Another open question in the Volkswagen Dieselgate emissions cheating scandal is the total cost for penalties, damages payments, etc? Will Volkswagen survive this mess? Will Volkswagen be able to fulfill the promising line of electric vehicles planned for 2017-2018 debut? Recently VW’s new CEO has reportedly said Volkswagen might not survive.…
Getting back to the Volkswagen Dieselgate emissions cheating scandal, one of the open questions is “when” and “why” did VW resort to cheating on emissions tests? Earlier I’d reported statements in the press that Bosch had warned Volkswagen as far back as 2007 against using certain test software to control…
How did the automobile market go from “diesel is stinky, noisy and slow” to “diesels are fun and clean” with turbocharged diesels selling like hotcakes in Europe to the Dieselgate scandal? Some economics researchers studied this question, and found it had to do with opposing goals for emissions control laws in…
The irony of this is rich – Today, the EPA announced new ozone standards, strengthening the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone to 70 parts per billion (ppb) from 75 ppb to protect public health. EPA also is strengthening the “secondary ozone standard” to 70 ppb, which will…
Yesterday, after spending months building up its forces stationed in Syria, Russia suddenly began air strikes in Syria. While Russia claims they’re hitting ISIS targets, everyone else says Russia is instead hitting targets related to rebel groups fighting against the Syrian government. Additionally, Russia has had success at intelligence sharing…
Today, Volkswagen AG announced the Executive Committee had held a marathon 7-hour meeting to discuss the current status of mitigation of VW’s manipulation of diesel exhaust emissions tests. The press release (below) says recommendations will be given to the Supervisory board, but doesn’t give much in the way of details.…
Today, GM unveiled plans to “capitalize on the future of personal mobility by owning the customer relationship beyond the vehicle, building upon nearly two decades of connectivity leadership” and while a large part of that plan is an eventual autonomously driven car based robotaxi service, General Motors announced a couple…
General Motors today announced plans that will position the company to “capitalize on the future of personal mobility,” using its OnStar network (“nearly two decades of connectivity leadership”) and by “owning the customer relationship beyond the vehicle.” Given what GM announced (car sharing services with autonomous vehicles), “owning the customer…
Earlier we saw a report from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) who showed the Dieselgate misbehavior affects not just Volkswagen/Audi 2.0 liter TDI Diesels, but cars from other manufacturers, even ones running on gasoline. That report has gained enough attention that BMW had to respond, since one of its vehicles was…
This summer Royal Dutch Shell worked in the Chukchi Sea to drill for oil, in the open ocean above the arctic circle. That’s a recipe for disaster, which Shell itself admitted would, if oil drilling were fully developed there, cause a large number of large oil spills in a terrain which…
Is the only way Volkswagen can repair its image is to completely erase Diesel engines from its car line-up, and to completely switch to plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles? That’s what Robert Llewellyn says in this rant. Why is his opinion important? In addition to being an actor, TV show…
Now that we’ve spent a week learning about emissions test cheating at Volkswagen, this new information shouldn’t be surprising: Volkswagen was warned at least twice against cheating. Both Volkswagen’s own staff and one of its suppliers, Bosch, warned against efforts to detect and thwart emissions tests, according to reports in the…
A week ago the automotive world was put into turmoil over news that Volkswagen had, allegedly, committed widespread fraud with their emissions test results. Specific Volkswagen and Audi vehicles were emitting lots more pollution than allowed, while their EPA emissions ratings garnered praise and government subsidies by supposedly being the cleanest Diesel vehicles…
With 11 million VW 2 liter TDI Diesel cars emitting 10-40x the NOx pollution they’re allowed, what’s the effect on the environment? According to reporters at The Guardian, it adds up to 1 million tonnes extra NOx in the atmosphere. Those 11 million cars were bought under a promise of being ultra…
According to a study published last week by Transport & Environment, the scandal over Volkswagen’s cheating on emissions testing is a tiny part in a huge problem. T&E is a Europe-focused research group working on environmental issues related to transportation. Their study, Don’t Breathe Here, performed independent testing of a…
