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EVs Are Starting to Kill the Auto Parts Industry
Manage episode 378046678 series 2826672
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Internal combustion engine valves, or poppet valves, are conceptually simple components that have been around for well over a century. Producing them in mass quantities is done with special-purpose machine tools and interesting friction welding technology to meet stem with head. But as internal combustion engine demand is predicted to flat-line and eventually fall with the advance of electric vehicles, the science and art of valve making would appear to be on the way out.
A recent auction of the assets of a technical valve making facility in Germany chose special-purpose machine tools for valve making on the block at prices a tiny fraction of what they cost new. Valves may be on the way out, but more significantly, the concept of highly specialized, single-purpose machine tools for mass production is on the block as well.
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