Month: September 2017

2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Sportwagen photographed in Washington, DC, USA. (credit: IFCAR)

This story originally ran October 8, 2015, just a few weeks after it was discovered that new diesel Volkswagens and Audis ran undisclosed software that allowed the cars to cheat on their US federal emissions tests. This week was the two-year anniversary of the explosive news, and we're resurfacing this story to take another look at the history of automakers gaming regulations. Since this story ran in 2015, Volkswagen agreed to a multi-billion dollar settlement with 2.0L diesel vehicle customers in 2016, and in 2017, researchers were able to get a more detailed look at the code that made the diesels' driving so dirty.

In mid-September, the US Environmental Protection Agency dropped a bomb on Volkswagen Group, the German company that owns Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, and other notable car brands. The EPA sent the umbrella company a Notice of Violation, explaining that it discovered “defeat devices” on Volkswagen and Audi diesel passenger cars from 2009 and later.

The defeat devices—actually less a “device” than code on the cars’ electronic control module that detects whether a car is in a lab or on the road—were preventing the cars’ emissions control systems from working properly while the car was operating under normal driving conditions, likely boosting the car’s performance or fuel efficiency rating or both. The EPA said that nearly 500,000 of these diesel cars were caught spewing emissions well in excess of the federal rules, sending the company’s stock into a tailspin.

Enlarge / A supporter holds a campaign sign for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump with 'Pepe the Frog' drawn on it during a rally in Minneapolis in November 2016. (credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

What can you do when your favorite frog gets away from you?

When Matt Furie drew Pepe the Frog for a short-lived magazine in 2005, he had no way of knowing the character would become a mascot for the so-called "alt-right," a loose coalition of far-right groups that veer towards white nationalism.

But during the 2016 election cycle, that's exactly what happened—and that's what Furie is now trying to undo. Furie has undertaken a campaign to restore Pepe's image as the gentle, stoner frog he intended, rather than a symbol of hate. He's hired a lawyer to send cease-and-desist letters over uses of Pepe that he didn't authorize. So far, targets include T-shirts being sold on Amazon and elsewhere, a book by an alt-right blogger "Baked Alaska" called Meme Magic: Secrets Revealed, a video game called Build the Wall, and a video by another alt-right blogger, Mike Cernovich.

Enlarge / This photo, taken on May 31, 2015 near a mine between Lubumbashi and Kolwezi, shows a man carrying a bag of minerals as people separate cobalt from sand and rock in a lake. AFP PHOTO / FEDERICO SCOPPA (credit: Getty Images)

Volkswagen is looking for serious, long-term contracts with cobalt producers, according to a Reuters report on Friday. Cobalt is a common component in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, and it's projected to command more and more demand as electric vehicles are adopted in greater numbers. Currently cobalt is trading at about $26 per pound.

Securing reserves of the kinds of materials used in batteries will be key to Volkswagen’s future growth. After the so-called “dieselgate” scandal of 2015, Volkswagen Group pledged to pivot away from diesel to electric vehicles (EVs). The German automaker has said it wants to produce up to 3 million electric vehicles by 2025 and offer 80 electric vehicle models across all 12 brands by 2030. If VW Group succeeds, it would be a considerable feat given that so far there are only about 2 million EVs of any brand on the road worldwide.

As more automakers move to develop EVs, the minerals used to make car batteries will become more and more important. In 2015, Tesla secured two contracts with mining companies Bacanora Minerals and Rare Earth Minerals, as well as Pure Energy Minerals to explore lithium deposits in northern Nevada and Mexico. Cobalt is often used as a component in electric powertrain batteries because cobalt-based lithium batteries tend to have high energy density (although other materials like nickel and manganese can be used in lithium-ion batteries as well, depending on the battery application).