Too Much Fun on 2040-cars

Auto blog

VW Emissions Scandal, New Ford Super-Duty | Autoblog Minute

We got our first looks at look at the 2017 Ford F-250 but it?s Volkswagen that has been dominating the news cycle this week, as the emissions scandal over VW clean diesel engines continues. Autoblog Senior editor Greg Migliore reports on the Weekly Recap edition of Autoblog Minute. Ford Volkswagen Autoblog Minute Videos Original Video ford f-250 super duty

VW decides against active-cooling system for e-Golf lithium battery

When the 2015 VW e-Golf was introduced at the LA Auto Show last year, VW said it would come with a water-cooled battery. During the Detroit Auto Show, when the car was trotted out again, VW released a new press release that stripped out the "water-cooled" language, but this change went unnoticed. During a recent VW event in Germany, a friend from Green Car Reports realized that the battery on display did not seem to have any water-cooling mechanisms. That set us off on a bit of a sleuthing and we have now learned that VW is not going to include any active cooling in the upcoming e-Golf. In fact, the company is entirely confident that this car - because of what it's designed to do - doesn't need it. "The need for a cooling system wasn't there" - VW's Darryll Harrison VW has been working on an electrified Golf for ages now, and so changes to the plan are to be expected. But battery cooling is vitally important not just to keep the car operating properly but because when things get too hot, there can be serious public relations problems. Nissan began testing a new battery chemistry for the Leaf in 2013 after an uproar from warm-weather EV drivers in Arizona who were experiencing worse-than-expected battery performance. The Leaf has always used an air-cooled battery, which is another way to say that there is no active cooling system (more details here). Tesla CEO Elon Musk once said this approach is "primitive." So, why is VW following the same path? We asked Darryll Harrison, VW US's manager of brand public relations west, for more information, and he told AutoblogGreen that VW engineers discovered through a lot of testing of the Golf Mk6 EV prototypes, that battery performance was not impacted by temperatures when using the right battery chemistry. That chemistry, it turns out, is lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) in cells from Panasonic. These cells had "the lowest self-warming tendency and the lowest memory effect of all cells tested," Harrison said. He added that VW engineers tested the NMC cells in places like Death Valley and Arizona and found they didn't warm very quickly either through operation, charging (including during fast charging) or through high ambient temps. "The need for a cooling system wasn't there," Harrison said.

Senators want civil, criminal actions against VW

With the Department of Justice just beginning its investigation into Volkswagen's emissions evading diesels, Senators Richard Blumenthal and Amy Klobuchar are pushing for the automaker to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law both civilly and criminally. In a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, they press the agency to make its scrutiny "thorough but expeditious." The politicians allege that VW misled people while pumping huge amounts of pollution into the air. The Senators believe that all the information about VW's actions needs to make it to the public eye, and the DOJ must have a strong response to the automaker breaking the law. "Officials at Volkswagen should be granted no get out of jail free card, and the Department should accept no plea agreement with Volkswagen that does not ensure any and all information regarding criminal acts by high level officials is provided to the Department," they write. Senator Blumenthal is no stranger for championing changes in the auto industry as of late. He was an advocate for the General Motors Ignition Switch Compensation Fund and pushed for a similar organization for Takata airbag victims. He has also been a staunch supporter for greater automotive cyber security. Blumenthal, Klobuchar: Department of Justice Should Take Strong Civil and Criminal Actions Against Volkswagen for Any Violations Monday, September 28, 2015 Condemns Volkswagen's actions that misled hundreds of thousands of consumers and resulted in tens of thousands of tons of additional pollution emissions Calls for thorough but expeditious investigation (Washingtion, DC) – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and U.S Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) today urged the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to take strong civil and criminal actions against Volkswagen for any violations following the German carmaker's actions that misled hundreds of thousands of American consumers and resulted in tens of thousands of tons of additional pollution emissions. In a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the senators called for a "thorough but expeditious" investigation. "Officials at Volkswagen should be granted no get out of jail free card, and the Department should accept no plea agreement with Volkswagen that does not ensure any and all information regarding criminal acts by high level officials is provided to the Department," wrote Blumenthal and Klobuchar. "The U.S.