1997 Volkswagen Cabrio Convertible on 2040-cars

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Despite EV push, Audi will lead hydrogen for VW Group

The cynics among us will assume that Volkswagen Group would rather not affix its flagship brand name to its main hydrogen fuel-cell efforts in the wake of that German automaker's diesel-emissions scandal. Instead, there's less of a taint in having those efforts led by VWs Audi division. And that's exactly what's going to happen, reportedly. Audi will lead Volkswagen's way towards selling hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles to the general public, Automotive News Europe reports, citing comments Audi's new development head Stefan Knirsch recently made at VW headquarters in Germany. That first effort may come in the form of the H-Tron Quattro concept SUV that Audi unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in January. That model is slated to have a 373-mile range on a full tank of hydrogen (using the optimistic European driving cycle) and includes a rooftop solar panel that can add 621 miles a year via sun rays. And true to Audi's performance-driving bent, the car will offer up to 282 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque, for a 0-62 miles per hour time of under seven seconds. Audi will also look to cut production costs by reducing precious metals such as platinum in fuel-cell stacks. As for plug-in vehicles, Audi said at last November's Los Angeles Auto Show that as much as 25 percent of new Audis will be plug-in vehicles by 2025. A month later, Audi said that the A3 E-Tron, which was launched in Europe in late 2014, was already accounting for a quarter of Audi sales in the Netherlands and Norway. Related Video: Featured Gallery Audi H-Tron Concept View 25 Photos News Source: Automotive News Europe-sub.req. Green Audi Volkswagen SUV Hydrogen Cars

VW confirms Audi's emissions test transmission anomalies

Just a week after reports that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) found an emissions cheat in some Audi automatic transmission software programs, parent company Volkswagen has come clean. As reported by Reuters, VW's response to an article by Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung stated that the adaptive shift functionality can "lead to incorrect and non-reproducible results." Adaptive shift programs alter the characteristics of a vehicle's transmission to suit different driving styles. Gentle driving will result in earlier shifts and lower engine revs, while hard-charging on the pedals and steering will make the transmission more responsive and hold gears longer. That adaptation can change over time or even on a short-term basis. And it can save fuel. The difference in this case is that is seems that the Audi transmissions were specifically programmed to detect emissions test conditions. As we explained in a previous article, one of those test conditions is keeping the wheel straight. Turning more than 15 degrees shuts the test mode off. According to Reuters, the US government is trying to determine whether this classifies as an emissions cheat device, although VW, Audi, and the EPA have not commented on the record. This latest accusation is separate from the larger VW diesel emissions scandal. Related Video: Image Credit: Getty Editorial Government/Legal Green Audi Volkswagen Emissions vw diesel scandal

Electrify Expo is an all-electrified auto show like the old days

In late July, Autoblog swung by Washington, D.C. to check out the Electrify Expo. Now in its third year of nationwide shows, the Electrify Expo calls itself “North America's largest electric vehicle festival filled with over 1 million square feet of the world's top electric brands.” At every stop, visitors can find out about, crawl around in, drive and ride just about any personal conveyance that uses a battery for propulsion. Truth be told, when the show's PR team reached out to us with an invite, we only considered going after finding out about an area showcasing battery-electric tuner cars. EV tuning is undoubtedly going to be huge—eventually—which got us curious about these early days. We figured weÂ’d brave whatever the rest of the expo was to find out whatÂ’s the equivalent of nitrous for a Tesla. See, the EV event scene is still such that one never knows if theyÂ’ll show up to a mix of science and county fairs with a few cars on display just for truth in advertising, or if theyÂ’ll show up to a parking lot with 26 cars, 10 of them locked, 10 of them homemade, and 6 guarded by promotional hires desperate to tap all your identifying info a tablet before dispensing dubious and superficial information. Which is to say, we didnÂ’t expect much. And that makes us chuffed to report: Electrify Expo is great. We hadnÂ’t been strolling the lot outside the old RFK Stadium for five minutes before thinking, “This feels like an old-school auto show!” The exclamation to that point came from a group of four who cut me off to reach the C40 Recharge in the Volvo booth, one of them exclaiming as if he were the group expert and as if his friends were deaf, “THATÂ’S THE LEAST EXPENSIVE ONE! AND ITÂ’S BEEEE-YOUUUUU-TI-FULLLLLL!” I wasnÂ’t there to judge, I was there for the enthusiasm. Automakers had built small, simple, open booths, parked cars in them, then provided visitors the kind of interactions that will do the most good for anyone wondering about or interested in an EV. We only saw two cars that were off limits, the new Volkswagen ID.Buzz and the Ford F-100 Eluminator. Volvo wouldnÂ’t let me get an espresso from their chic little trailer, either, unless I visited the EX90 Experience trailer first. Otherwise, it was a free-for-all. Tesla had a large booth full of cars. BMW had two i7s open for everyone to sit in, next to the Ford booth with that Eluminator and an unlocked Mustang Mach-E GT and F-150 Lightning showing their cooler-chest-frunk trick.