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VOA慢速英语--大众对电动汽车进行了重大投资

时间:2019-09-23 23:57:15

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Volkswagen Makes Major Investment in Electric Vehicles

The German automobile2 maker3 Volkswagen has launched what it is calling the best electric car for the masses.

The Associated Press describes the car as the leading edge of a wave of new battery-powered vehicles about to hit the European auto1 market. They are the result of big investments in battery technology and new factories.

But it is not at all clear whether people are ready to buy these vehicles. Electric cars still make up less than 2 percent of the market. That is partly a result of higher costs and worries about a lack of places to refresh the batteries. It adds up to a risky4 investment for car companies.

Volkswagen’s new electric vehicle is called the ID.3. It has lots of room inside, accelerates quickly and can travel up to 550 kilometers without needing a recharge. The company believes the ID.3 will change peoples’ feelings about electric cars. Volkswagen argues that the base cost under $33,000 makes it “an electric car for everyone.”

A leading competitor, Tesla’s Model 3, starts at about $40,000 in Europe. But the company’s website notes the Model 3 can cost over $44,000, depending on additions made to the vehicle.

Volkswagen demonstrated the ID.3 earlier this week before the Frankfurt Motor Show. The company also showed off a new advertising5 design.

Both moves aim to demonstrate changes at the company since its 2015 scandal. At the time, the United States Environmental Protection Agency discovered that Volkswagen was using software to cheat on emissions6 testing. The company paid more than $33 billion in fines.

The ID.3 goes on sale in Europe next year. Volkswagen plans to launch a larger electric vehicle in the U.S. at a later date.

The company is deploying7 wide-reaching financial and manufacturing know-how8 to make a success of its electric cars. Volkswagen says it will have invested over $33 billion in this area by 2023. It has spent about $1.3 billion on a factory in eastern Germany to make the ID.3. That is the first of eight planned electric-car factories, including one in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The company, which sold 10.8 million vehicles last year, aims for 40 percent of its sales to be electrics by 2030.

Experts warn that the industry could be stuck with slow-selling products that hurt earnings9 in a weakening international car market. Electrics were only 1.8 percent of the European market through the first six months of the year.

So far it has mainly been government rules leading the launch of electric cars, not the public. Above all, companies are working to make electric cars to meet stronger rules on carbon emissions and pollutants10, especially in the European Union, or EU, and China.

“The industry has spent billions developing its new generation of electric vehicles,” wrote Max Warburton of research company Bernstein. “But this money is being spent without convincing evidence that customers are waiting for these cars.”

The EU has new limits on emissions of carbon dioxide, or CO2, the main gas blamed for rising temperatures in Earth’s atmosphere. The limits come into effect fully11 in 2021. Cars will have to produce no more than 95 grams of CO2 per kilometer. Failure to meet these limitations means a fine for every gram of C02 over the limit per car.

Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer is with the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. He says each electric car sold could be worth more than $11,000 in avoided fines.

China is a major market for German carmakers. It is also pushing for lower-emission vehicles. Yet the U.S. government has put less pressure on carmakers to produce electric vehicles. President Donald Trump12 and his administration have sought to ease rules on vehicle efficiency set by the Obama administration.

To date, electrics are most popular in wealthier countries, where the average person earns over $44,100 a year. In poorer countries, electrics are nowhere to be seen. Just 293 sold in Slovakia, for example, and 315 last year in Greece.

Financial incentives13 are important. In Norway, where electrics were over 30 percent of the market last year, incentives were responsible for almost $13,000 in tax breaks.

Finding a place to charge is another issue. Tesla has its own system of fast-charging stations along major roads and highways. A group of automakers including Volkswagen aims to have 400 highway charging stations by 2020.

While Volkswagen has been pushing hard for electric cars, others are going about it more slowly. Daimler has the EQC sport-utility vehicle (SUV), which shares parts with an existing traditional gasoline-powered engine. That means lower new investment spending.

BMW is launching its iX3 electric SUV and an electric Mini. BMW’s experience shows the difficulties: it was first with an all-electric car, the i3 city car in 2013. But Bernstein researchers report the company lost money on it and cancelled another kind of electric car that was meant to follow the i3.

In all, some 20 new electric cars will hit the market by 2021. If demand is lacking, carmakers may have to sell the cars to rental14 companies and other businesses. They may also require employees to take them as company cars, or offer customers cost-cutting deals, all of which would reduce profits.

I’m Dorothy Gundy.

And I’m Pete Musto.

Words in This Story

masses – n. the ordinary or common people

battery – n. a device that is placed inside a machine, such as a clock, toy, or car, to supply it with electricity

accelerate(s) – v. to gain speed

scandal – n. an incident in which people are shocked and upset because of behavior that is morally or legally wrong

emission(s) – n. something sent out or given off

convincing – v. causing someone to believe that something is true

customer(s) – n. someone who buys goods or services from a business

efficiency – n. the ability to do something or produce something without wasting materials, time, or energy

incentive(s) – n. something that convinces a person to do something or to work harder

rental – n. something that can be available for use in return for payment


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1 auto ZOnyW     
n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车
参考例句:
  • Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
  • The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。
2 automobile rP1yv     
n.汽车,机动车
参考例句:
  • He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
  • The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。
3 maker DALxN     
n.制造者,制造商
参考例句:
  • He is a trouble maker,You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼,你不要跟他在一起。
  • A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。
4 risky IXVxe     
adj.有风险的,冒险的
参考例句:
  • It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险,但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
  • He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。
5 advertising 1zjzi3     
n.广告业;广告活动 a.广告的;广告业务的
参考例句:
  • Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
  • The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。
6 emissions 1a87f8769eb755734e056efecb5e2da9     
排放物( emission的名词复数 ); 散发物(尤指气体)
参考例句:
  • Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
  • Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。
7 deploying 79c9e662a7f3c3d49ecc43f559de9424     
(尤指军事行动)使展开( deploy的现在分词 ); 施展; 部署; 有效地利用
参考例句:
  • Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
  • Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。
8 know-how TxeyA     
n.知识;技术;诀窍
参考例句:
  • He hasn't got the know-how to run a farm.他没有经营农场的专业知识。
  • I don't have much know-how about engines.发动机方面的技术知识我知之甚少。
9 earnings rrWxJ     
n.工资收人;利润,利益,所得
参考例句:
  • That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
  • Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。
10 pollutants 694861490fe64672170a0da250a277c7     
污染物质(尤指工业废物)( pollutant的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
  • The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条(g)的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
11 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
12 trump LU1zK     
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭
参考例句:
  • He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
  • The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手,作为他的王牌。
13 incentives 884481806a10ef3017726acf079e8fa7     
激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 ); 刺激; 诱因; 动机
参考例句:
  • tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
  • Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者,提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
14 rental cBezh     
n.租赁,出租,出租业
参考例句:
  • The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
  • We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

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