A Volkswagen’s logo is seen on a wheel of a car at a used car dealership in Seoul, South Korea, October 2, 2015. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
California legislators on Thursday tightened rules requiring Volkswagen to spend a portion of clean car infrastructure funds in disadvantaged communities, passing a bill as part of a budget package agreed with Governor Jerry Brown.
The German automaker previously agreed to support clean vehicles by spending $800 million in California, part of a total of $2 billion nationally, to atone for secretly installing software in diesel vehicles that allowed them to emit excess pollution.
But critics said the plan by VW unit Electrify America for the first $200 million of spending in California could give the automaker a competitive advantage over other vehicle and charging station makers and ignore poorer communities where the state wants to promote clean cars.
Volkswagen proposed spending $120 million on more than 400 highways and community EV charging stations by 2019, often in high-traffic areas where rivals hoped to set up commercial stations.
