Germany
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These are not good times for the makers or owners of diesel cars, particularly in their European stronghold, where on average half of all new vehicles had been sold with diesel engines. Strict new real-world emission tests have proven hard to meet, consumers are starting to shy away from buying new diesels, and the values of used cars with diesel engines have fallen. Now, more pain for German automakers may be on the way as authorities walk the tightrope between reducing smog-causing emissions and preserving tens of thousands of jobs. DON'T MISS: Audi, Mercedes now updating European diesels...
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Electric car sales in Germany finally start to soar: Tesla leads
It's starting to look like China will lead the world in adoption of plug-in electric cars, but which carmaking nations will follow it? While electric cars were launched simultaneously in Japan and the United States, Europe lagged somewhat behind. Now, however, Germany—home to the largest...
John Voelcker -
Rome joins European ban-diesel bandwagon after German court ruling
First Paris, then a pair of German cities, and now the Eternal City. Two weeks ago, the mayor of Rome announced on her Facebook page that the city would ban diesel cars altogether by 2024. It's not clear whether the ban applies solely to the older, most-polluting diesels as it does already in...
John Voelcker -
German court rules cities may ban older diesel vehicles to cut air pollution
That huge intake of breath you may have heard from across the Atlantic Ocean was the sound of German carmakers gasping at a court decision handed down on Tuesday. After a week's delay in issuing its ruling, a German court decided that individual cities in the country may ban vehicles with diesel...
John Voelcker -
Germany's hydrogen stations exceed US; California beats Japan on density
As of today, there are 39 hydrogen fueling stations in the U.S., all but four of them in the state of California. They serve roughly 39 million Californians, whereas 284 million Americans outside the state have no access to hydrogen fuel-cell cars nor stations at which to refill them. Germany, on...
John Voelcker -
Opel to swap Ampera-e (aka Bolt EV) for all-electric Corsa model in 2020
It's been six months since General Motors completed the sale of its Opel division in Europe to PSA Group, the French parent of the Citroën, DS, and Peugeot brands. With the sale came licenses to run out the model life of GM-designed vehicles sold as Opels (and Vauxhalls in the U.K.) while PSA...
John Voelcker -
German magazine compares real-world electric-car ranges, efficiencies in cold weather
It's 41 degrees F outside. Your electric car, rated for 100 miles, has been charging all night in the cold. Ahead of you lies a 80-mile drive. How confident are you that you'll make it to your destination? What if you want to set your climate control to a comfortable 70 degrees F? Germany's...
Mark Stevenson -
Europe takes the lead in very fast electric-car charging
Europeans will soon have the opportunity to enjoy quiet, emission-free, long-distance motoring with far shorter charge times when driving electric cars along Germany's autobahns. The charging network Allego has rolled out its first 175-kilowatt ultra-fast charging stations—dubbed "Ultra...
Mark Stevenson -
In Germany, neighborhood solar starts to eat away at utility revenue
Five years ago, an electric-utility think tank issued a dire warning to its members: Your century-old business model is ending. The continually falling costs of renewable energy generation, especially solar panels, would begin to erode utilities' business from its most profitable customers, the...
John Voelcker -
VW extends dirty-diesel bonus in Germany; 8 percent traded for new electric car
A scrappage scheme in Germany launched by Volkswagen to take the dirtiest diesels off the road has been extended beyond its planned end date of this month. Two years after the diesel emissions scandal that cost it over $25 billion, Volkswagen is extending an incentive program aimed at owners of...
Mark Stevenson -
VW CEO: European subsidies for diesel should end
One of the most powerful automotive CEOs in the industry at a company that once found monumental success in diesel-powered cars has delivered a commandment to European governments from atop his throne in Wolfsburg. Thou shalt not subsidize diesel. That commandment, from VW CEO Mattias Müller...
Mark Stevenson -
It has become an article of faith among some Tesla fans and owners that the company will inevitably rise to compete with and ultimately defeat the titans of the global auto industry. This belief is especially prevalent for the luxury sector, where three German carmakers dominate the global market for pricey and admired vehicles of all sorts. About Tesla's chances, reasonable minds may differ. DON'T MISS: How Tesla Model S alters car ownership: a buyer's one-year notes The Silicon Valley electric carmaker has done remarkable things in its 13 years of existence, and rattled those German luxury...
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Electric cars near 2 percent of German market (plug-in hybrids included), surging past US
While Volkswagen's diesel scandal has fallen out of the public eye in the United States, its effects continue to be felt in Europe, where diesel-powered cars have long reigned supreme. Falling sales of diesel vehicles in many European countries are somewhat balanced by a boost for electric and...
Sean Szymkowski -
Do Frankfurt's electric cars cover German desperation over diesel decline?
This year's Frankfurt motor show was big, busy, and full of new concepts and production cars spanning the gamut from small electric cars to exotic supercars with prices in the millions. Every German maker showed one or more electric or electrified concepts, and renewed talk of driving on...
John Voelcker -
Mercedes plant to make batteries, electric motors after 113 years of engines
The first vehicle in history considered to be an automobile was the Benz Motorwagen of 1885. It was also the first vehicle from an automaker that has been around for the duration of the industry: we know it today as Mercedes-Benz. In other words, the company has been building cars for 132 years...
Sean Szymkowski -
Audi A5 Sportback g-tron: first drive of natural-gas luxury sport sedan
Audi’s vision of future mobility primarily centers around an array of long-range electric cars scheduled to debut in the coming years under the "e-tron" badge. These are intended to be Tesla killers, as they’re often called in Germany. But there’s another kind of tron with a...
Green Car Reports -
Do German makers face 'iPhone moment,' after dodging diesel bullet?
The Volkswagen diesel scandal has largely fallen out of the public eye in the U.S., as VW and Audi buy back and modify roughly half a million noncompliant vehicles sold from 2009 through 2016. In Germany, meanwhile, the major sellers of diesel vehicles—not only VW Group but also Mercedes...
John Voelcker -
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the country's leader, has detailed why she believes electric-car quotas are not a viable answer to emission and other issues plaguing Europe. Merkel, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, instead urged a much bigger-picture strategy, rather than a demand that more Europeans simply move to electric cars. She also urged German automakers to innovate more effectively, and called for new trust to be re-established between carmakers and regulator following diesel emission scandals globally. DON'T MISS: German government worries carmakers...
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VW, Mercedes, Opel, Fiat launch buybacks of dirtiest diesels in Europe
Almost two years ago, the Volkswagen diesel emission scandal burst into public view, and nothing has been quite the same since then. The news that VW Group engineers had deliberately cheated on eight years of emission tests for the "clean diesels" sold by Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche sent...
John Voelcker -
European commissioner warns against cities' diesel bans, fears market collapse
The warning came even before last week's plans for updates to 9 million European diesel cars by German luxury makers Audi and Mercedes-Benz were announced. In a letter sent to the transport ministers of European Union countries, EU industry commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska warned that proposed bans...
John Voelcker -
Electric Mini to be made in U.K., despite BMW's Brexit worries (updated)
Mini, despite being owned by BMW since 1994, has long been a decidedly British brand. But both employees and fans worried that its British roots might be overlooked as a decision on where Mini's electric car is to be built closed in. Most Mini production takes place at the brand's Oxford plant in...
Sean Szymkowski -
Even BMW's hometown may ban older diesel cars
Diesel-powered vehicles are facing a tough road ahead as more European cities move to ban older, dirtier, oil-burning cars. Diesel has long been the preferred fuel of European drivers thanks to its efficiency and lower carbon dioxide levels. However, mounting research has shown diesel-powered cars...
Sean Szymkowski -
Deutsche Post and Ford to build Transit-based electric van
Deutsche Post, the German mail service, has long hoped to replace its fleet of 30,000 internal-combustion delivery vans with electric vehicles. In 2014, it bought the company Street Scooter, which has since built thousands of small car-sized electric delivery vans. Now Deutsche Post has announced...
John Voelcker