The fallout from Volkswagen’s massive emissions scandal earlier this year is not nearly complete. While the auto company already faces rampant distrust and dismal sales, it’s also being ordered by federal and state regulators to fix all of its emissions-cheating cars—a huge, expensive task. 
 
 But dozens of Silicon Valley leaders—including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, former eBay president Jeff Skoll, and Energy Innovation CEO Hal Harvey—are arguing that it isn’t even worth it. 
 
 “A great sum of money [will] be wasted in attempting to fix cars that cannot all be fixed,” wrote 44 tech leaders in an open letter to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) last Thursday (Dec. 17). 
 
 Instead of focusing on fixing diesel cars, Musk and his colleagues said, Volkswagen should be required to put its resources toward becoming a zero-emissions car company. 
 
 The letter, which is available in full here, offers a detailed plan, proposing that CARB “release VW from its obligation to fix diesel cars already on the road in California;” direct VW instead to “accelerate greatly its rollout of zero emission vehicles;” and to require that VW invest in R&D or new plants “in the amounts that they otherwise would have been fined,” with the share of fine dollars that would have gone to California being used for investment specifically in California. 
 
 The letter authors note: 
 
 “In contrast to the punishments and recalls being considered, this proposal would be a real win for California emissions, a big win for California jobs, and a historic action to help derail climate change.” 
 
 At this month’s climate conference in Paris, 13 countries pledged to make only emissions-free cars in 2050 and beyond. Tesla, Musk’s own car company, doesn’t sell any cars that run on diesel. 
 
 Zero-emissions cars—”which by their very nature,” the authors of the CARB letter note, “have zero emissions and thus present zero opportunities for cheating”—are coming more and more into the mainstream nowadays. If California regulators were to heed the letter from Musk and his colleagues, Volkswagen—as the world’s biggest carmaker—would certainly be speeding up the global transition. ||||| Photo 
 
 FRANKFURT — Volkswagen is expected to offer cash to the owners of diesel cars in the United States this coming week as it steps up an effort to recover some of the good will it lost after admitting in September that the vehicles were programmed to cheat on emissions tests. 
 
 Volkswagen officials said the company would make an announcement on Monday but would not confirm a report on an automotive website that diesel owners would be offered up to $1,250. The site, The Truth About Cars, said the owners would get a cash card worth $500 that they could spend any way they liked, and another $500 to $750 that they could spend at a Volkswagen dealer. 
 
 The company faces lawsuits from owners seeking compensation for the decreased resale value of the roughly 500,000 Volkswagen and Audi vehicles that were equipped with illegal software. It was not clear whether owners would have to give up any rights to sue if they accepted the cash. 
 
 The software allowed the cars to detect when emissions testing was underway and turn on the emissions controls. But when the cars were on the road, they emitted up to 40 times the permissible amount of nitrogen oxide, which is harmful to the lungs. 
 
 Volkswagen has promised to make changes to cars so they comply with emissions limits. But the repairs are likely to be costly and complicated, and Volkswagen has not said how they would be carried out. Two dealers said on Saturday that they were aware that Volkswagen was planning something but did not know specifics. “There is a program in the works with VW, that I do understand,” said Alan Brown, head of an association of Volkswagen dealers. 
 
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 Cars with illegal software include diesel Golf, Jetta, Beetle and Passat models sold since the 2009 model year, as well as Audi A3 cars. 
 
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 The Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday that some larger Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche diesel vehicles, all of which are produced by Volkswagen, also had software that was not allowed. 
 
 But Volkswagen has denied that the software in those cars was designed to cheat on emissions tests, and they would probably not be eligible for the cash compensation. 
 
 Already, Volkswagen has been trying to minimize the damage to sales by offering cash incentives to existing owners if they buy or lease a new car, as well as big discounts for all buyers. ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday approved one of the biggest corporate settlements on record, Volkswagen AG’s (VOWG_p.DE) $14.7 billion deal arising from its diesel emissions cheating scandal, and the German automaker said it would begin buying back polluting cars in mid-November. 
 
 U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco signed off on VW’s settlement with federal and California regulators and the owners of the 475,000 polluting diesel vehicles in a pivotal moment for the world’s No. 2 automaker as it tries to move past a scandal that has engulfed it for more than a year. 
 
 VW admitted in September 2015 to installing secret software in its diesel cars to cheat exhaust emissions tests and make them appear cleaner in testing than they really were. In reality, the vehicles emitted up to 40 times the legally allowable pollution levels. 
 
 Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller told reporters in Berlin that Breyer’s approval was “an important milestone for us on the way towards clearing up the problem that we caused some time ago.” Hinrich Woebcken, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, pledged to carry out the terms “as seamlessly as possible.” 
 
 Breyer turned away objections from car owners who thought the settlement did not provide enough money, saying it “adequately and fairly compensates” them. Owners will get the pre-scandal “trade in” value of the vehicle and $5,100 to $10,000 in additional compensation. 
 
 “Given the risks of prolonged litigation, the immediate settlement of this matter is far preferable,” Breyer wrote. 
 
 An American flag flies next to a Volkswagen car dealership in San Diego, California, U.S. September 23, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo 
 
 Volkswagen agreed to spend up to $10.033 billion on the buybacks and owner compensation and $4.7 billion on programs to offset excess emissions and boost clean-vehicle projects. 
 
 The settlement was reached with the U.S. Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, the state of California and vehicle owners who had filed a class action lawsuit against VW. Volkswagen has admitted to misleading regulators and still faces an ongoing criminal investigation. 
 
 It represented the largest civil settlement worldwide ever reached with an automaker accused of misconduct. 
 
 While huge, the approved deal was still smaller than the $246 billion settlement reached by cigarette makers with 46 U.S. states in 1998 and the $53 billion by BP to address costs and penalties arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. 
 
 In total, Volkswagen has agreed to date to spend up to $16.5 billion in connection with the scandal, including payments to dealers, states and attorneys for owners. The scandal rattled VW’s global business, harmed its reputation and prompted the ouster of its CEO. 
 
 The settlement covers 2.0-liter polluting diesel Beetle, Golf, Jetta, Passat and Audi A3 cars from the 2009 through 2015 model years. Up to 490,000 people will take part in the settlement because some vehicles had multiple owners. 
 
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 Volkswagen spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan said the automaker expects to begin buying back vehicles in mid-November. VW has hired 900 people, including one to be stationed at each dealership, to handle buybacks. 
 
 MORE COSTS FOR AUTOMAKER 
 
 VW still faces billions more in costs to address 85,000 polluting 3.0-liter vehicles and Justice Department fines for violating clean air laws. It also faces lawsuits from at least 16 U.S. states for additional claims that could hike the company’s overall costs. 
 
 Last month, a Volkswagen engineer pleaded guilty in Detroit to helping the company evade U.S. emission standards. His lawyer said he would cooperate with federal authorities in their criminal probe. 
 
 Kathryn Phillips, California director for the Sierra Club environmental group, said Volkswagen broke the law and that “Judge Breyer is making them pay the price. Volkswagen chose to poison our families with dangerous pollution just to pad its pocketbook.” 
 
 “Today is a landmark day, when this innovative settlement can be put into action, investing billions of dollars into public health protections to remedy these serious violations,” added Cynthia Giles, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assistant administrator. 
 
 VW will provide $2 billion over 10 years to fund programs to promote electric vehicle charging infrastructure, development of zero-emission ride-sharing fleets and other efforts to boost sales of cars that do not burn petroleum. 
 
 Volkswagen has been in intensive talks over how much compensation it may offer owners of the larger 3.0-liter diesel Porsche, Audi and Volkswagen vehicles that emit up to nine times legally allowable emissions and whether it will offer buybacks for some of the polluting SUVs. No final agreement has been reached. Volkswagen faces a Nov. 3 court hearing to update the court on those vehicles’ status. 
 
 Volkswagen agreed to make up to $1.21 billion in payments to 652 U.S. VW brand dealers and $600 million to 44 U.S. states to address some state claims. 
 
 Nearly 340,000 owners have registered to take part in the settlement. About 3,500 owners have opted out. Volkswagen must fix or buy back 85 percent of the 475,000 vehicles under the agreement by June 2019 or face additional costs. 
 
 Owners have until September 2018 to submit paperwork to sell back vehicles. VW will have to destroy repurchased vehicles unless it wins approval for fixes.
– More than 40 technology leaders have proposed a radical solution for how Volkswagen can fix its emissions-test-cheating vehicles: don't. Instead Quartz reports the 44 signers—including Tesla's Elon Musk—of a letter sent to the California Air Resources Board on Thursday suggest putting all the money and resources that would have gone toward fixing diesel cars already on the road toward speeding up production of emissions-less electric vehicles. "Cure the air, not the cars," they write in the letter. Earlier this year, Volkswagen found itself in hot water when it was revealed it had installed software to cheat emissions tests in nearly 500,000 diesel cars sold in the US, the Wall Street Journal reports. Quartz reports regulators have ordered Volkswagen to fix all emissions-test-cheating vehicles currently on the road. In their letter, Musk and the other signers argue it's no longer worth it from a financial or performance standpoint to keep trying to make diesel cleaner, and many owners won't get the fix anyway. According to the Journal, they argue putting that money—as well as money from potential fines—toward electric cars and new zero-emission plants and technologies would reduce pollution 10 times what fixing the individual cars would. They also point out zero-emission cars have no way to cheat emissions tests, Quartz reports. Neither Volkswagen nor CARB have responded directly to the letter, with a CARB spokesperson telling the Journal only that their "focus has and will continue to be cleaning the air and advancing the cleanest vehicle and fuel technologies.”