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BMW, Ferrari, VW cars use tungsten mined by terrorists

Bloomberg Markets is reporting that BMW, Volkswagen and Ferrari have been using tungsten ore sourced from Columbia's FARC rebel terrorists. The extensive story focuses on Columbia's illegal mining trade and calls into question the provenance of the rare ore that is used not only in crankshaft parts production, but is also found in the world's computing and telecommunications industry for use in screens.
The ore is mined by the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army), and exported to Pennsylvania, where it is refined. The refined ore is then sent over to Austria, where a company called Plansee turns it into a finished product. Now, it's important to note that we aren't talking about the world's supply of tungsten here. In 2012, Plansee's American refinery purchased 93.2 metric tons of tungsten, valued at $1.8 million. That's peanuts, with the entire Colombian tungsten mining industry producing just one percent of the world's supplies.
That doesn't make indirectly supporting FARC any more acceptable, though. BMW, VW and Ferrari are all committed to not accepting mineral supplies from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is also in the grips of a guerrilla insurrection funded, in part, by illegal mining. The same commitment would figure to extend to Colombian mining, but as BMW points out, it's difficult for a multi-national manufacturer to know where every item in its supply chain comes from. A company spokesperson says as much, telling Bloomberg, "These few grams out of the billions of tons of raw materials passing through the BMW supply chain are of no practical relevance."

BMW, VW partner with ChargePoint for high-speed charging network

To promote their plug-in electric vehicles, a number of electric vehicle makers are working overtime to get a charging infrastructure set up. Tesla is famously setting up a network of Superchargers around the world, and today BMW and VW have announced they are partnering with ChargePoint to install almost 100 DC Fast Chargers up and down the US coasts. Installing additional Level 2 chargers is also part of the plan. The new DC Fast Chargers will offer the SAE Combo connectors, which is available on both the e-Golf and the i3. The fast chargers will have "up to two 50 kW DC Fast chargers, or 24 kW DC Combo Fast chargers," BMW says. They will be installed roughly 50 miles apart between Boston and Washington, DC in the east as well as Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego in the west. The 24-kW DC Fast Chargers will fill up an empty i3 or e-Golf to 80 percent in a half-hour or 3.5-4 hours from the Level 2 cords. Speaking at an announcement ceremony at the Washington Auto Show today, ChargePoint CEO Pasquale Romano said that infrastructure investments like this will get more people to realize that they can use an electric vehicle as their only car, and Jorg Sommer, VP of product marketing and strategy for VW North America, said that it's clear that, "The EV is perfect for the daily driver." BMW, Volkswagen and ChargePoint Join Forces to Create Electric Vehicle Express Charging Corridors on the East and West Coasts. · A goal of nearly 100 DC Fast charging ports will be installed to support long distance and metropolitan electric vehicle travel with the BMW i3, Volkswagen e-Golf and other electric cars, along heavily trafficked corridors on both coasts, supported by Level 2 chargers. · These publicly available charging stations will be added to the existing ChargePoint network and can be easily accessed using a ChargePoint® or ChargeNow card. Washington, D.C., January 22, 2015 – At the 2015 Washington Auto Show, two of the top automakers, BMW of North America and Volkswagen of America, together with ChargePoint, the largest electric vehicle charging network, announced an initiative to create express charging corridors along heavily-traveled routes on the East and West Coasts.

2015 Volkswagen Golf SportWagen First Drive [w/video]

Volkswagen currently offers five Golf models in the US, and in just a few weeks it will add the 2015 SportWagen to the lineup. The previous version sold as the Jetta SportWagen, although it was technically a Golf. For the new model, VW product planners decided to align all the hatchbacks under the same name. The SportWagen employs the same engines as the Golf, but significantly stretches its new MQB architecture. The result is greater practicality in the form of cargo room. With the seats up the SportWagen holds 30.4 cubic feet, almost 8 more than the Golf. The gap widens to nearly 14 cu ft with the seats folded; a max capacity of 66.5 cu ft puts the SportWagen into compact crossover territory. That added functionality leads VW to think it can sway buyers shopping the likes of the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. And with the high-mpg diesel variant – 31 mpg city, up to 43 highway – VW hopes to lure those considering fuel-sipping MPVs like the Toyota Prius V and Ford C-MAX. What separates this Golf from those other two segments is the driving prowess we've come to expect from Wolfsburg's best-selling nameplate. While the silhouette is similar to the outgoing Jetta wagon, designers honed the character lines to give the Golf SportWagen a more modern, angular aesthetic. The LED headlights look sharp, the hood now scoops down at a steeper angle into the front fenders, and the general proportions – in line with other Golf models – have changed. The new SportWagen is lower, longer, and wider and than the Jetta SportWagen it replaces. Specifically, it is 1.1 inches longer, 0.7 inches wider, and despite being about an inch lower, actually boasts more headroom. Inside, things look pretty familiar to the current Golf family. There are small, premium touches such as a sporty, flat-ish-bottom wheel, piano-black trim, and an optional one-touch panoramic sunroof that makes the cabin a bright, airy, and pleasant place to be. Otherwise, it's your standard Golf fare, but with a whole lot more room out back. The same two engines that power the standard Golf – the 1.8-liter turbocharged inline-four TSI, and 2.0-liter turbocharged TDI diesel – are also found under the hood of the SportWagen. Gasoline-powered models come with a five-speed manual or a traditional six-speed auto, while the TDI gets six-speed transmissions across the board – either as a row-your-own manual, or a dual-clutch DSG auto with steering wheel-mounted paddles.