Following the Diesel Gate emission scandal, where the German manufacturer was found guilty of tampering with the emissions tests of their cars, Volkswagen has received many lawsuits for their doings globally. In addition to the fines that have been imposed on the company, Volkswagen have been forced to make amends.
Mathias Mueller, Volkswagen CEO has said that the company will make multi-billion euro investments in the near future in new technologies which include autonomous driving, electric cars, develop battery technology, and the immediate investment of particle filters in their turbo petrol engines. In addition to the investment the company is forced to make for the world wide recall of cars.
Similar to particle filters found in the exhaust system of diesel powered cars, Volkswagen will start installing similar particle filters in their turbo charged petrol engines as well. Volkswagen have said that the groups new TSI and TFSI engines will feature gasoline particulate filters in the exhaust of their cars. The first set of cars to receive the upgrade will be the 1.4-litre, TSI engine in the Volkswagen Tiguan SUV and the Audi A5 by June 2017. Volkswagen claims this technology will reduce particulate emissions by 90%. Up to 7 million Volkswagen vehicles could be equipped with this technology each year by 2022.
“We are also continuing our intensive efforts to enhance the environmental compatibility of our diesel and gasoline models,” Müller said and then announced another milestone related to the internal combustion engine. “We will successively equip the Group's new TSI and TFSI engines with gasoline particulate filters.”
As a part of the rectification of the scandal, Volkswagen will also now invest to develop a range of 30 different electric cars by 2025. Volkswagen expects that electric vehicles will make a third of their sales volume, while combustion engine powered cars will continue to dominate the market in volume till 2030. The company expects to sell two to three million electric powered cars a year globally.
Another chunk of Volkswagen’s investment will go towards autonomous driving and to develop new battery technology. Volkswagen has announced that by the next decade, fully autonomous vehicles with self-driving system developed solely by the company will enter the market. Several billion euros will be invested in this technology to make it the company’s core business.
To improve on the battery technology currently available, Volkswagen will pump in more of its investment towards the development on their own, for a technology the company deems is the key to the transformation to e-mobility.
“We will need 150 gigawatt hours of battery capacity by 2025 for our own e-fleet alone – which would make for a massive procurement volume. We will examine in detail all strategic options for developing battery technology as a new core competency for the Volkswagen Group. In doing so, we will be scrutinising the entire process chain – from raw material right through to battery production.” the CEO explained.
As compensation to customers in the US, it is estimated that VW may submit a plan to pay owners of the diesel powered cars in America around $1000 – 7000 each, in addition to funding the pollution-offset fund. A total estimate for this alone is around the ballpark of $10 billion.
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