Former Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess was a hero to pro-EV activists. He was less popular with certain factions within the company, including the powerful Works Council (to say nothing of the stock market), and in 2022, he was forced out, to be replaced by Oliver Blume. At the time, we wondered whether Diess’s departure… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "VW"
Florida awards VW settlement funding: $68 million for electric transit buses, $57 million for school buses
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has awarded $68 million in grants for the purchase of 227 electric transit buses in 13 counties. The funds came from Florida’s $166-million share of Volkswagen’s $15-billion federal settlement for the Dirty Diesel Debacle. The electric buses will replace existing diesel buses in Alachua, Broward, Duval, Escambia, Hillsborough, Leon,… Read more »
LEAD to supply 20 GWh worth of battery manufacturing equipment to VW
Chinese equipment manufacturer LEAD has contracted with the Volkswagen Group to deliver lithium-ion battery manufacturing equipment for a 20 GWh factory in Salzgitter, Germany. Volkswagen recently announced a plan to invest €30 billion to build 6 battery factories in Europe. For the Salzgitter plant, LEAD will provide Volkswagen with manufacturing equipment including calendering, roll baking,… Read more »
VW’s Elli and Mitnetz Strom launch pilot for smart grid/EV integration
Elli, a brand of the Volkswagen Group, and German grid manager Mitnetz Strom have launched a pilot project to test the integration of EVs with a smart electrical grid. The Innovation Impulse for Future-Proof Grid Integration of E-Mobility project is intended to provide insight into what a practical implementation of smart charging could look like…. Read more »
VW to replace MEB and PPE electric platforms with new Scalable Systems Platform
Volkswagen plans to introduce a new EV, the ID.4 sedan, which is expected to go into production in 2026, and will be built on a new platform. VW’s new Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) is a skateboard-style architecture that Volkswagen Group Chairman Herbert Diess says will replace the existing Modularen Elektrik Baukasten (MEB) structure as well… Read more »
US demand for VW’s ID. Buzz is “through the roof”
The VW van is one of the most beloved vehicles of all time, and the company has been talking about electrifying it for a decade. So, it’s not surprising that the looming launch of the VW ID. Buzz has created beaucoup buzz. The 2023 ID. Buzz is expected to go on sale in Europe in… Read more »
Iconic VW bus goes electric—Volkswagen unveils the new ID. Buzz and ID. Buzz Cargo
The good old VW Bus (aka Microbus, Camper Van, Kombi or Bulli), has one of the most dedicated fan bases in automotive history. Nostalgia for the bus is intertwined with the 60s road-trip experience (I rode to hippie school in one as a child). Many lovers of the bus, unlike fans of other icons such… Read more »
A lesson in innovation: VW’s Herbert Diess invites Tesla’s Elon Musk to an internal conference
A few weeks ago, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess called 120 top-level executives to company HQ for a crisis meeting, at which he announced a series of measures to help his company catch up with Tesla. More recently, Diess went a step further, inviting Tesla CEO Elon Musk to address 200 Volkswagen executives via a… Read more »
Louisiana to use VW settlement money to install 82 charging stations
Louisiana may be more famous for étouffée than electric vehicles, but money from Volkswagen’s dirty diesel settlement will finance several measures to clean up the air in the Pelican (or Petroleum) State. Louisiana received $19.8 million from the 2016 settlement. Around $12 million went to replace 351 diesel school buses (some with propane or CNG… Read more »
“A sad state of affairs”: VW Group CEO Herbert Diess calls out shortcomings of IONITY charging network
Taking a road trip in an EV is no longer a novelty, but it’s still an instructive (and hopefully, fun) thing to do, and the EV road trip story remains an online literary staple. It’s especially interesting when an exec at an automaker takes a trip in one of their company’s new EV models—and even… Read more »