Wednesday July 08, 2009

Volkswagen plans to launch electric car in 2013

channelnewsasia.com :

German auto maker Volkswagen hopes to turn out its first all-electric car in 2013, VW CEO Martin Winterkorn said Friday [3 Jul 2009]. Volkswagen signed a preliminary agreement in May with BYD of China to produce hybrid or electric cars, having reached a deal in February with Toshiba on the development of engines for such vehicles. Daimler launched in June Germany's first hybrid vehicle almost 10 years after market leader Toyota. German companies until now have mainly focused on diesel engines and, as a result, hybrids represented only 0.2% of the German market last year, with the sale of 6,500 Toyota, Lexus or Honda models.

- So much for diesel or in fact biodiesel, indeed. Recently there have been certain European car makers trying to pump up diesel car sales over here in Singapore. I wonder what they are trying to push on us, when their compatriots back in their homeland region are starting to do the right thing and making a push forward to an electric future. Do I really need to bring up again statements from Singapore's environment agency as this? PM2.5 is a key air pollutant linked to higher incidences of respiratory and heart diseases. In Singapore, diesel vehicles contribute about 50 per cent of the PM2.5 emissions.

Hence, back in Euroland, it is interesting to see European car-makers like Daimler and VW starting to jump on board the plug-in / hybrid / electric car bandwagon. That's progress. Rather than continue to push diesels, bio- or purportedly clean- or not, and insinuating "hybrid-like economy" whilst wilfully ignoring the hybrid/electric environmental edge like in some of those local radio ads that have irked me so (here's looking at you, A***). It's good to see makers like Volkswagen move in the right direction. That's definitely more like it.

See also :

1. Sanyo, VW to co-develop hybrid batteries
2. VW and Sanyo Electric to partner on lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and electric cars
3. GM unveils production version of Chevrolet Volt PHEV plug-in hybrid car
4. Toyota to launch pure electric car based on FT-EV concept in US by 2012
5. Tesla Model S electric car gets $465 million federal funding from Obama Administration

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