The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is asking Volkswagen to build electric cars and help implement charging stations in the U.S. as a form of reparation for rigging vehicles to defeat emissions tests, a German newspaper reports.
According to Reuters, Volkswagen and federal authorities in the U.S. are trying to come to an agreement on a fix for nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles that emit up to 40 times legal pollution limits.
"Talks with the EPA are ongoing and we are not commenting on the contents and state of the negotiations," a Volkswagen spokesman said. The EPA declined to comment.
Some of Volkswagen's cars already feature electric or hybrid motors. It still isn’t clear whether the EPA asked the company to build new models or ramp up production of existing ones at its plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.