2012 Volkswagen Jetta on 2040-cars

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Audi's CEO might not have known of VW emissions scheme

There's been no shortage of finger-pointing when it comes to finding people to blame for the Volkswagen diesel-emissions scandal that broke last September. One rather powerful executive, however, appears to have escaped blame. That would be Audi CEO Rupert Stadler, whose company sold about 85,000 diesel vehicles with emissions-cheating software, Reuters says, citing people familiar with the process. US law firm Jones Day questioned executives at both VW and its Audi unit and has found no evidence that Stadler was complicit with the plan, which involved programming Volkswagen-made diesel engines to produce artificially low emissions when the vehicle was being smog-tested. In Audi's case, the engine type in question was the 3.0-liter V6 diesel. Officials with both VW and its Audi unit declined to comment, according to Reuters. That engine was used for the Audi A6, A7, A8, Q5, and Q7 since the 2009 model year, in addition to the VW Touareg and Porsche Cayenne. Audi also sold the VW Group 2.0-liter four-cylinder in the A3 from 2010 to 2013 and 2015. VW has reached an agreement with US regulators concerning that engine, which is also not connected to Stadler. Last month, German newspaper Bild am Sonntag published specifics on how the 3.0-liter diesel cheated the emissions-testing process, including records that the motor was programmed to shut of its emissions-control equipment after 22 minutes of running, or about two minutes longer than typical emissions-compliance testing. Audi said last November that it would work on a software update for the V6's emissions-control system that would be submitted to both the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but the VW unit hasn't reached any settlement with US regulators implying that a solution was agreed upon. Volkswagen's settlement with the EPA will cost Europe's largest automaker as much as $15 billion in the form of buybacks, lease buyouts, vehicle repairs, and investments in zero-emissions technology. VW sold about a half-million vehicles in the US that contained the so-called "cheat" software. Related Video: News Source: Reuters Government/Legal Green Audi Volkswagen Diesel Vehicles vw diesel scandal scandal Rupert Stadler

VW decides against active-cooling system for e-Golf lithium battery

When the 2015 VW e-Golf was introduced at the LA Auto Show last year, VW said it would come with a water-cooled battery. During the Detroit Auto Show, when the car was trotted out again, VW released a new press release that stripped out the "water-cooled" language, but this change went unnoticed. During a recent VW event in Germany, a friend from Green Car Reports realized that the battery on display did not seem to have any water-cooling mechanisms. That set us off on a bit of a sleuthing and we have now learned that VW is not going to include any active cooling in the upcoming e-Golf. In fact, the company is entirely confident that this car - because of what it's designed to do - doesn't need it. "The need for a cooling system wasn't there" - VW's Darryll Harrison VW has been working on an electrified Golf for ages now, and so changes to the plan are to be expected. But battery cooling is vitally important not just to keep the car operating properly but because when things get too hot, there can be serious public relations problems. Nissan began testing a new battery chemistry for the Leaf in 2013 after an uproar from warm-weather EV drivers in Arizona who were experiencing worse-than-expected battery performance. The Leaf has always used an air-cooled battery, which is another way to say that there is no active cooling system (more details here). Tesla CEO Elon Musk once said this approach is "primitive." So, why is VW following the same path? We asked Darryll Harrison, VW US's manager of brand public relations west, for more information, and he told AutoblogGreen that VW engineers discovered through a lot of testing of the Golf Mk6 EV prototypes, that battery performance was not impacted by temperatures when using the right battery chemistry. That chemistry, it turns out, is lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) in cells from Panasonic. These cells had "the lowest self-warming tendency and the lowest memory effect of all cells tested," Harrison said. He added that VW engineers tested the NMC cells in places like Death Valley and Arizona and found they didn't warm very quickly either through operation, charging (including during fast charging) or through high ambient temps. "The need for a cooling system wasn't there," Harrison said.

Germany to accept diesel software fix rather than retrofit millions of cars

BERLIN — The German government will not force the car industry to make costly changes to engines to cut diesel emissions but will settle for software updates for around 2 million vehicles, industry and government sources said on Tuesday. The sources were speaking before a summit of politicians and car executives scheduled for Wednesday to discuss ways to cut inner-city pollution to try to head off bans on diesel cars — a sensitive issue ahead of national elections next month. The summit must also start to restore the reputation of one of Germany's major industries which has been badly tarnished since the Volkswagen emissions scandal broke in September 2015. The auto industry has agreed to software updates for around 2 million cars that will cost around 300 million euros ($354 million), a government source said. An industry source said foreign car makers had not agreed to participate for now. The deal suggests the industry has headed off demands for hardware upgrades that would cut more pollution but would also be much more expensive — with the potential costs as high as 10 billion euros. The deal also foresees a range of other measures to reduce emissions, the sources said, such as subsidies for electric buses, taxis and other municipal vehicles, as well as a commitment to increase the number of charging stations. The sector and the government will each contribute half to a 500 million euro fund aimed at helping local governments reduce pollution, blamed for causing respiratory diseases. CITY BANS The compromise might not cut emissions enough to stop bans of diesel cars in German cities - like the one in Stuttgart confirmed by a regional court last week. DUH, the environmental lobby group that brought the Stuttgart case, has said it wants moves to go beyond voluntary software updates or it will take further legal action. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives have come under fire from consumer and environmental groups as well as opposition lawmakers for their close links to carmakers. "The car industry can always rely on the support of the government when things get difficult," said Timo Lange, a campaigner with LobbyControl, a non-profit group. Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt rejected suggestions on Tuesday that he is too closely tied to the industry. The Environment Ministry has already made clear that software improvements can only be a first step as they reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by about 25 percent on average.