1966 Volkswagen Beetle Ragtop Grasshopper on 2040-cars

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Are more diesel scandals about to erupt?

More automakers may soon be embroiled, like Volkswagen, in diesel emissions scandals. According to the Daily Kanban, either the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) or the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) will soon announce from 10 to 15 more cases of automakers cheating national diesel emissions rules. The outlet says three of the incidents are attributed to Opel. Studies conducted by the DUH, the University of Applied Sciences in Bern, Switzerland, and the UK's Leeds University found that Opel's diesel Zafira, Corsa, and Vectra models emit more NOx than European regulations allow when tested in ways that go beyond the European testing protocol, such as when done on a four-wheel rolling road instead of a two-wheel rolling road. Opel said the accusations had no merit. Specifically on the Zafira, the DUH asked Opel about the emissions findings, and Opel said that no General Motors software contains any measures to enable cheating. Opel then tested a Zafira of its own "both on a two- and a four-wheel roller dynamometer," finding that "The emission behavior determined in each case does not differ from one another." That makes this a case of he-said-she-said for the moment. The Daily Kanban's sources say the cheating methods "range from the crude to the highly sophisticated," with those at the latter end complex enough to render Volkswagen's methods "pedestrian." As for any automakers who might be named, the matter of real-world emissions exceeding a legal limit doesn't mean a carmaker has designed systems that cheat, it might mean the company designed the car to pass a test. Related Video: News Source: Daily KanbanImage Credit: PATRICK PLEUL/AFP/Getty Images Government/Legal Green Volkswagen Opel Emissions Diesel Vehicles vw diesel scandal icct

VW to unveil diesel-electric Twin-Up! in Tokyo

We've received multiple reports that Volkswagen will be bringing a diesel-electric concept to the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, set to take place later this month. The car, called the Twin-Up!, is based on the Up! city car, with some sources claiming this is a thinly veiled concept that will eventually enter production.
According to Automotive News Europe, the Twin-Up! will reportedly return 214 miles per gallon on the US cycle by combining an 800-cc, two-cylinder diesel and an electric motor. It will also boast plug-in capabilities, and will be able to cover 30 miles on electric power alone.
Autocar has a more complete picture of the Twin-Up!'s powertrain, though, claiming it's a modified version of the hybrid system found in the Volkswagen XL1. The Twin-Up! will get a more potent, 47-horsepower electric motor to the XL1's 27-hp unit, but will retain that car's 47-hp turbodiesel. The battery pack will also grow, from 5.5 kilowatt hours to 8.6 kWh. Both of these increases are necessary due to the increased weight of the Twin-Up! - it's some 900 pounds heavier than an XL1.

1 in 7 Americans say they might buy an EV next, as sales of electrics surge

About one in seven driving Americans may likely purchase an electric vehicle as their next car, according to an AAA poll, meaning that as many as 30 million Americans may pony up for an EV within the next three to five years. While some of the motivation is environmental, survey recipients say that lower maintenance expenses and solo access to high-occupancy-vehicle lanes are also among the factors behind potentially going electric. Take a look at the AAA press release on the study here. The poll indicates that about as many people are planning to buy an EV for their next car as are looking to buy a pickup, which is impressive given that the best-selling US vehicle is the Ford F-150. And things should only improve, as about 20 percent of millennials polled said that their next car would probably be an EV. The results are all the more encouraging, at least among green-car advocates, because gas prices have fallen about 40 percent within the past five years, meaning that there's less of an incentive to go electric from a purely economic perspective. Through the first quarter of this year, US plug-in vehicle sales were up about 63 percent from a year earlier to about 39,000 vehicles. Meanwhile, when it came to AAA's annual green-vehicle awards for this year, Tesla's Model S and Model X took the large car and SUV categories, respectively, while the Chevrolet Bolt and Volkswagen e-Golf were listed atop the subcompact and compact lists. The Lexus GS 450h hybrid and the Ford F-150 took home AAA's best green vehicle in the midsize and pickup truck categories. Related Video: