VW to Put Charging Points in Less Affluent Neighborhoods

Volkswagen has revised its electrification plan to include more disadvantaged areas in California.

As part of its dieselgate settlement, VW agreed to spend $800 million in California to build up clean car infrastructure. Critics of the agreement, though, suggested that VW might avoid low-income areas, but the new plan, released Thursday, says that 35% of the funds will be spent in those areas.

That jives with California’s stated intentions to promote clean cars in more than just affluent areas, where expensive electric cars mostly exist currently.

Electrify America will build community charging stations in six disadvantaged communities, according to CEO Mark McNabb. He also said that the brand is working on ways to open the charging network up to owners of used electric cars.

Additionally, more than half of the funds set aside for charging stations on the highway will be dedicated to stations in low-income areas.

This plan is actually a revision of an earlier draft. Dean Florez, a board member of the California Air Resources Board told Reuters that this new draft is a “marked improvement.”

[source: Reuters]

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