A coalition of European car lobby groups made up of manufacturers, suppliers, tyre manufacturers and dealers has written to the EU Commission requesting a relaxation of the schedule for vehicle CO2 targets against the background of the Corona crisis. At the same time, German manufacturers Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW emphasised that they want to retain […]

With the impressive Porsche Taycan, German engineers have shown all their skills. It proves that continued inaction is the highest risk for German domestic brands. At the same time, outdated vehicle designs remain electric top sellers.

Alleged software problems with the VW ID.3 development have been treading the rumour mill recently. Now a spokesperson officially confirmed the issues, while insider information reflects a more dire reality.

Any claimed range or specified maximum charging power must be treated with caution when wanting to know how fast you’ll really progress on longer journeys with one or more charging stops.

Respirators are not the only necessity that carmakers can produce: More and more carmakers want to donate medical face masks during the coronavirus crisis. In Europe, manufacturers are already retooling their production lines.

Government agencies in the US state of New York are providing more than 24 million dollars from the Diesel-Gate Volkswagen funding pot to help operators to replace diesel-powered vehicles with new battery-electric buses.

In order to stimulate the weakening sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids, four Chinese cities are now temporarily offering their own purchase premiums for electrified vehicles produced in China by certain manufacturers.

First carmakers announce closures of factories in Europe due to the Coronavirus crisis unfolding on the continent. PSA will lockdown all vehicle production plants in Europe by 27 March and the French carmaker is not the only one.

Rumours of a new small, low-cost electric car from Volkswagen have been persistent. According to a British media report, the model, presumably called ID.1, will replace the VW e-Up starting in 2023 and will be about the same size.

Australian charging station manufacturer Tritium will be Pod Point’s preferred partner for the planned rollout of DC charging stations in British supermarkets. The first DC charging points have already been set up and more are to follow soon.

Car-sharing in Europe is going electric as city regulators increasingly inhibit polluting vehicles and an ever-increasing range of electric car models becomes available. We analyse the industry developments.

Volkswagen has agreed to a three-year partnership with the British energy supplier Centrica to provide home charging solutions and services for VW’s electric car customers in the UK. The offers will be handled specifically by the Volkswagen subsidiary Elli and the Centrica brand British Gas.

Share&Charge has just launched the Open Charging Network (OCN). The aim is to create a charging roaming network that will make digital communication between charging point operators, eMobility service providers and other market participants easier, safer and more cost-effective.

Volkswagen has given a “concrete outlook” on a fully electric compact SUV. The model, for which the study has so far been called ID. Crozz, will be called ID.4 as a production vehicle. This is the second MEB model after the ID.3, and should be launched before the end of this year.

VW Commercial Vehicles will be showing the e-BULLI based on the T1 at the Techno-Classica at the end of March, and have released the first photo in advance. The e-BULLI is intended to “build a bridge between the historic T2 electric transporter (1972-1979) and the future ID. BUZZ (starting in 2022)”.

Electrify America has announced the construction of 30 solar-powered charging stations in rural California that are not connected to the power grid. The VW subsidiary launched after DieselGate is spending around two million US dollars on this initiative.

Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess says he wants to employ a young climate activist to “aggressively” question the Group’s environmental policies internally. He promises the appointee direct access to himself and other top VW executives as he hopes to hurry measures along.

The Hungarian provider GreenGo is starting an electric car-sharing service in Prague. The fleet will initially comprise of 100 VW e-Up and is to be doubled within three months. GreenGo is also active in Budapest, where the fleet was expanded last year from 45 to 300 electric cars.

Volkswagen will present the Touareg R at the Geneva Motor Show in a few days. This means that the large SUV – now the brand’s top model after the phase-out of the Phaeton – will also have a plug-in drive.

According to an article in German media, Volkswagen is still having massive software problems with ID.3. There is apparently some risk that the market launch of the first MEB model will have to be postponed. The group’s subsidiaries Audi and Porsche are also having their own troubles, only with batteries.

The Global Battery Alliance wants to complete its planned seal for fairly manufactured batteries by 2022. A prototype should be ready by the end of this year. The aim is to provide consumers with significantly more information about the production of the batteries when they buy an electric car, among other things.

The Seat brand Cupra has presented its first model with plug-in hybrid drive. The Cupra Leon eHybrid will be launched this year as a five-door model and as a station wagon version with the addition of a Sport Tourer. The technology comes from the VW Golf 8 eHybrid GTE.

Volkswagen and its partner association VAPV have agreed on a new distribution model in Germany for the all-electric ID. family. The agency model has apparently proven its worth in the fleet customer segment and will now be used in a similar form for private and small commercial customers.

Volkswagen wants to push ahead with the rollout of its mobile rapid charging stations with battery storage in cooperation with the energy company E.ON. The partners have now presented the prototype of a new, flexible ultra-fast charging station in Essen.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWN) will deliver a total of 420 e-Crafter electric vans to the French logistics company Chronopost over the next two years. After extensive testing, the subsidiary of the French Post Group has decided in favour of the e-Crafter.

Volkswagen and Northvolt want to increase the capacity of their battery cell factory in Salzgitter, Germany, by 50 per cent. The joint venture plans to submit the building application for the already planned expansion in March.

The Dutch company Tribus is now presenting two electric buses at the VDV Electric Bus Conference in Berlin: The compact and modular city bus Movitas and the wheelchair-accessible VW e-Crafter mini-bus.

With record sales of 367,000 passenger cars in 2019, Tesla has increased its deliveries by 50% and thus became by far the strongest selling electric car manufacturer in the past year, ahead of the Chinese manufacturer BYD with 219,000 new energy vehicles.

The new version of the Volkswagen e-Up is now on sale in the UK with a bigger battery and a starting price of £19,695, including the £3500 plug-in car grant.

Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess has delivered a seminal speech, depending action will follow. Essentially, the head of the major carmaker asks for binding environmental agreements across the EU, including charging networks and a higher price on carbon emissions.