EVs Are Starting to Kill the Auto Parts Industry

End of the Line

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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