What Does Dieselgate Mean for Electric Vehicles?
Among concerns that have come up as a result of Volkswagen’s emissions-test-cheating software—what will happen to VW? Will there be charges? What will happen with the cars already sold?—one additional concern is starting to sweep through other auto makers: What does this mean for us?
Well, if you ask Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it means that people will soon give up diesel and gasoline cars.
During a press conference in Belgium when he was asked what he thought of the VW scandal and whether people would lose faith in green technology, he said, “Well, I think it’s more the opposite, because what the Volkswagen [scandal] is really showing is that we’ve reached the limit of what’s possible with diesel and gasoline. And so the time, I think, has come to move to a new generation of technology.”
Musk was referring, of course, to electric, battery-powered car technology, such as his company’s Model S sedan, Nissan’s LEAF hatchback or any of a small number of electric vehicles on the market.
However, despite the increasing popularity of electric vehicles and their increasing technological complexity, the Diesel Technology Forum trade group seems optimistic about the future of diesel, predicting an increase in sales as high as 8%.
In either case, after this scandal, vehicle fuel efficiency is likely to increase due to pressures from consumers and government regulations.
News Source: US News
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