Photo: Volkswagen
Volkswagen is in for more than just compensation payments for its clients and recalling the vehicles affected by Dieselgate.
Apparently, the German automaker will have to launch three zero-emission automobiles in California by 2019. The launches are specified in the agreements made between the automaker and the California Air Resources Board, along with the EPA and the country’s Department of Justice.
As InsideEVs observed in the CARB's press release, the German conglomerate will have to launch “two new Zero Emissions Vehicles, and the electric e-Golf or its successor, by 2019.”
One of those new products must be an electric SUV, so that mention rules out the possibility of launching a fuel cell SUV that could have offered a generous range.
If Volkswagen’s task in California was not already difficult, it must launch a second SUV by 2020, and it is evident that it must also be a zero-emissions vehicle. The real problem for VW will be reaching the sales targets that have already been drawn for these new products.
According to the agreement, VW will have to achieve a combined sales figure of at least 35,000 of these zero emission vehicles between 2019 and 2025.
Interestingly, the units sold before 2019 will not be taken into consideration, so the German brand must have a strategy in place to allow it to achieve sustainable sales in a state where Tesla and Nissan already have a generous slice of the EV market.
Evidently, it would not make sense for the Wolfsburg brand to focus on a single state, so Americans in on the other parts on the North American continent have a shot at buying a zero-emission vehicle from Volkswagen in the next few years.
The challenges ahead of the German conglomerate do not end here, as VW will have to create a second Green City project in California. It could include a ride-sharing scheme for zero emission vehicles, or something that involves transportation solutions without emissions. The Germans cannot pick a city at random, but it must select a place that has disadvantaged communities, along with a population of about 500,000.
As InsideEVs observed in the CARB's press release, the German conglomerate will have to launch “two new Zero Emissions Vehicles, and the electric e-Golf or its successor, by 2019.”
One of those new products must be an electric SUV, so that mention rules out the possibility of launching a fuel cell SUV that could have offered a generous range.
If Volkswagen’s task in California was not already difficult, it must launch a second SUV by 2020, and it is evident that it must also be a zero-emissions vehicle. The real problem for VW will be reaching the sales targets that have already been drawn for these new products.
According to the agreement, VW will have to achieve a combined sales figure of at least 35,000 of these zero emission vehicles between 2019 and 2025.
Interestingly, the units sold before 2019 will not be taken into consideration, so the German brand must have a strategy in place to allow it to achieve sustainable sales in a state where Tesla and Nissan already have a generous slice of the EV market.
Evidently, it would not make sense for the Wolfsburg brand to focus on a single state, so Americans in on the other parts on the North American continent have a shot at buying a zero-emission vehicle from Volkswagen in the next few years.
The challenges ahead of the German conglomerate do not end here, as VW will have to create a second Green City project in California. It could include a ride-sharing scheme for zero emission vehicles, or something that involves transportation solutions without emissions. The Germans cannot pick a city at random, but it must select a place that has disadvantaged communities, along with a population of about 500,000.
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