Cancer-causing metal found in electric Volkswagens leads to factory closure and recalls
Production is shut down for VW plug-in and electric cars – with recalls likely to follow – after poisonous cadmium is discovered in chargers
IF YOU drive a plug-in hybrid or fully-electric Volkswagen, you may soon be taking it back to the dealer.
Why? The chargers of these electric VWs have been found to contain the carcinogenic metal, cadmium.
Cadmium is a highly toxic metal that is often found as a by-product of zinc production.
The car chargers are said to contain 0.008 grams of the poisonous metal, which has been banned by the German Federal Transport Authority for use in vehicles.
Concerns about the material leaking into the environment when a car is taken off the road (to be scrapped or recycled) are behind the ban.
With production halted, Volkswagen Golf and Passat GTE, E-Golf and E-Up models are among the 124,000 cars set to be recalled.
Joining them are also a selection of Porsche and Audi plug-in and electric models, which also contain quantities of cadmium.
It’s hard luck for Volkswagen, which has focused on electric power following the catastrophe of the 2015 diesel emissions scandal.
The company’s saving grace, though, is that it didn’t design or manufacture the offending charger.
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Indeed, it denies any knowledge that the chargers contained the dangerous material.
Volkswagen says that, while production has been halted and a recall is expected, a new supplier of charging units has been found.
The fact that blame can’t be laid at VW Group’s door must be some comfort to execs still reeling from dieselgate – including the arrest of Audi CEO Rupert Stadler in June 2018.