Volkswagen News
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In trade talks in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess revealed the automaker is talking with Ford about using its factories in the U.S., and possibly sharing its upcoming electric car platform the American automaker. The two automakers announced in June that they planned an alliance to collaborate on some future products. Diess said that alliance would not include equity stakes for the automakers. READ THIS: Volkswagen details the foundation for 10 million electric vehicles Diess didn't say what models those may be, but Volkswagen has said in recent months that it is...
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Electric tipping point, Mazda electric plans, climate doom, more chargers: Today's Car News
Today, we look at the tipping point for electric cars, which executives from VW and ChargePoint say is already here, and whether it has come soon enough to save the planet's climate. We also check in on Mazda's electric-car plans. All this and more on Green Car Reports. While many in the...
Eric C. Evarts -
VW’s new U.S. CEO: The tipping point on EVs is already here
Some executives at major automakers continue to insist that electric cars remain years away from becoming a mainstream reality—and that it’s harder to sell them than traditional vehicles with gas tanks and tailpipes. Volkswagen of America’s new CEO, Scott Keogh, is most definitely...
Bengt Halvorson -
VW updates I.D. Cargo Buzz with solar for LA Show
Cargo vans look to be the next big opportunity for electrification, as they can save a lot of pollution with all the time and mileage the spend on the road. At the LA auto show, VW updated its I.D. Buzz cargo van concept into the ultimate delivery or contractor van, with a high-powered electrical...
Eric C. Evarts -
VW has no fun trademarking I.D. name series
Volkswagen has generated a lot of buzz with the names for its upcoming series of electric cars: I.D., I.D. Crozz, I.D. Lounge, I.D. Vizzion, and I.D. Buzz, for its recreation of the iconic Microbus. Keep in mind that these are all the names of the concept vehicles, not necessarily the production...
Eric C. Evarts -
Before Volkswagen’s $50 billion push, and the e-Golf, there were these VW electric cars
With the formal nod of Volkswagen’s board on Friday, Volkswagen is embarking upon a five-year, $50 billion all-in push to develop a new generation of electric cars, plus complementary autonomous-drive technologies and mobility services. As Volkswagen works toward a viable, global, mass-market...
Bengt Halvorson -
VW announced plans to build almost as many electric cars as it did diesels. Faraday Future's last founding executive steps away. Tesla introduces Track Mode on Model 3 Performance cars. And we hear which electric car our Twitter followers would buy in our latest poll results. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Volkswagen chief executive Herbert Diess revealed plans for the company to buy batteries for 50 million electric cars in coming years. That's five times as many as the company previously announced, and far more electric cars than the number of illegal diesels the company sold. The...
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VW is planning to build 15 million electric vehicles
UPDATE: The very premise of this piece has been shaken when Volkswagen told the original source of this report, Automotive News, that its chief executive had misstated the number of MEB vehicles it now planned to eventually build to be 50 million, not 15 million. The latter is not surprising based...
Bengt Halvorson -
VW may share electric-car platform with Ford
Volkswagen is investing $40 billion in new electric cars and plans to have 27 new models on the market by 2022. Ford announced last March that it will invest $11 billion in developing hybrid systems for all but one of its new pickup and SUV models due out by 2020. The company also said at an event...
Eric C. Evarts -
How will VW price its next-generation electric vehicles? Think TDI
Volkswagen says that it aims to make “electric vehicles for millions, not millionaires” with its next-generation EVs. While that’s a clever tagline, what ultimately will matter to many households who want a new electric vehicle in the driveway is whether they can afford one of...
Bengt Halvorson -
VW confirms it’s planning for solid-state batteries by 2025
Solid-state batteries sometimes sound a bit like the missing link that would punt electric vehicles soundly into mainstream acceptance. The list of potential virtues for solid-state tech, which would replace the polymer/gel electrolyte commonly used in lithium-ion cells with a solid one, is...
Bengt Halvorson -
Volkswagen electrics, Musk sued, BMW i3 range increase, California incentives: The Week in Reverse
Which electric car will get access to a fast charger network much like Teslas? What was the result of the SEC's investigation into Tesla chief Elon Musk? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending Sept. 28, 2018. Friday, Volkswagen...
Eric C. Evarts -
Volkswagen last week laid out the basics for its set of electric-car components that plans to use to underpin a million new all-electric vehicles each year by 2025. With those components on the Modular Electric Toolkit (MEB), VW claims that it has the first pure-EV platform designed for high-volume production. It’s a claim that may be contested. The Nissan Leaf probably comes the closest; it was certainly designed for high volume, but its platform was adapted from other Nissan compact cars. And at this point, many in the industry might argue with Tesla’s earlier assertions that...
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Here's the battery pack behind VW's global electric-vehicle push
No single core component in an electric vehicle costs more—or probably matters more for the acceptance of EVs—than the battery pack. Many would argue that one of the best decisions Tesla ever made was going with the Panasonic 18650 cells in the Model S (and later, Model X). Thanks in...
Bengt Halvorson -
Will Volkswagen's electric Microbus be made in the USA?
Volkswagen is expecting to launch at least three new all-electric vehicles in the U.S. in the next five years. The first will be the 2020 introduction of the ID, a unique electric-only that would replace the e-Golf; the much-anticipated, all-electric ID Buzz, a remake on the counterculture-icon...
Bengt Halvorson -
Electric Volkswagen Microbus concept gets right down to business
The panel of Volkswagen ID Buzz concepts based on the automaker's all-electric frame has finally reached, well, panel status. In Hannover, Germany, Volkswagen on Thursday showed off its ID Buzz Cargo concept based on its MEB electric-car architecture. According to VW, the panel van shows off the...
Aaron Cole -
VW plans 27 electric cars by 2022 on new platform
Volkswagen is doubling down on its electric car strategy, it announced at a press event in Dresden, Germany on Monday. The company announced plans to build 27 electric cars on its upcoming MEB affordable electric-car architecture by 2022 in an effort it calls "Electric for All." Those include cars...
Eric C. Evarts -
Final deadline for VW TDI diesel settlement
Two more days. That's all the time owners of 2.0-liter diesel VWs have to file claims to receive a large financial settlement and to have their cars repaired to meet emissions standards. TDI owners have had plenty of notice to file paperwork to receive a financial settlement to replace or fix their...
Eric C. Evarts -
Volkswagen plans to fire six engineers and managers implicated in the diesel emissions scandal, German media reports noted Wednesday. The dismissals are because prosecutors have recently unsealed evidence of the employees' involvement in the wide-ranging Volkswagen scandal, according to a report by The Associated Press. German prosecutors have targeted an inner circle of 39 Volkswagen engineers and managers, according to reports. READ THIS: Report: Former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn criminally charged over dieselgate More workers are expected to be dismissed "as soon as possible," according to...
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VW TDI claims, more Tesla details, "Jetstones" promote electric cars: Today's Car News
The VW TDI settlement nears completion. Elon Musk reveals more details about his privatization plan for Tesla. And Electrify America rolls out the "Jetstones" to promote electric cars. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Owners of 2.0-liter VW TDI models have until Sept. 1 to file for...
Eric C. Evarts -
Time is running out for VW diesel claims
Time is running out for owners of 2.0-liter VW TDIs to file their claims against the company and receive a settlement that could be worth at least $5,100. All claims in the diesel emissions lawsuit must be filed by Sept. 1. So far, Volkswagen has bought back more than 350,000 TDIs and repaired...
Eric C. Evarts -
Filing may uncover plans for hybrid VW Beetle coming soon
Just a few months ago, we heard that Volkswagen was not planning to develop a successor to the current Beetle but a recent filing shows that it might have one last hurrah for 2019. A June filing by supplier Magneti Marelli shows an instrument cluster that appears almost identical to the current...
Bozi Tatarevic -
Report: VW may build ID Crozz and ID Buzz electric cars in America
Two future VW electric cars could be built in the U.S. for American buyers, according to a report Tuesday. VW's North American CEO, Hinrich Woebcken, told British magazine Autocar that upcoming electric cars, which may include the ID Crozz and ID Buzz, would need to be built in the States "for...
Eric C. Evarts -
VW e-Golf in very short supply as company prepares for ID Crozz electric car
As VW gears up to begin selling its new ID line of electric cars, supplies of its existing electric car, the e-Golf have dropped to just 10 cars nationwide, according to our partners at Cars Direct. Inventories that low usually mean that cars are being discontinued, but Volkswagen said the model...
Eric C. Evarts