“You know all those fines? Well…”
In the wake of the Dieselgate scandal, Volkswagen pushed forwards with an electric offensive, with plans to have no less than 1-million VW-badged EVs on the road by 2025. And while popular opinion indicates that battery-powered EVs are the future, the Asian automotive manufacturers have hedged their bets with hydrogen.
As an idea, it makes sense. Hydrogen fuel cells provide power to electric motors that propel vehicles, and refilling hydrogen tanks don’t take too much longer than it would to fill a petrol tank (which is one of the biggest advantages over battery-powered EVs and their charging times). Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota see this, and have written a letter to the state of California urging them to spend “a significant portion” of the US$800mil Volkswagen paid them in fines on improving and expanding hydrogen infrastructure.
This move is very much in their favour and against the interests of Volkswagen, which has zero investment into hydrogen. It’s also pretty funny that they’ve effectively found a way to make Volkswagen pave the way for cars it doesn’t make to flourish in the western state. Of course, they don’t say that outright: Instead, they’re saying that this is merely a move to ensure that California’s plan of having 100 hydrogen refuelling stations by 2020 remains on track.
According to Autonews Europe, Volkswagen would rather have that money spent on more EV charging stations. This is only natural, as the current Volkswagen lineup in the US includes the e-Golf, and the marque intends on bringing a range of electric vehicles to market by 2020. However, reservations have been expressed by other automakers, who aren’t thrilled about the idea of letting Volkswagen control a large number of charging stations in California.
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