RC World – 23

Read the passage and answer the following questions.

On the southern edge of Brussels, where the city turns to suburbs, the future of Germany’s most
successful automaker is taking shape inside a peculiar sort of car factory. Here, there are no exhaust
pipes, transmissions or fuel tanks. There are no spark plugs, radiators or manifolds. What the
Volkswagen Group factory does have, however, are batteries stacked to the rafters.

Thirty-six shoebox-sized battery modules, each containing a dozen lithium-ion cells, are packed into
seven-foot long electric-battery packs and slung under the floor of each sport utility vehicle
produced here. The first electric SUV from Volkswagen’s luxury Audi brand, the e-tron, can go 400
kilometres (nearly 250 miles) on a single battery cycle and be recharged in as little as half an hour.
The styling is conventional, the interior is luxurious and the ride is nearly silent.

The e-tron SUV has one job for Volkswagen: Prove that a carmaker that has relied almost
exclusively on the internal combustion engine since it was founded 82 years ago can produce
electric vehicles people want to buy and policymakers will embrace as they cast around for ways to
tackle the climate crisis. Success means that Volkswagen will overtake rivals, including Tesla, in
electric car sales and fend off new challengers from China and Silicon Valley; failure could signal the
beginning of the end for a company with 665,000 employees and annual revenue of $265 billion.
Volkswagen isn’t alone. Established carmakers around the world are ripping up their business
models in the hope of adapting to a new world in which electricity replaces gasoline and diesel.
Factories are being overhauled to produce electric cars, and automakers are snapping up every
battery they can find. The high cost of developing electric cars is forcing some companies to find
partners and turning others into acquisition targets. The need to meet strict emissions standards in
China and Europe means that executives are paying far more attention to the policies being put in
place in Beijing or Brussels, than what rivals are building in Detroit or Wolfsburg, Volkswagen’s
hometown.
(SOURCE: CNN Business)

Q.1. Which of the following option is definitely false, as per the discussion in the passage?
a. Volkswagen can become the leader in electric-cars
b. Very soon, all the non-electric cars’ production will stop in Volkswagen’s plants
c. There is a high cost developed with developing an electric car AAnswers
d. Most of the companies are looking to adapt to the new kid of the auto industry

e. None of these
 RC World – 23
Q.2. Which of the following characteristics of the electric-car can give confidence to the customer?

a. The car can be recharged in only two hours b. The interior is luxurious and the ride is silent

c. It can go 400 km on a single battery cycle d. Both b and c e. All a, b and c

Q.3. Which of the following word is most similar in meaning to the word slung, as used in the
passage?

a. designed b. raced c. suspend d. fitted e. placed

Q.4. What does the author has to say by “Prove that a carmaker that has relied almost exclusively on
the internal combustion engine since it was founded 82 years ago can produce electric vehicles”?

a. The carmaker is one of the oldest carmakers of the world.

b. The internal combustion engine is now being replaced completely by electric vehicles.

c. The new car scores over the traditional combustion engine

d. The carmaker has been positioned as the maker of internal combustion engine only and this
move is poised to alter the image soon

e. None of these

Q.5. Which of the following word can be an antonym of the word overhaul, as used in the passage?

a. damage b. change c. improved d. automated e. manual

AAnswers

ANSWERS: b/e/c/d/a