This is Climate One, changing the conversation about energy, economy and the environment.

Volkswagen's brazen cheating on air pollution rules rocked an auto industry with a history of shifting

of shifting business.

Almost every company has cheated.

What was different here is the level of cheating treating and the fact they kept on lying.

Dieselgate has now cost the company $30 billion, plus jail time for one executive.

But the scandal has had its silver linings.

One of the outcomes of Dieselgate is that the penalties include investments in electric charging infrastructure.

Will the newly energized push toward electric cars expand the market and drive down prices?

Imagine Super Bowl commercials all over the place with zero mission vehicles instead of pickups.

Imagine the response that the consumer would have.

Dieselgate and the future of the auto industry.

Up next on Climate One.

I'm Devon Strollovich.

In 2017, Volkswagen pleaded guilty to criminal charges of installing cheating software

on nearly half a million diesel cars in the United States

and 9 million worldwide.

The cheating software hid the fact that VW's so-called clean diesels actually broke pollution

laws.

Soot from diesel engines is linked to cancer and other diseases.

Six VW executives were indicted on criminal charges, and the company agreed to pay more

than $4 billion in penalties. It will also pay $15 billion to defrauded drivers.

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