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iPhone Maker Foxconn To Switch To Cars As US-China Ties Sour (bbc.com) 42

Posted by BeauHD from the diversifying-production dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: iPhone maker Foxconn is betting big on electric cars and redrawing some of its supply chains as it navigates a new era of icy Washington-Beijing relations. In an exclusive interview, chairman and boss Young Liu told the BBC what the future may hold for the Taiwanese firm. He said even as Foxconn shifts some supply chains away from China, electric vehicles (EVs) are what will drive its growth in the coming decades. As US-China tensions soar, Mr Liu said, Foxconn must prepare for the worst.

"We hope peace and stability will be something the leaders of these two countries will keep in mind," 67-year-old Mr Liu told us, in his offices in Taipei, Taiwan's capital. "But as a business, as a CEO, I have to think about what if the worst case happens?" The scenarios could include attempts by Beijing to blockade Taiwan, which it claims as part of China, or worse, to invade the self-ruled island. Mr Liu said "business continuity planning" was already under way, and pointed out that some production lines, particularly those linked to "national security products" were already being moved from China to Mexico and Vietnam. He was likely to be referring to servers Foxconn makes that are used in data centers, and can contain sensitive information. [...]

Foxconn's hopes to capture about 5% of the global electric vehicle market in the next few years -- an ambitious target given the firm has only made a handful of models so far. But it is a gamble that Mr Liu is confident will pay off. "It doesn't make sense for you to make [EVs] in one place, so regionalized production for cars is very natural," he added. Foxconn car factories will be based in Ohio in the US, in Thailand, Indonesia and perhaps even in India, he said. For now, the company will keep focusing on what it does best -- making electronic products for clients. But perhaps not too far in the future, Foxconn will do the same for clients with electric cars. Either way, with the foray into electric cars, Foxconn is diversifying not just production but also supply lines -- both of which, Mr Liu believes, hold the key to the company's future.
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iPhone Maker Foxconn To Switch To Cars As US-China Ties Sour More

iPhone Maker Foxconn To Switch To Cars As US-China Ties Sour

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  • China is busy throwing EV's away.... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Vomitgod ( 6659552 ) on Friday June 16, 2023 @07:28PM (#63609306)

    China is busy throwing EV's away....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I'm not sure if this is fake news or not. Nothing the Chinese speaker states says anything that they are being left to rot, etc. Just the numbers, etc., and then the guy voices over and says they are being left to rot. I did find this article about it. https://www.vehiclesuggest.com... [vehiclesuggest.com] Which states that it was a rental car sharing company that went bankrupt.

      Same thing with the Foxconn article above. Did the CEO say that he's worried that China would blockade Taiwan, or is that something the BBC added

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Bjorn Nyland has been reviewing some Chinese EVs and they are very nice cars. As quiet as luxury brands like Mercedes, great range and performance... They do battery swaps in Norway too, you roll up and in 6 minutes it swaps in a fully charged battery.

      • Battery swaps would definitely make EV's work for me. Though it's a lot easier to ship charged batteries everywhere in Norway than it is to do it in Canada.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Have you ever been to Norway? It's pretty big and very cold.

          I'm not sure about battery swaps TBH. There are certainly some upsides - your car's battery will never degrade because you can always just swap it for a new one. Nio have refurbing batteries by replacing bad cells down to an art, and the removed cells get resold for domestic use.

          But also it's manufacturer specific at the moment, and with batteries as large as they already are you can generally drive far enough that you need a 30 minute break anyway

          • Norway is 25x smaller than Canada, and most people live near the coast where it rarely goes below freezing. In most of Canada it is impossible to avoid -40c from time to time. I don't need or want a break while driving. If you are driving across Canada it takes long enough as it is. It is often 8 hours of straight driving between cities and that is a long enough day for me, especially since i usually have pets with me and that is a long time to be in a car.

            • The shortest EVs have ranges exceeding 300km. That's 3 to 4 hours of driving at very least. Now I know you're going to get all big balled about how long you think you can go without a rest, but driving more than 3 hour without stopping is irresponsible. Just make sure you hit a tree and not some poor bugger trying to get to work.

              • Yeah never even had a close call. Not once. When it becomes illegal I'll comply but that certainly make it a lot more difficult to drive around Canada.

                • Re: (Score:1)

                  by MrNaz ( 730548 )

                  lol there's always some dipshit who claims he drives from Vancouver to Montreal every morning for work and back again that night with no stops while towing a 2 ton trailer. I call bullshit on your dumbass story. Nobody can safely drive 8 hours without a break, even if it's just to stop and pee. And even in the highly unlikely case that you do, there are long range EVs that can facilitate that anyway.

                  The market is moving on without you dumbasses. No matter how much you claim EVs can't work because of your ma

                  • Well yeah, we stop to pee, obviously. When we need gas I fill the car while the family goes and then the wife pays while I go and we are off in 10 minutes. It's not an extreme use case. Most people I know have driven at least 8 hours in Canada at one point or another. Today we drove 4 hours just to go to a store that we don't have near us. Why would I want to buy a vehicle that would make it 5 hours?

                    • 5 hours is manageable by most standard range EVs. And doing 8 hours "at one point or other" is doable by normal people who take normal breaks to leg stretch or get a snack. If you drive 8 hours so regularly that a mid trip stop ruins your weekly productivity, then you're either bullshitting (likely) or are an extreme edge case (unlikely).

                      Also, I love in Australia, and the family and I do road trips often, usually with one way distances exceeding 1,000km. I'd have no problem doing this in an EV.

                    • Most people I know either have a cabin a few hours away, go camping a few hours away, or drive to the US or other cities in Canada for shopping or airports. I don't really understand why you keep saying "regularly". Even if you don't do the drive regularly it will be inconvenient when you do. Go look up any four hour trip on a better route planner, in any EV you will need to charge at least twice and it wll be at least an hour longer.

                      It's not about productivity. It's about not wasting vacation time.

                    • Your line in the sand was "I always do 8 hour trips". A family trip of a few hours, meaning 3 to 5 hours one way, is doable on a single charge.

                      You're deliberately muddying the discussion because you're one of those bone head idiots who make up weird ass cases.

                      Like I said, the market doesn't care about your fabricated reasons that EVs won't work, and normal people are happily using EVs on long road trips. Here in Australia, road trippers with EVs are getting more and more common. Maybe the problem isn't with

                    • As I keep saying, a 4 hour trip is 5 hours with an EV, thus making it more inconvenient for the person with the EV. I never said it was impossible. Some people don't mind the inconvenience and do it because they very badly want to say they drive an EV, but most people I talk to don't want road trips to be any longer than they have to be. Eventually once all the early adopters have EVs there will be a plateau of people who buy them the way they are currently. Hopefully there will be advancements to make

                    • Re: (Score:1)

                      by MrNaz ( 730548 )

                      What is wrong with you? A 4 hour trip is 4 hours in an EV. I dunno what rock you're living under, but standard EVs get 400km on a charge, with long range models going 650km or more. Do you think you can cover more than 650km in 4 hours? Given how ridiculous your perception of driving is, and how ignorant you are of EVs, you sound like a redneck teenager who doesn't even drive yet.

                      Anyway I dunno why I'm arguing with you. You're right, there were people holding onto their horse buggies for decades into the ca

                    • But you can't drive an ev 100% to 0% so unless you want to reduce the life of your battery, you need to ensure you are between 20% and 80%. And that's 400km in the best conditions, not 400km in -30c with a headwind.

                    • Well if driving in -30 with a headwind for 400km+ in one sitting is the norm in Canada then I guess you're all going to be stuck with old tech forever. That fine, everyone else seems to be managing the transition just fine. Sucks to be Canadian I guess.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              Bjorn Nyland tests EVs by driving them up to the arctic circle.

              • And he doesn't experience any loss of range during that time?

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                  Not as much as some people seem to expect.

                  He does 1000km tests and the fastest EVs in low temperatures are only a few percent slower, over a 10 hour trip. From memory the reference hybrid is only about half an hour faster in ideal conditions. He has a spreadsheet with all the results.

                  I know, it's still unacceptable to you, half an hour is life or death, and the planet must burn to get you there a little bit quicker.

                  • What do you mean by slower? Across 1000 km he doesnt need to charge longer than it would take to fill with gas? Then why is the ice cannonball run record half as long as the ev record?

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                      I mean it takes him about 30-40 minutes longer to drive 1000km in the best EVs compared to a fossil fuel hybrid. The minimum time, not being too strict with speed limits, is about 9 hours, i.e. an average of about 110Kph including stops for refuelling. Speed limit in Norway is 120, about 75 MPH.

                      Charging is very fast now. And yes, I know, you drive everywhere at 90 MPH in heavy snow.

                    • So i should ignore my worst conditions when i buy a vehicle because it isn't every day?

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                      If you are insane enough to do 85 in a snowstorm, then maybe not. But if you want to be realistic, let's say it takes you an hour more on your occasional 1000km trips. How much time and money do you save by being able to charge at home or work or your destination, compared to having to go to a petrol station every time?

                      Fossil cars are only better overall if your time is worthless and you don't care about money.

                    • I don't care about the time i save on day to day life, most people are fine with a gas station once a week. I care about the time i save on vacation. And the speed i drive in the snow is beside the point. All that matters is the vehicle that will get me there the fastest with the least complication. Those are features i will happily pay a premium for.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                      If you have to fill up during your vacation instead of charging at the hotel or whatever you stay at, then you still come out ahead with an EV.

                      You could even buy an EV that you can camp in. They often have "utility mode" where they can run the AC/heating while the car is off, with no risk of depleting the 12V battery. You can also use the car's AC outlet to run your fridge or microwave etc.

                      A Nio with battery swap tech can change the battery in 6 minutes, so over 1000km it would only be about 6 minutes slowe

                    • What are you talking about? I have yet to stay at a hotel with a charger.

                      What's the point of camping in an EV? If the range of the EV is 400km, you will never be able to be more than 180km beyond civilization. Even less, because EV batteries should be between 20% and 80%.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                      Even in the US there are Tesla destination chargers (that work with all cars). Even just a normal outlet will work.

                      Sorry, I forgot you were one of those guys with a remote off grid cabin, no solar, no generator etc. Obviously, as long as you keep moving your cabin a little further from civilization every time EV range improves, you can confidently say that fossil fuels are the only option for everyone.

                    • My cabin is not off grid, but there is frequently more than one person there for the weekend so I have to assume there may be two or three EVs out there that need to get charged over the weekend. I don't think the 120v my cabin has will cut it. I know normal outlets 'would work' but they take hours and it's not like you are allowed to plug into just any outlet. I have never seen a hotel outlet that was there for the public to use.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by spitzak ( 4019 )

          I don't think that is going to work. The necessary mechanism so that the battery can be removed and replaced in a short amount of time will be expensive and heavy. And as a driver I certainly would be upset if some ripoff place replaced the good battery I had with a crap one.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ceg97 ( 976736 )
      Some many opinions so little credibility. I would be more impressed with the usual blowhards if they actually bet money by going long or short on EV car manufacturers stocks. I would note however, that many careers were ruined as well and hundreds of millions lost by Tesla doubters. Same thing applies to China; its easy to bet on the Chinese Yuan vs the Dollar so all you China haters should put up.

  • build them in WI on that land you own!

  • ...whether FoxxCon factories will consist of 1000's of workers doing things to cars manually - wheelbarrowing wheels and tires to the installation point, 3 guys lifting the wheel into place and applying the lug nuts, and so forth, as they had / have 1000's of people working for peanuts and manually assembling the electronics, when the same factory in the US would undoubtedly have 100's of machines doing it with a few dozen workers making sure the machines are supplied with raw materials and kept in proper a

  • Fact is, that Foxconn has pulled more cons here than any major business in decades.
    Time to block their garbage.

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