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VW planning 20 new plug-in models for China

With just about everything getting super-sized for China, Volkswagen is following suit with its plug-in vehicle plans for the world's most populous country. VW, Europe's largest carmaker, is looking to sell more than 20 different plug-in models in China within the next four years, Reuters says, citing comments Volkswagen Group China head Jochem Heizmann made in Shanghai. The company is hoping that translates to sales of more than 100,000 plug-ins in China by the end of the decade. Go big or go home, right? There's a huge plug-in vehicle opportunity in China, especially given the bad pollution situation in cities like Beijing and Shanghai and the Chinese government's incentives for plug-in vehicle buyers. Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn said at the Beijing Motor Show this spring that the company would spend $25 billion on at least a half-dozen plug-in models for China by 2018. VW will start selling the e-Golf in China this year and the Golf GTE plug-in hybrid in 2015. VW said in August that it would start selling the e-Golf in the US for about $35,500 in November. That's a $6,500 price hike from the base Nissan Leaf.

VW invests in QuantumScape for potentially fireproof, long-range EV batteries

VW might be getting ready to push its plug-in technology in a big way thanks to an investment in the battery startup QuantumScape. Key point: the solid-state battery is said to be fireproof and will offer tremendous range advantages. Details are not abundant yet, but according to Bloomberg, VW of America bought a five-percent stake in QuantumScape (and has an option to raise its holding). The tech could "more than triple" the EV range of VW, Porsche and Audi plug-in vehicles as soon as the middle of 2015, according to unnamed sources that Bloomberg talked to. Former Stanford University researchers started QuantumScape in 2010. The bare-bones QuantumScape website (there's nothing there other than some contact information) doesn't offer many hints about what's happening at the company, but GigaOM's Katie Fehrenbacher notes that QuantumScape is licensing tech from the "All Electron Battery" project at Stanford a few years ago. It certainly sounds amazing: [It's] a completely new class of electrical energy storage devices for electric vehicles that has the potential to provide ultra-high energy and power densities, while enabling extremely high cycle life. The All-Electron Battery stores energy by moving electrons, rather than ions, and uses electron/hole redox instead of capacitive polarization of a double-layer. ... If successful, this project will develop a completely new paradigm in energy storage for electrified vehicles that could revolutionize the electric vehicle industry. If that's what's coming in a future e-Golf or E-Tron, sign us up.

BMW names new CEO, chairman and head of development

Big changes are afoot in the top ranks at BMW, as the Bavarian automaker has announced not just one, but several appointments in the top floors of its towering headquarters in Munich in what the company itself is referring as "a generational change" in its leadership. The biggest change relates to the chairman of BMW's management board – German-speak for the company's chief executive officer. Effective at the end of the company's Annual General Meeting on May 13, 2015, the company will be run by Harald Kruger. The 49-year-old mechanical engineer has been with BMW since 1992 and has sat on its board since 2008, and has until now been responsible for production for the entire BMW Group. The chairmanship of the board of management currently belongs to Dr. Norbert Reithofer, whom the management is endorsing to chair the supervisory board (which Americans might call the board of directors). That role in turn is currently held by Professor Joachim Milberg, who will step down from his position in order to make way for Reithofer to take his place. Milberg is earmarked to remain with the company to oversee its corporate social responsibility and charitable activities. BMW has also announced the appointment of Klaus Frohlich to serve as its head of development with immediate effect. In his new capacity, Frohlich replaces Dr. Herbert Diess, who in turn has left Munich to take over the Volkswagen passenger car division. Below you'll find statements from both BMW and VW on their new appointments. BMW Group takes steps to initiate a generational change at the head of the Board of Management and Supervisory Board 09.12.2014 - Harald Kruger to become Chairman of the Board of Management in May 2015 - Dr. Norbert Reithofer proposed to succeed as Chairman of the Supervisory Board - Prof. Joachim Milberg to take leading role in the BMW Group's worldwide CSR activities and charitable foundations - Klaus Frohlich appointed to Board of Management with responsibility for Development Munich . At its meeting today, the Supervisory Board of BMW AG took the first steps to initiate a generational change at the head of the company's Board of Management and Supervisory Board. Harald Kruger will become Chairman of the Board of Management effective the end of the Annual General Meeting on 13 May 2015. The current Chairman of the Board of Management, Dr. Norbert Reithofer, will be put forward for election to the Supervisory Board at the 2015 Annual General Meeting.