayerbrown.com/en/insights/publications/2025/10/prc-announces-new-export-controls-on-rare-earth-and-battery-materials-and-technology https://www.mayerbrown.com/en/insights/publications/2025/10/... [1] - https://merics.org/en/comment/chinese-restrictions-threaten-europes-hopes-absorbing-battery-tech https://merics.org/en/comment/chinese-restrictions-threaten-... [2] - https://www.reuters.com/technology/panasonic-localise-its-us-data-centre-battery-production-ceo-says-2026-06-30/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/panasonic-localise-its-us...

toomuchtodo 4mo ago
CATL is building one of the largest battery manufacturing facilities in Europe in Spain. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-catl-breaks-ground-huge-spanish-battery-plant-bringing-its-own-workers-2025-11-26/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-catl-breaks-groun... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46061492 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46061492 (“CATL's Spain plant will likely be one of Europe's largest LFP battery production hubs at ~50GWh of production capacity, employing ~4k workers with an investment of ~€4.1B.”)
- alephnerd 4mo ago
  China views Spain as a better strategic partner [0] than Germany. China and Spain signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2021 [1] and Spain is lobbying on behalf of China against the "Made in EU" act [2]. On the other hand, Germany is backing EU quotas and origination requirements to push back against Chinese overproduction [3]. Of course, China and Germany have fallen out due to Ukraine [4] as well as China's negative perception about the EU as an institution [5]. [0] - https://cn.chinadiplomacy.org.cn/2026-06/19/content_118558534.shtml https://cn.chinadiplomacy.org.cn/2026-06/19/content_11855853... [1] - https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/gjhdq_665435/3265_665445/3356_664772/ https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/gjhdq_665435/3265_665445/3356_6... [2] - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-16/china-lobbies-spain-to-sink-eu-plans-to-boost-its-companies https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-16/china-lob... [3] - https://www.ft.com/content/06b7fe04-25f7-445b-824a-135ae73596a5?syn-25a6b1a6=1 https://www.ft.com/content/06b7fe04-25f7-445b-824a-135ae7359... [4] - https://www.reuters.com/world/china/germany-closer-us-than-china-despite-recent-tensions-foreign-minister-says-2026-02-02/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/germany-closer-us-than-c... [5] - https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/_t2515/57/f8/c21257a743416/page.htm https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/_t2515/57/f8/c21257a743416/page.ht...