"...And California, which has set its own EV (electric vehicle) mandate requiring electric vehicles, has taken what might be seen as a disproportionately strong role in determining how Volkswagen makes amends—to the point where Sacramento is dictating the
automaker's product lineup.
The federal Secondary Consent Decree released this week for those vehicles included a separate document for California.
...They go well beyond stating to whom Volkswagen should pay fines or how the state should spend its $800 million share of the $2 billion VW is mandated to spend for infrastructure updates.
It could be the first time ever in which an automaker is required by regulators to build a particular product—a product that might not even have been in the pipeline—as punishment for wrongdoing.
..."The manufacturers will provide at least three new models of electric vehicles for sale in California—including at least one SUV model—before 2019," the California Air Resources Board (CARB) said in a statement accompanying the document's release.
"The companies must add a second electric SUV model by 2020 and keep these electric models on the market through at least 2025."...The California-specific requirements also compel Volkswagen to complete two Green City initiatives.
These can include the establishment of car-sharing services, zero-emission transit applications, or zero-emission freight transport projects, and they have to be implemented in cities with a population of 500,000 or more "that predominantly consist of disadvantaged communities" as identified by a mapping tool.
The settlement for California also requires Volkswagen to make a payment of $25 million by July 1, 2017, in support of vehicle replacement programs and specifically Plus-Up, a program that helps people in low-income communities in the San Joaquin Valley and South Coast regions get an electric vehicle at reduced cost.
Their trade-in clunker is crushed onsite..."
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