WEBVTT - The Dark Origins of Volkswagen 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:13.920 How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:16.919 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.239 I Heart Radio and I love all things tech. And 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:24.440 while I was doing the retrospective episodes about the last 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:28.440 decade in Tech two thousand nine to two well eighteen, 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:31.600 because I had already done two thousand nineteen, I mentioned 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:35.240 the scandal around Volkswagen and the devices that were used 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:38.159 to help cheat on emissions testing, and it made me 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.760 realize that I haven't done full episodes about the founding 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.680 and evolution of the company. It's a company that's no 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:50.120 stranger to controversy and scandal, and it's also a company 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:55.080 that has created some iconic vehicles, specifically the Volkswagen Beatle. 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:57.800 So today I thought I would look at the story 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:00.800 of Volkswagen, and this is going to become more than 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:03.280 one episode because the company is several decades old, but 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:08.080 will mainly focus on Volkswagen and the Beatle for this one. Now, 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.880 it's always a challenge for me to figure out exactly 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:14.959 where I should begin with these histories, So for this one, 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:17.080 I thought the best thing would be to start with 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:21.000 the founder of the company, Ferdinand Porsche. And this is 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:24.360 the same Porsche whose name would grace the sports car 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:30.080 and luxury car company. Porsche was born in eighteen seventy 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.959 five in Maffersdorff, Austria, Hungary, which is in a region 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.520 that's now known as Libraric or Liberate and I apologize 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:40.160 I don't know the correct pronunciation, but in the Czech 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:45.399 Republic now. As a child, he became fascinated with technology, 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.880 and particularly with electricity. He pursued this interest he learned 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:54.560 more about mechanical systems and then as a young man, 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:57.760 he landed a job at an electrical company in Vienna 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:02.440 called Baila Eggar and Company. He was just eighteen years 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.640 old at the time. Now around that same time he 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:10.560 enrolled in the Imperial Technical University at Reichenburg it's now 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:14.680 the Vienna University of Technology. His affinity for tech and 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:19.040 his enthusiasm for the subject paid off, and he would 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.840 earn a promotion at his job to a management position 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:27.480 pretty early on. By eight nine seven, he was beginning 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:33.320 to experiment with the design and production of electric hub motors. So, yeah, 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.760 we get to talk about some tech, Okay, So first, 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:40.640 let's remind ourselves about the basics of electric motors, and 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:44.480 it all comes down to harnessing electromagnetic energy and making 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.920 it do mechanical work. So it's all about that interplay 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:53.560 between electricity and magnetism. Now, remember electromagnetic energy is one 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:57.400 of the four fundamental forces of nature, along with gravity 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.880 and then the strong and weak nuclear forces. There are 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:05.480 other people who hypothesize additional fundamental forces that would help 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:09.160 explain things that these forces don't explain in our current 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:11.880 understanding of the universe, but that's a topic for a 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:17.880 different show alright. So electric motors, essentially, it's all about magnets. Now, 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:21.320 as I'm sure you all know, magnets can either attract 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.480 or repel each other. It all depends upon the magnetic polls. 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:30.200 Opposite magnetic poles attract one another, so north pole attracts 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.480 to south pole. Now, if you have like poles, those 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.240 repel each other. So the north poles on two different 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.920 magnets will push against each other. And if you could 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:44.200 just harness this natural phenomenon, you can make magnets do work. 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.120 That's the basis behind the electric motor. It's also the 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.960 basis behind a lot of people's assumptions that you can 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.840 use magnets to create some sort of perpetual motion machine, 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:56.120 but there are other factors at play that prevent that, 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:00.240 largely things like friction. Again, that's a topic for another show. 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:05.800 So a very simple electric motor has a few basic components. 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:10.160 One is a field magnet. It's typically a permanent magnet. 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:13.720 This is the stationary magnet or pair of magnets that 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.719 is positioned so that the north and south poles of 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:20.159 the magnet are on either side of an armature that's 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.680 positioned in the middle. So think of like a horseshoe 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.040 magnet right has a north pole in the south pole, 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.000 think of it holding it up right like a U, 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:34.560 and then think about suspending an axle in between the 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.760 north and south poles right in the middle. Now attached 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:39.479 to the armature are a couple of other elements that 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:42.960 I'll get to in a moment. The armature itself is 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.960 a rotor, which means it can rotate, so unlike the magnet, 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:50.240 which is stationary, the rotor can actually rotate. And it's 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.159 also an electro magnet, meaning you have some sort of 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:57.080 conductive wire wrapped around a core running a current through 0:04:57.120 --> 0:05:00.520 that conductive wire generates a magnetic field. This is a 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:05.520 basic feature of electromagnetism, where running a current through a 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:09.320 conductive wire that's in a coil will generate a magnetic field. Also, 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.159 if you bring a coil of conductive wire within a 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.479 magnetic field, that will induce a current to flow through 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.599 that wire, at least briefly. A fluctuating magnetic field will 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:22.120 cause it to do that repeatedly um and make a 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:25.359 steady flow of current. Well, the magnetic field of the 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:30.000 electro magnet interacts with the magnetic field of the field magnet. 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.520 The north pole of the electro magnet gets repelled by 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:37.360 the north pole of the field magnet, and the north 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:39.920 pole of the electro magnet would be attracted to the 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:42.960 south pole of the field magnet. And since the rotor 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:46.080 can rotate, the armature will twist. As a result of 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:50.560 this natural effect, the magnetic field creates a rotational motion 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:56.000 in the armature. Ah, you say, but what happens when 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.800 this twist is complete? I mean when in the north 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:01.400 and south poles of the two magnets just match up, 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.000 and thus your motor would just stop turning. I mean, 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:06.919 the north pole of the electro magnet would be in 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.520 in uh, you know, near the south pole of the 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.719 field magnet, and then it would just stay there because 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.520 that's where the attraction is. So wouldn't it just lock 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.840 into place, and wouldn't the wires get twisted up? So 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:21.200 even if it did keep rotating, it would eventually have 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:25.000 to stop. Anyway, Well, if all you had done is 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.640 rat to wire around a rotating you know, electro magnet 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.560 and turned it on, then yes, it would stop. It 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.080 wouldn't be able to continue rotating, or the wires would 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:38.839 twist up and stop it that way, But you have 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.080 to add in an extra element, and you get what 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:46.040 most electric motors are based off of. And so this 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.120 element is called a commutator. All right, Now, this is 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:51.760 a little tricky to describe in an audio podcast, but 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.839 stick with me. So imagine that you have a copper 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:59.520 band like a copper ring, but it's a wide band. 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.400 Only we're not gonna put it on our finger and 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.760 make it turn green. So instead, imagine that you've got 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:09.800 this wide ring band ring and you cut it in half, 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:13.520 so now you've got two half bands. And imagine that 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.400 you shave a bit off the ends of the bands 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:19.520 or the half bands, so that they don't quite make 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:22.400 a whole ring anymore when you bring them together. And 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:25.120 then you take your armature, which is just the right 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.320 diameter for these half bands to fit on the outside, 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:31.320 and you attach those half bands, so there's a little 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:36.280 gap in between these half bands, but otherwise they are 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:43.320 clasping either side of this armature. Now, the electromagnetic wire 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:47.680 is attached to those copper plates, which means the wire 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:50.280 and the plates are all part of the same rotating piece. 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:54.960 They are not connected to the larger device, so they 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:58.040 aren't going to get tangled up right because they're not 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.120 actually making contact with any of the state actionary elements 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:05.800 of the motor. The armature and commutator can rotate within 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:09.600 this uh this motor and the motor itself has another 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:13.560 piece called the brush. The brush is stationary. You can 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:17.000 think of that as an even larger ring that fits 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:21.080 right around where the copper plates are, and it has 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.840 elements that can reach out and brush those copper plates 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:28.440 through which electric current can flow through. So when you 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:32.880 turn it on, electricity flows through the brush and then 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:36.360 makes contact with these copper plates, which generates the current 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:40.000 that goes through the electro magnet and then that generates 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.840 a magnetic field, and thus it needs to turn because 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:48.120 of the field magnet. Now the current is of the 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:50.800 direct current variety. This is the type of current that 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:54.200 moves in one direction only. This is your basic electric motor. 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:56.520 There are some that work with alternating current, but we're 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:00.120 specifically talking about d C here. So this is the 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.280 type that comes from a battery. And as the current 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:06.240 moves through the brush, the copper plates of the commutator 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.960 transfer the electricity to the wire and the electro magnet 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.760 that generates the magnetic field it interacts with the field 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.880 of the permanent magnet. The armature rotates, but through this 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:21.800 rotation the copper plates change positions, they flip, and you know, 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.760 it's not a full connected ring. There's that little gap 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:30.800 in either side, so there's a moment where the plates 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:34.200 are not making full contact with those sides of the brush. 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:38.360 So when the commutator turns, this has the same effect 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:43.280 as the direction of electricity changing. Because the orientation of 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:46.080 the rest of the circuit has changed, the electricity is 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.040 still flowing in the same direction that the effect of 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:51.080 the circuit is as if it's an alternating current That 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:55.040 means the magnetic pole of the electro magnet flips as well. 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.640 That means the process will repeat itself because what used 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.520 to be the north pole of electro magnet is now 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:04.560 the south pole, and the south pole is not going 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.000 to get along with the south pole the field magnet. 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:11.480 It's gonna get repelled, so it again twists. That whole 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:16.280 twisting rotating process repeats itself and again. As it continues 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:19.760 to turn, the copper plates rotate and the direction of 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:24.199 electricity switches again, and this happens over and over. The 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:27.760 poles of the electro magnet keep switching, and that ends 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:33.360 up creating this magnetic force between the field magnet and 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:38.200 the electro magnet, and it perpetuates this rotational motion. So 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:42.120 that's the basis of an electric motor. You essentially get 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.960 a generator if you reverse this, where you're using the 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:50.280 rotation of the different elements to generate electricity through the 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:55.840 conductive wire. But that's matter for another time. So an 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:59.160 electric hub motor is a motor that's mounted on the 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:02.680 inside of the hub of a wheel. The motor is 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:06.400 stationary with regards to the vehicle frame and the end 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:10.920 of the rotor attaches to some element on the inside 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:13.880 of the wheels hub, and the rotational force of the 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:16.320 motor transfers to the inside of the wheels hub, so 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:19.120 that the wheel of the vehicle begins to rotate. This 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:22.560 is a type of direct drive motor and you frequently 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.520 see it in stuff like electric bikes and e bike 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:30.120 conversion kits. So Porsche was making vehicles that used motors 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:34.000 that were inside the wheels of the vehicles themselves, and 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.120 this created the rotational force necessary to make those vehicles go, 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.600 and he would raise them against other similarly designed vehicles 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:45.240 in the late nineteenth century, and frequently he won. So 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:49.120 Porsche then went on to join a company called hoff 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:53.800 Vagen Fabric Jacob Loner and Company. And I apologize for 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:58.720 my terrible pronunciation. This was part of the Austro Hungarian Army. 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:02.200 The army itself own this company, and he was one 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.880 of the first employees in a brand new department within 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:09.119 the company that developed electric cars. And at that department 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.760 he developed a vehicle called the Sea Point to Phaeton, 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:17.800 which he designed as the P one and P one. 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.839 The P and P one stands for Porsche, so technically 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:25.199 you could argue this was the first Porsche. It looks 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.440 a bit like the type of carriage that you would 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.040 typically see pulled behind a horse, except this one didn't 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:33.920 need the horse. But yeah, you look at and you're like, oh, yeah, 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.960 that looks kind of like a horse drawn carriage, just 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:42.000 there's no horse there. One interesting historical note about Ferdinand 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:46.280 Porsche involves another Ferdinand. This one would be the Archduke 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:51.280 Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Back in nineteen o two, Porsche 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.160 was drafted into army service, which was sort of a 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.400 matter of course at the time, and he happened to 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.720 serve as the chauffeur to the arched Duke for a 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:05.560 short while. This is the same Archduke who on June 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:10.960 nineteen fourteen was assassinated and his death precipitated World War One. 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:13.520 And I know that sounds like a tangent for a 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:16.120 show about Volkswagen, but I would argue, there's actually a 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:18.800 through line that we can apply with the benefit of hindsight. 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:22.559 So let's get back to Porsche. After his service and 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:26.679 after working for loner, Porsche switched companies again. He joined 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.440 the Austro Daimelric company in nineteen o six. He worked 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:33.320 there for nearly twenty years, and during World War One 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:37.240 was part of engineering teams who developed aircraft engines for 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:42.199 the Austrian Emperor, as well as heavy land vehicles designed 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.719 to pull artillery. After the war, he would then join 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:49.760 the Daimler Motor and Gazelle Shaft Company in Stuttgart in 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:53.360 nineteen twenty three. He worked on many projects, including a 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:58.280 Mercedes the introduced the supercharger. Uh. This is a mechanism 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.200 that supplies high pressure air to the cylinders of a 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:05.240 combustion engine in order to increase the efficiency of combustion 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:09.000 to get a bigger bang, which is the secret to 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.959 internal combustion engines. It's really a series of controlled explosions 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:16.680 within cylinders that push out pistons. I'll talk more about 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.880 that a little later in this episode. Porsche worked as 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:23.280 a manager at Daimler for several years until nineteen thirty one. 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:28.400 Then he would leave to found his own company named Porsche. Well, 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.520 technically it had a much longer name, but I've butchered 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:35.000 enough germantic pronunciation up to this point, so I'm not 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:41.040 going to try that one. Porsche's son, Ferdinand anton Erst Porsche, 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:44.920 would work with him at this new company and his 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:48.000 son would play an important part in developing the first Volkswagen. 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.840 But something else would also play a pivotal part in 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:57.760 this story, and that someone was Adolph Hitler. Hitler was 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:01.640 Chancellor of Germany in nineteen thirty four and he issued 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:06.320 a challenge to the automotive manufacturers in Germany. He wanted 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:09.840 a German company to design a vehicle that could be 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:13.200 mass produced easily and cheaply enough to be affordable to 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:17.600 the average family in Germany. Now, ideally, a German family 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:21.440 consisting of a husband, wife and three children would be 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.120 able to use such a car to travel throughout the 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.760 country on the new Autobahn. The price of the car 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:32.160 should be no more than nine hundred reich Mark that 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:35.560 was the currency of the time, and a national savings 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:39.640 plan was proposed that would allow citizens to put money 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:42.560 toward the vehicle so they would be able to save money. 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:45.520 Specifically for one of these it was to be the 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:51.320 People's car, thus the Volkswagen or Folkswagen you can think 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:54.640 of that as folks Wagon. The father and son Porsche 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:58.680 team decided to take the engineering challenge and to submit 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.600 a design for consideration. So the two got to work. 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:05.920 They came up with an idea that would essentially be 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:10.160 a a predecessor to the Volkswagen Beetle, and they submitted 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:13.840 it to the German government. Their work earned them a contract. 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.920 Hitler himself praised Porsche in n five at the German 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:22.360 Auto Show, stating that the design met his vision for 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:26.320 what a people's car would be and that the path 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:29.640 had been laid to make that design a reality. This 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:32.480 design would lead to the production of the first volks 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:37.800 Folkswagen UH the Type one or Folkswagen Beetle. The curvy 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:40.640 car which housed its engine in the back of the 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.680 vehicle rather than under the hood in the front, would 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:48.320 become a true icon. Porsche would get considerable support from 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:52.360 the German government in order to manufacture this car. There 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.440 was no manufacturing facility in Germany that was suitable for 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:57.760 the task at that time, so they were gonna have 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:01.040 to build a new one. And more over, the site 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:03.280 for the factory needed to be in a location that 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:06.399 was easily accessible. It had to be close to major 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.760 areas of transportation in order to get materials and then 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.760 to ship cars back out when they were done. So, 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.359 the team began to search for a suitable location, trying 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:17.600 to find one that would be accessible by boat through 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:21.480 a canal system, by vehicle via the Autobahn, and by 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:25.480 railway lines. They settled on a location near a medieval 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:29.760 castle named Wolfsburg. They built not just a factory, but 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.840 an entire small city to support the people who would 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:36.120 be working in the factory, so it would include homes 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:42.320 and later more insidious structures. Get to that. The name 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:47.240 of the city was originally Statt derk KDF Vaughan, or 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:52.440 City of the KDF Car. KDF itself stood for craft 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:56.199 Dutch Freudough, which means strength through joy, and it referred 0:17:56.240 --> 0:18:00.080 to a Nazi organization that promoted a vision of wealthy 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:04.919 and advanced Germany. Things would not turn out to be 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:08.760 strength through joy, however. I'll explain more in just a moment, 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:19.159 but first let's take a quick break. Money to build 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:24.600 out this manufacturing facility came largely from trade unions in Germany. 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:27.960 The unions actually provided so much of the cash that 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:30.480 was needed to get the factory up and running that 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.520 to this day they still hold some sway in the company. 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:38.320 Union representatives still sit on the supervisory board for Volkswagen today, 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:41.040 and the company is not allowed to just move production 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:45.040 from one plant to another without their express approval. First, 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:50.280 the manufacturing facility itself got the name Volkswagen Plant, probably 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:53.680 because Porsche didn't want to call it the Porsche Plant. Now, 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:57.480 as the facility was being built, things were changing rapidly 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:01.440 in Germany. The Nazi Party essentially took over the unions 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:04.480 and made them part of the German Labor Front, the 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:08.040 party's own union organization, and it was under this version 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:11.440 of Germany's unions that Volkswagen the company would come into being. 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.320 Germany would also start to invade other countries in Europe, 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:19.000 and World War Two happened as a result of that. Now, 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:21.760 due to all these changes, the facility would actually produce 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:26.600 relatively few cars, rather than the mass produced vehicles that 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:30.400 had been envisioned for every German family throughout the country. 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.080 It would actually end up building fewer than seven hundred 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:37.280 Volkswagen Beetles before World War Two really started to ramp up. 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:41.240 Most of those would end up going to influential German families, 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:45.119 particularly members of the Nazi Party, um not the common 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:49.919 German resident. Hitler notably received the first convertible off the 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:54.320 manufacturing floor. The savings plan that had been proposed, the 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:57.040 one that promised to give the average German a chance 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:00.159 at owning a vehicle of his or her own, was 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:03.440 pretty much out the window as the company shut down 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:07.640 all of civilian production during the war. Most of Volkswagen's 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:12.520 plants assets were actually directed towards producing equipment and munitions 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:15.479 for the German armed forces in support of the Access 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:19.000 Powers during the war, and that included stuff like land 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:23.680 mines and tank parts. Also, something that absolutely should not 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.520 be forgotten that we have to address is that much 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:31.720 of the labor at this facility was forced labor. In fact, 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.680 a lot of the early workforce came from Soviet prisoners 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:41.200 of war who were forced to work at Volkswagen's manufacturing facility. 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:43.920 Over time, the company would put other prisoners of war, 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:49.000 also displaced people essentially kidnapped people from Eastern Europe, and 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:52.960 concentration camp inmates all to work at the facility. The 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:56.399 site became home to a concentration camp called our Bites 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:00.440 Dworff in nineteen forty two. Ultimately, three more con centration 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:04.640 camps would be added to the campus and eight forced 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:08.480 labor camps as well. As the war progressed. At one point, 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:12.159 forced labor made up sixty percent of the total workforce 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:16.160 for the company, so it's impossible to describe the labor 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:20.000 practices of Volkswagen as anything other than deplorable during this time. 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:22.720 It would also be a part of Volkswagen's history that 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:27.360 the company avoided acknowledging officially for many decades. It would 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:30.840 eventually make reparations for this, but it would be many 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:34.680 decades before that would actually happen. The plant did manufacture 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:38.440 a couple of different cars specifically for military use during 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:41.560 this time. The first became known as the kuble Wagan, 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:45.679 which means bucket seat car. It was essentially the German 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:50.000 counterpart to the US general purpose military vehicle a k a. 0:21:50.320 --> 0:21:53.640 The Jeep. Now that's not to say that the kuble 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:56.840 Wagon and the Jeep were similar. They were actually very 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:00.440 different in lots of different ways, but they were each 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:05.080 intended to serve a similar purpose, namely, moving people too 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:12.040 difficult to reach destinations over rough terrain, often in battle situations. Initially, 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:15.439 officers in the armed forces in Germany were at odds 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:18.199 of whether or not they should even implement the kuble Wagon, 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:21.360 but that prompted Hitler himself to step in and demand 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:25.040 Porsche's vehicle be put into use. Also, it was in 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:28.800 many ways of variation on the Volkswagen Beetle. Although Porsche 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:32.640 would work with other designers to solve problems like reducing 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:35.160 the weight of the vehicle while still achieving the performance 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:39.320 that the military was demanding, the kubel Wagen was a 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:43.880 really lightweight vehicle and that was mandated by the German government. 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:47.199 It was one of the requirements. The most common version 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:50.800 of this vehicle did not have four wheel drive, but 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:54.760 it did have a limited slip differential. So what what 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:59.600 the heck is that? Alright? So a differential is a 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:03.800 gear assembly, and its purpose is to allow one wheel 0:23:04.080 --> 0:23:07.080 on an axle to turn at a different speed than 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:09.800 the other wheel on the axle. So you've got these 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:12.320 two wheels. They're on the same axle, but you want 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:14.840 them to be able to rotate at different speeds. Now, 0:23:14.880 --> 0:23:17.640 if you're someone like me who doesn't know a ton 0:23:17.680 --> 0:23:20.520 about cars, you might ask, why the heck would you 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:23.040 want two wheels on the same axle to turn at 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:28.320 different speeds? And the answer is physics. Use silly person. Okay, So, 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:30.920 if you're traveling in a straight line. You know you're 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:33.280 on level ground, You're just going down a straight road. 0:23:33.840 --> 0:23:36.159 You wouldn't want your wheels turning at different speeds. That 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:39.120 would be kind of disastrous. You want them all rotating 0:23:39.119 --> 0:23:42.320 it essentially the same speed as you go down the road. 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:45.919 But of course roads are not perfectly straight. They have 0:23:46.040 --> 0:23:48.240 curves that you have to navigate, and this is where 0:23:48.320 --> 0:23:52.800 a differential is important. See a four wheeled vehicle, if 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:54.800 you've got one of those, If you got driving a 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:57.280 standard car, that means two wheels are going to be 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:00.719 on the inside of any given curve, and two wheels 0:24:00.720 --> 0:24:03.040 are going to be on the outside of any given curve, 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:06.399 and the wheels on the inside have to travel a 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:10.000 shorter distance than the wheels on the outside. Right, the 0:24:10.040 --> 0:24:12.920 further out from the middle of the curve you get, 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:15.159 the greater the distance you're going to cover in the 0:24:15.200 --> 0:24:17.480 same amount of time, which means the wheels on the 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:20.560 outside curve would need to rotate faster than those on 0:24:20.600 --> 0:24:23.240 the inside in order to make a smooth turn. Otherwise 0:24:23.640 --> 0:24:26.239 you would have an enormous amount of tension build up 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:28.960 on that outside wheel and you would either get some 0:24:29.080 --> 0:24:32.440 skipping with the wheel or the axle itself would break 0:24:32.480 --> 0:24:38.400 apart from the pressure the incredible tension that was being 0:24:38.440 --> 0:24:43.119 built up. So differentials allow wheels to spin at different 0:24:43.200 --> 0:24:46.159 rotational speeds, and they do this with a series of 0:24:46.200 --> 0:24:51.200 interlocking gears, and open differential is the simplest form of this, 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:54.720