Wednesday 24 August 2016

"The New Lithium Top 5": EV Race At Ludicrous Speed - 200 Companies Are Developing 4,000 Models Of Electric Cars In China.




  People are still choking up when I casually drop my line that there are 25 companies which are making 51 models of electric cars in China right now. Bloomberg is writing about another EV maker from Japan nobody-knows-about, but the real Lithium Bomb is coming with the line that around 200 companies are developing estimated 4,000 models of electric cars in China now!
  Should we all check together the lithium demand again? You can find the links below with more information about Tesla Gigafactory 1 and another dozen of Lithium Megafactories  all over the world. I was very cautiously pointing out to the 17 start-ups in China started in 2015 alone and trying to make lithium batteries before.  Bloomberg has brought us all on another page of understanding of this state-level crafted and carefully planned military operation called New Energy in China. Should we start talking about rumored 500 Lithium Batteries factories in China rising up right now?
   In our Lithium Universe, according to Robert Baylis,  Albemarle is number 1 getting 25% after its latest deal in China with Jiangli. SQM is struggling to hold 2nd place with 19%, with all its political problems.  FMC was left behind by Tianqi now with 16% claiming place number 3 and announcing the End of "Old Big 3". Ganfeng Lithium is challenging FMC as well and they both are sharing places number 4 and 5 in the "New Lithium Top 5". International lithium is building the vertically integrated lithium business with $4.5 billion giant from China. Ganfeng Lithium is a strategic partner of ILC and financing our J/V projects in Argentina and Ireland.
  Joe Lowry has pointed out that this recent move by Albemarle in China is expanding its margin, but not increasing the amount of LCE produced. I am following the comments on this chart below from Robert Baylis as well.





Robert Baylis.



Update September 5th, 2016:

Thank you, Joe, for your comments!




Copyright Global Lithium LLC, used with permission.


Warren Buffett's BYD Chasing Panasonic In Lithium Race: EV Lithium-Ion Battery Suppliers Outlook For H1 2016.




InsideEVs.


  Now we know who is feeding exactly this enormous growth of electric cars in China. InsideEVs provides very interesting data on the state of our lithium race for EVs lithium batteries market. Panasonic is still holding the number 1 place with 36% of the market, "but in terms of growth BYD is second to none moving up by more than 300%!" Now Warren Buffett's BYD claims 18% of this market. The first half of 2016 has seen an increase by 81% to nearly 8.5 GWh of lithium batteries capacity. As you can see, there is no Tesla yet on this chart at all! All lithium cells for Tesla are supplied by Panasonic. And there is no lithium under Gigafactory floor in Nevada. 
  Should we discuss the lithium demand picture again with 150 GWh of lithium batteries just coming from Tesla Gigafactory 1 by 2022 after initial 50 GWh in 2018? And what about another dozen of lithium batteries Megafactories all around the globe? 
  International Lithium strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium supplies Panasonic and BYD. Now this $4.5 billion giant from China finances International Lithium projects in Argentina and Ireland. Read more."



InsideEVs.



Lithium Market Small But Complex. Canadian Junior And Chinese Partner Taking Long View.




"Right now, Ganfeng is advancing ILC’s Mariana project in Salta province, Argentina. In July 2016, ILC and Ganfeng co-announced that a $12 million budget has been approved to accelerate exploration and development at Mariana.



ILC president Kirill Klip noted that Ganfeng has a $4.5 billion US market cap holding 19 patents for lithium products. Klip said the $12.5 million will enable ILC to firm up the size of the Mariana resource and move forward its application for a pilot production plant on the property.                                                     
“This access to capital and Ganfeng’s advanced lithium extraction technology puts  International Lithium in an exceptional position to move our project forward,” Klip said.  He cited recent discussions about ILC’s project with senior officials in the Argentinian government as evidence that the country is enthused about foreign investment in natural resource development. Read more."

Lithium 2.0 Launch: Security Of Supply - Galaxy Resources To Buy General Mining In Lithium Takeover.





  "This chart of lithium price in China is keeping awake at night very many people now in our very small industry. Quite a lot of them have totally missed the launch of Lithium 2.0 and now the security of supply is the major geopolitical issue. Tesla is still relying on Panasonic to supply lithium cells and a lot of people are relying on the "Lithium Found in Nevada" under Tesla's Gigafactory floor.
  Ganfeng Lithium: $4.5 billion giant from China is the strategic partner of International Lithium and now financing two of our J/V operations in Ireland and in Argentina. We are going where Lithium is and not just the hype around it. As we have discussed before, Lithium 2.0 is now for real as we have the real electric cars finally on the road and GM Bolt and Tesla Model 3 bring us mass market for electric cars.  Cheap lithium batteries change everything. Exponential growth in EVs sales is following by deployment of Energy Storage now.
  This Lithium M&A is pointing out another very important quality of Lithium 2.0 Launch: separation of dreams from the real people with the real projects, capital and technology to put them forward. There are only very limited number of quality lithium projects and even less capable teams with access to the capital and technology, like in the case of International Lithium and Ganfeng. Read more."


Bloomberg:


"Government support for EVs in China has triggered a wave of startups and venture-capital money seeking to back the next Tesla Motors Inc. About 200 companies are developing an estimated 4,000 models under ambitious government sales goals, and GLM is trying to supply the frames that can be adapted for use in expensive sports cars or mass-market compacts -- saving the carmakers time and money.
“China is our focus because the government is most supportive toward electric vehicles,” Koma, 39, said in an interview this month in Osaka. “For electric cars to become popular, we count on markets like China, where the government has the power to change the infrastructure, to take a lead. Then other markets may follow.”


International Lithium At Wentworth 2016: Back Into The Future - The World Just Before The INTERNET.




Bloomberg:


"More than 200 Chinese companies -- with backers including Terry Gou, Ma Huateng, Jack Ma and Jia Yueting -- are developing 4,000 models of new-energy vehicles and unveiling prototypes at motor shows and home-electronics expos. Traditional automakers and a bevy of startups see opportunity in the government’s commitment to boost yearly sales of NEVs by a factor of 10 in the next decade.
China surpassed the U.S. last year to become the world’s biggest market for new-energy vehicles, a fleet comprising electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell cars. Domestic automakers sold 331,092 units in 2015, according to the state-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers."


Tuesday 23 August 2016

Tesla Powerpack: A New Era In Commercial Scale Lithium Battery Energy Storage.




  This is the real commercial energy storage offer in Australia. Tesla is moving fast to conquer the market with Powerwalls and Powerpacks while McKinsey&Company is giving the validation to the big customers to invest in lithium battery storage.  Already more than 90 MWh of Tesla Powerpack projects have been installed globally.



Energy rEVolution: McKinsey&Company - The New Economics Of Lithium Batteries And Energy Storage.





  "It is time to study the "The new economics of energy storage" from McKinsey&Company - they will be pitching it now to their clients. A small note to the authours: Elon Musk has already announced that lithium battery packs at Tesla produced now at $190 per kWh. And mass production of lithium batteries at Tesla Gigafactory will bring this cost down to $100 per kWh by 2020. Energy storage is the missing link between renewables and the old grid, it will consume even more lithium batteries than exponentially growing electric cars. 
  In places like China, India and Africa trillions of dollars will be saved on infrastructure going with smart grids empowered by Solar and energy storage.  There is no need for the fixed telephone lines if you have mobile networks. The same is happening with Energy Generation and Utilities right now. In this case, we are talking about the disruption of $8 trillion dollars Energy industry compare to $4 trillion dollars of transportation. Below you can find links to the report and more information on this fast-growing energy sector.  Welcome to the Energy rEVolution: now we can store energy and use it when we want it!





  If you think that there is too much hype about Energy Storage now, the anecdote from Tony Seba will be timely: In the mid-1980s AT&T hired McKinsey&Company to forecast cell phone adoption by the year 2000. They have estimated 900,000 cell phones and were off ... by a factor of 120X grossly underestimating the growth in the market and adoption of that new disruptive technology. There were 109 million cell phones by 2000. Read more."

"Battery technology, particularly in the form of lithium ion, is getting the most attention and has progressed the furthest. Lithium-ion technologies accounted for more than 95 percent of new energy-storage deployments in 2015.5They are also widely used in consumer electronics and have shown promise in automotive applications, such as plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. Prices for lithium-ion batteries have been falling and safety has improved; moreover, they can work both in applications that require a lot of energy for a short period (known as power applications) and those requiring lower amounts of energy for longer periods (energy applications). Collectively, these characteristics make lithium-ion batteries suitable for stationary energy storage across the grid, from large utility-scale installations to transmission-and-distribution infrastructure, as well as to individual commercial, industrial, and residential systems.
Our model confirms the centrality of lithium-ion batteries to utility-scale energy storage, but with two important caveats. First, it is critical to match the performance characteristics of different types of lithium-ion batteries to the application. For example, we looked at two major lithium-ion-battery providers that were competing to serve a specific industrial application. The model found that one company’s products were more economic than the other’s in 86 percent of the sites because of the product’s ability to charge and discharge more quickly, with an average increased profitability of almost $25 per kilowatt-hour of energy storage installed per year. McKinsey&Company."






Back To The Future: Clint’s Life Is Fully Charged Thanks To His Tesla Model S, Powerwall & Solar Panels.

 


  "The future is here and it is electric. Now we can see how all 3 parts of Elon Musk Master Plan 2.0 are working together: Solar Panels, Energy Storage and Electric Cars. Watch the video."







Energy Matters:


TESLA POWERPACK – COMMERCIAL BATTERY STORAGE


As Tesla Powerwall did with home energy storage,  Powerpack has heralded a new era in commercial-scale battery storage. Already more than 90 MWh of Tesla Powerpack projects have been installed globally.

Tesla Powerpack battery system combines lithium-ion batteries, leading electronics, thermal management and controls into a robust and cost-effective turnkey solution. It enables businesses to take more control of their energy costs and make the most of their solar power system installations.
Powerpack represents the culmination of more than 10 years of Tesla’s experience in producing integrated battery systems.
This energy storage solution features a high volume, robust and reliable architecture; tested over the 1.6 billion kilometres driven in the highly-acclaimed Tesla Model S.
A dual coolant and refrigerant loop system, superior to air-cooling, and sturdy housing ensures maximum performance and durability in Australia’s often harsh conditions.
A flexible commercial energy storage solution, the Powerpack battery system can be scaled and adapted for a variety of installation scenarios; from 100kWh to 100MWh+ configurations in 250kWh increments. Learn more about Powerpack’s features – contact us online or call our storage experts on 133-SUN.
Tesla Powerpack battery installation

Tesla Powerpack Battery System Benefits

Tesla Powerpack offers many compelling benefits to businesses, including:
  • Load Shifting: Shift mains electricity consumption time-of-use and avoid high electricity prices.
  • Slash Demand Charges: Peak demand charges can make up a significant portion of a business’s electricity bill. Powerpack can enable significant peak shaving.
  • Demand Response: The power your operations need, when you need it
  • Maximise Solar Returns: Make the most of your rooftop solar power generation and minimise solar electricity exports.
  • Emergency Backup: Backup power capabilities during interruption to mains grid supplies.
  • Microgrid: As part of a microgrid, Tesla Powerpack can boost energy independence.
  • Electricity Market Participation: Provide services to utilities as these opportunities develop.
  • Defer infrastructure upgrades: Reduce, defer or eliminate costs to upgrading other energy supply infrastructure.
If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits your business could reap from Tesla Powerpack or commercial energy storage generally, contact our business battery system experts on 133-SUN or via this contact form.

Tesla Powerpack + Energy Matters – A Powerful Combination

We are an Australian-wide Tesla Energy Authorised Reseller with a team of experienced Tesla Energy Certified Installers. Founded in 2006, few companies in Australia have Energy Matters’ experience in designing and installing battery systems.
Contact one of our energy storage experts on 133-SUN or via our contact form to discover more about why Energy Matters is the best choice for your Powerpack installation.

Telsa Powerpack Specifications

Tesla Powerpack Specifications
Energy Capacity95 kWh (AC) | 100 kWh (DC)
Peak Power50 kW
Depth of Discharge100%
Efficiency81.5% and 83% roundtrip respectively, with energy delivered at 25C ambient temperature including thermal control
Operating Temperature Range -25C to 50C
Continuous Power Duration 2 – 7 hours
Battery Chemistry Lithium-ion
Weight1,720 kg
EnclosureIP35 – outdoor rated
DimensionsLength: 1,321 mm  | Width : 966 mm | Height : 2,185 mm
Communications Protocols Modbus TCP, DNP3
CertificationPowerpack is compliant with relevant Australian safety and electrical standards

Monday 22 August 2016

Back To The Future: Clint’s Life Is Fully Charged Thanks To His Tesla Model S, Powerwall & Solar Panels.



  The future is here and it is electric. Now we can see how all 3 parts of Elon Musk Master Plan 2.0 are working together: Solar Panels, Energy Storage and Electric Cars.







Elon Musk Will Build Tesla Solar Cities: The Goal - Exit The Fossil Fuels Era As Soon As Possible.





  Tesla announces plans to buy SolarCity for $2.6 billion dollars today. Now we can see how Elon Musk Tesla Master Plan 2.0 is all coming together with the "Grand Opening" of Tesla Gigafactory and merger with Solar City now going forward. Cheap lithium batteries change everything and now very soon all cars will be electric and powered mostly by Solar. Below you can find the facts pointing in that direction and Goldman Sach is telling to everybody now our Lithium story with Bloomberg amplifying it today.







Elon Musk Moves To Tesla Solar Cities: The Goal - Exit The Fossil Fuels Era As Soon As Possible.





  
  There are very heated debates on the CNBC, Bloomberg and in social media about Elon Musk's bold move to buy out SolarCity by Tesla. Number crunchers will point out to the SolarCity problems, family connections, conflicts of interests and "how many people would be better by buying Tesla Electric Car than Tesla's stock during the recent underwriting". Smarter short sellers can point out to the  "disarray of the solar industry in general" after the collapse of the Sun Edison.  Everything will work now - just to cover the Big Short. They all have a very little time left ... Elon Musk will spell it all out one more time at the Tesla Gigafactory "opening" in July.



  Elon Musk has actually talked about it numerous times and this video  from the last December in France represents the short answer. It is not about money, at least not in Wall Street sense: how much have we cut from our clients last Q? It is all about the vision and goal. Elon Musk sends the last warning to $12 Trillion Transportation and Energy Industries: join disruption or be disrupted. He is already ahead the curve explained so brilliantly by Tony Seba. He is changing the world. "The Goal - Exit The Fossil Fuels Era As Soon As Possible." 
  At his new level, money is of interest to Elon Musk only as a metrics to stay solvent and have enough fuel to propel his vision. In his lengthy letter to all stakeholders of Space X he has said it all - if he could choose he would stay private as long as he can with Tesla as well. And he should not really complain - Tesla has its recent financing for "Model 3 expansion" on the fly. 
  Elon Musk's real value is his ability to move very fast using the advanced technology is giving him to fill the market's void. 400,000 reservations of Tesla Model 3 in a month have demonstrated that people are ready to buy the best electric cars at the right price. They are ready for the Solar power at the right price as well.




  Technology is driving us very fast to those right prices. The map from Solar City above is showing the space we need to power all USA with existing Solar Power generation technology today. Fast falling prices for lithium batteries make Electric Cars and Solar power possible.  UBS has recent finally killed Hydrogen Myth and Fool Cells for transportation in its report - pure battery electric cars will be the  future. Boston Consulting Group at the same Benchmark Battery Supply Conference in London was talking about Solar in Germany. For 40% households, it makes more sense to buy Solar and Energy Storage together already! The return on the capital is higher. Elon Musk is using the market opportunity to pick up Solar City at the distressed level of valuation and bring it into the Tesla family creating the 21st Century Energy Business. We are talking here about Energy Generation and Storage business disrupting $12 trillion industries. Some of this storage will be on wheels, some at your house, some at utility scale - Elon Musk goes to the 1st level of physics: electricity is the most efficient form of energy known to us. Now we can produce Solar power cheaper and we can store it and use when we can.




  $5.3 Trillion dollars subsidies for fossil fuels worldwide according to the IMF is the void to be filled once you become competitive on price. Electric Cars with Tesla Model 3 and Gigafactory are moving there and Solar is getting there as well. So if Elon Musk will take 20% of this subsidised sector can we talk about Tesla as $1 Trillion market cap company one day? I do not know, but it looks that Elon Musk can get there much faster than Apple now. My cry to Apple was for years to Buy Tesla and now to partner up with Elon Musk and start building dozens of Gigafactories all over the world to bring us Holy Grail for the mass market for electric cars $100 per kWh of lithium battery in your new EV. Then my 20/200 formula will finish Fossil Fuels: when $20k buys you EV with better performance than BMW 2 type car with 200 miles range. Holy Grail means that battery will cost only $5k in that car. The rest Foxconn knows how to do with Tesla. Will it ever happen? The question is only when now.
  Please do not get me wrong and read my disclaimer - I am not talking about any shares, business valuations and other small things along this road. We are talking here about the World just before the INTERNET. This is Energy rEVolution. Lithium Technology and the magic metal Lithium are at the very heart of it. Why Lithium and why I am personally investing in "Sugar" for all that "Warren Buffett's Coca-Cola" business above are on the links below.





International Lithium At Wentworth 2016 Presentation.





Lithium Race In Ludicrous Mode: The Rapid Growth Of Electric Cars Worldwide, In 4 Charts.




Vox.


  "Welcome to the fast lane for electric cars everybody. Now even this very impressive chart above has changed dramatically. In our conversations cost of lithium batteries is one of the major tipping points for all cars to become electric in the very near future. The mass media and a broader public are still totally missing the point of the recent, maybe, the most important announcement by Elon Musk. Tesla can already make lithium batteries for Model S and X with the all-in cost of $190 per kWh. Now we should move our discussion from "If" To "When" all cars will be electric. As you can imagine, this groundbreaking shift will affect all forecasts for lithium demand as well.  We will have not 10%, 20% or 40% of EVs - ALL cars will be electric.
  As Tony Seba has pointed out: once the cost of rooftop Solar energy generation becomes cheaper than the cost of energy transmission local Solar will make all centralised nuclear, gas and other Energy sources obsolete in general. We have the Energy World just before the INTERNET. We are moving from Data Storage to Energy Storage. The same is happening with electric cars: once you can have an electric car with better performance than ICE, which is cheaper as well, whole industries will be gone. We are witnessing the generational disruption of the world as we know it by lithium technology making cheap and efficient Energy storage reality. Read more."


Cheap Lithium Batteries Change Everything: EVs Sales Rising Exponentially And Solar Energy Storage Next.




InsideEVs.


  "InsideEVs brings to our attention the major driving force behind the exponential growth of sales for EVs from the very low base.  Cheap lithium batteries change everything. Tony Seba is the best to explain why all cars will be electric by 2030.Elon Musk with Tesla Motors is doing this trick and now Tesla Model 3 will ignite the real transition to the best cars which just happen to be electric. 
  Oil and Auto industry are poisoned by their own toxic cancer hazard emissions from diesel and gas powered ICE engines and still in denial at their own peril about the dramatic shift in technology  announced by Elon Musk last month. Now even truly rEVolutionary estimations for the cost of lithium batteries by Tony Seba are not relevant anymore. 
  Elon Musk has announced that Tesla can already produce lithium battery with the all-in cost of $190 per kWh. Mass production of batteries at Gigafactory will bring cost even lower, next stage will be Lithium Solid State with prices at $100 per kWh and Tesla Model S and X with over 500 miles range. I believe that Elon Musk is already working on LSS at Gigafactory. Dyson has joined the lithium race as well and bought out Lithium Solid State pioneer Sakti3 with a promise to invest $1 Billion in order to commercialise this technology. Lithium Air is still years away from the field applications, but this lithium technology promises to bring us batteries with cost below $100 per kWh and electric cars with 1,000 miles range. Solar Energy Home and Utility Storage Systems will benefit next from this dramatic decrease in technology cost and will become an even larger market for lithium based batteries. We are talking here about the disruption of $4 Trillion Transportation and $8 Trillion Energy Industries. Lithium is the magic metal at the very heart of this Energy rEVolution.
  International Lithium continues to build a vertically integrated lithium business with $4.5 Billion MC giant from China Ganfeng Lithium and now we have 3 Lithium projects in our Upper Canada Pool to secure lithium supply for the West and North American market. Read more."













Saturday 20 August 2016

Join "Ban Diesel UK" Campaign: DieselGate In Europe - How Officials Ignored Years Of Emissions Evidence.



  Our campaign "Ban Diesel UK" is gaining strength with more than 100,000 people reached across social media platforms. We need your help now. Please donate your RTs and Favs on TwitterLinkedIn and Facebook - share and spread the message.


Join our #BanDieselUK campaign - go to this message RT and share! Spread the message, please.


"Meeting minutes, correspondence and conversation records that SPIEGEL ONLINE and the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet have obtained now show that the European Commission and member states knew, since 2010 at the latest, that the extremely harmful emissions from diesel cars were strikingly higher than legal levels.
But apparently none of the officials wanted the automakers to tell them why this was the case. According to EU officials, pressure from countries with a strong auto industry, most notably Germany, significantly reduced interest in an investigation. Instead of doing something about the environmental policy violation, the Commission and the member states passed the buck to each other. This undignified back-and-forth even continued after the VW scandal about manipulated diesel cars in the United States was exposed in September 2015. Spiegel. Links to the full article are below."


Join "Ban Diesel UK" Campaign: Netherlands Wants To Ban Non-Electric Car Sales By 2025.



   Now Netherlands are chasing Norway in the lithium race towards the clean air for its population. We deserve it all. The lithium technology is here, this move will provide the necessary kick-start to the whole New Energy economy based on Electric Cars, Solar and Wind with other renewable energy sources. 
  Our campaign "Ban Diesel UK" is gaining strength with more than 100,000 people reached across social media platforms. We need your help now. Please donate your RTs and Favs on TwitterLinkedIn and Facebook - share and spread the message.  Read More."




London, Join "Ban Diesel UK" Campaign: We Still Can Beat Oslo - Norway To Ban Petrol And Diesel Cars By 2025.





  "Hey, London, while Norway is going back and forward let's beat Oslo and ban all diesel cars right now and all petrol ones  by 2020.  Our new Mayor has promised us all clean air. It is time to deliver! Read more."


Join our #BanDieselUK campaign - go to this message RT and share! Spread the message, please.






Join "Ban Diesel UK" Campaign: EU Encouraged Car Industry to Cheat, French Report Says.




  
Join our #BanDieselUK campaign - go to this message RT and share! Spread the message, please.


  "Our campaign "Ban Diesel UK" is gaining strength with more than 60,000 people reached across social media platforms. We need your help now. Please donate your RTs and Favs on TwitterLinkedIn and Facebook - share and spread the message.  Nothing will change before you will demand it as this new report from EuObserver shows. Below you can find links and my thoughts about DieselGate. It is not only Volkswagen and it is not only Diesel. 
  Nobody has right to take our health away, we can and must demand change from politicians. We can bring change ourselves: just vote with your wallet. It is quite stupid after all to pay yourself to poison your kids with cancer hazard diesel pollution. "Clean Diesel" scam is to deal with first now and then  with "Not So Dirty Petrol"  - Lithium Technology is here. Beautiful electric cars for the mass market are coming. GM Bolt and Tesla Model 3 will bring the first tide to move exponentially from below 1% in the worldwide sales of EVs and there are 25 companies in China already now are producing 51 models of electric cars so that all of us can have a choice of the best ones suiting everybody. Read French Report."







BREXIT DieselGate Fallout: Diesel Vehicle Purchases Banned By City Of London Corporation - Who Will Follow Now?



The City of London Corporation has also created the ‘City Air’ app, which offers low-pollution travel routes around the capital



Join our #BanDieselUK campaign - go to this message RT and share! Spread the message, please.






WHO: DieselGate Is A Cancer Problem - Auto Industry Calls "Not To Jeopardise Diesel As One Of Its Key Pillars."





  
  "The City Of London Corporation makes diesel cars the first casualty of Brexit breaking free from the corrupted EU protecting the automakers of diesel cars with cancer hazard emissions choking us all to death. Who will follow now the new sustainability benchmark in the UK? Let's not waste a good Brexit opportunity and ban all diesel cars right now in the UK and all petrol cars by 2020. We have the real chance to jump start the Energy rEVolution in the UK and make millions of high paid manufacturing jobs in the country providing affordable energy, electric cars and the real Energy Security to the Great Britain. It is time to make Britain The Great again.  Read more."








Spiegel:

Dieselgate in Europe: How Officials Ignored Years of Emissions Evidence

By  and 

When American authorities revealed that Volkswagen used software to trick pollution tests, it spurred widespread outrage. Documents obtained by SPIEGEL show that European officials knew about the deception for years -- but didn't act on it.

"Managers at Volkswagen know with whom they have to maintain friendships. After the then EU Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship Antonio Tajani paid a visit to the company in the spring of 2010, he received a package. "We hope to make you happy with this VfL Wolfsburg jersey signed by the players," the head of VW's Brussels office wrote deferentially."