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US Asks VW For Electric Cars (news.com.au)

Posted by BeauHD on from the forget-about-it dept.

US authorities have asked the German carmaker Volkswagen to produce electric vehicles in the United States as a way of making up for its rigging of emission tests. German newspaper Welt am Sonntag claims the US Environmental Protection Agency is currently in talks with Volkswagen with the aim of agreeing on a fix for nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles that emit up to 40 times legal pollution limits. The paper, which gave no source for its report on Sunday, said the EPA was asking VW to produce electric vehicles at its plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and to help build a network of charging stations for electric vehicles in the United States.

3 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. This is good because of network nature by JoshuaZ · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is a very good solution. Rather than just try to slap VW with a fine that they'd shrug off, this would use the resources to help push the entire car market into a better environmental situation and one that is less dependent on fossil fuels as a whole. Electric cars are a technology which works better when there are more electric cars and more charging stations. This is essentially a networking effect. So the resulting push by having another major manufacturer make more electric cars will be substantially more positive than simply fining them.

    1. Re: This is good because of network nature by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm good with VW paying the fine, just as I had to do when I broke the speeding & stop light laws.

      I think the government should either have them pay the fine or build infrastructure in the USA. Anything else sounds like a double fine. Of course VW could turn this to their advantage and into a win - making me think of how the record companies instance on DRM helped make iTunes a dominant player in the downloadable music market (maybe this is not the right analogy, but this is the thought that pops into my mind).

      --
      Jumpstart the tartan drive.
    2. Re:This is good because of network nature by Smidge204 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Except it wouldn't be a new product.

      VW has been teasing an all-electric Golf for a few years now, including auto show appearances, but has been dragging their feet bringing it to market. The 2016 e-Golf is only available at select dealers in a handful of states.

      They *have* the product, they just aren't selling it 'cause their bread-n-butter is internal combustion. So the choice is a few billion in fines, or a few billion in getting serious about selling electric cars. ...and the fine won't do anything to offset the environmental damage done, which is what the requirements were for in the first place. It's not only an equitable solution, it's a logical one that actually fulfills the purpose of the law that was broken.
      =Smidge=