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June 15, 2007
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The company also is trying to ensure that the people testing the cars will live near those rare hydrogen filling stations.
In addition, there will be a big push for hybrids and plug-in hybrids, GM executives said. Over the next four years, GM will release 16 hybrids into the market.
Meanwhile, in ethanol, GM will continue to put out flex fuel vehicles that can drive on E85, or a blend of fuel that is 85 percent ethanol. The company has already sold 2.5 million flex fuel cars, and by 2012, roughly half the cars coming out of its factories will be flex fuel cars.
A chief problem with flex fuel cars, however, is the lack of stations that pump E85. Only about 1 percent of stations in the U.S. sell the stuff. To this end, GM will work with stations by providing them with advertising dollars or other promotional materials.
Most of these alternative energy ideas will first appear in the Chevy line, said Susan Docherty, western region general manager for GM, rather than the more expensive brands like Cadillac. The idea is to penetrate the market more rapidly.
There may be a historical element to GM's lack of interest in all-electric cars. The company came out with the EV1, an all-electric vehicle, in the late 1990s. The car developed a small, but rabid, following. GM, however, canceled the leases and took all the cars back a few years later. Some have theorized that GM removed the car from the market to protect its dealer base and oil companies. GM and other automakers (along with several battery executives) have said the withdrawal came because sales were slow.
Either way, it wasn't a public relations high point for GM.
And, by the way, the leases were never huge in number. GM leased only about 800 of the cars over a four-year period, GM's Barthmuss said.
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Oil companies prohibit the selling of Ethanol fuels at stations that their own product is sold at. This means you'll never see E85 from any of the big names including Arco/Shell/Chevron/Texaco/etc. And without that level of support, it's doomed by those very same oil companies who are actively working to prevent any alternatives to oil.
It's not a good thing, but it is business. It will take someone like Walmart to come into the fuel market with their own line to really shake up the Big Oil monopolies.
And GM has the gall to call to say "it?s one of the many ways GM
is working to reduce our dependence on petroleum" with a gas guzzling SUV..?!?
Just wait America, if the dollar continues its spiraling decent
you'll soon see pump prices equalling those here in Europe.
Maybe then you'll be wishing you hadn't bought that 20mpg
"green" SUV and bought a 45mpg Volkswagen instead.
Anyone remember when Gov. Davis in California tried tripling the auto registration fees? He got NAILED on it, and it was one of the nails in his political coffin.
Second, the Europeans love to hate the US, least of being for our vehicle sizes and gas efficiency. While most "Americans" themselves hate this as well and wish we would move to a more fuel efficient society, it will not happen any time soon (and certainly not under this Administration). Therefore, instead of Europeans thumbing their nose at the US about our choices in vehicles, think about how much gas costs here....10 years ago it was $0.96/gal, now it is $2.96/gal, and steadily rising....therefore, your avg idiot consumer is going to buy what he "wants" rather than what he "needs". I say "He" because men predominately buy the mammoth SUVs and Trucks, at least here in Los Angeles.
Perhaps under our next Administration (Pres. Clinton?), fuel efficiency and green energy will be a higher concern; for now it'll take back seat to flag burning, stem cells, and Iraq.
The company I work for has a large campus and already is offering plug in recharge stations for the Prius as an employee perk. Since the Volt takes a standard 120 VAC plug, there is no special charging stations needed. Already that company is talking about providing similar parking spaces for those vehicles. That would reduce my commuting costs to... zero.
Zero. That's NO money going to Big Oil at all. Now I have to be realistic and know that I will still fill the tank and it will run on gas now and then, but instead of filling up once a week, it will be more likely I'll fill up once every month or two.
Figure $30 per tank. Five tanks a month. Take that away and it's $150 month the oil company doesn't get from me. At year's end, that's $1800 that they don't get from my income. That money will go a long ways towards the price of the car itself.
Plus you have to admit, the thing is undeniably cool looking. A hybrid or electric car doesn't have to look ugly (like the Prius), they only build them that way. The Volt could be a mass produced car that really makes a difference in our oil consumption habits.
electrically propelled automobile and one that is neither inconvenient nor impotent, as all of the battery only electrics are. It takes advantage, brilliantly, on the fact that most cars don't travel more than 20 miles from home
much of the time, nor travel more than 40 miles a day (14,600 miles per year). Obviously Larry Hagmen doesn't understand the concept of tinted windows - here in Florida they are everywhere, and
immensely useful.
America is hungry for large vehicles, vehicles that typically get poor mileage ratings, CAFE won't change the way Americans think, the only way automakers can lower their Corporate Average Fuel Economy is by by virtually eliminating full-size vehicles, namely sport utes. The only reason we have people rolling in them in the first place is because of the previous increase, if you remember. :)
Hybrid powertrains should hopefully become standard equipment on cars 10 years from now.
Try and understand the point of the 2-mode Tahoe before dissing it.
By the way, the Prius gets 46MPG, stop drinking Toyota's Kool-Aids would you (*cough* Sequoia).
It takes so long to get the money you invest in a Prius back that it's not even worth it, while the money you'd invest in a hybridized Tahoe comes back rather quickly! And it's well-equipped, too.
Why would we want to have all cars plug intot he grid like the Chevy Volt when the majority of powere provided to the grid is supplied by the dirtiest sources there is to the earth (coal)
Plugging your car in does not make it magical and zero impact free, the electricity is made and then supplied to your house
we need to look more to self hydrogen systems like purdue unvirsity is working on or the guy with the salt water for energy
we need to close the loop for energy of cars, not add it to a much bigger costly, dirty loop known as the grid
is wrong. Interested parties should watch "Who Killed the Electric
Car?" or read the Wiki page at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F
-Jim
Ethanol is only green on saint Patrick's day. All other days it is clear.
So with GM, it's a "we'll believe it when we see it," knowing full well, there's probably no chance we'll ever see it. Without a dramatic sea change in leadership and philosophy.
Groucho said it well "Who do you believe, me
or your own eyes?". We all saw the EV1 or at
least a video. Or shouldn't I believe me eyes?
Brian
What sucked was the battery capacity - less than 100 miles on a charge.
I had thought about the small gas motor idea to recharge the battery back then but never got around to patenting/publishing on it and now that idea is taken. They call it a "serial hybrid" technology now, unlike the Prius' "parallel hybrid".
What most people don't realize is that even if it is made plug-in, where is the electricity going to come from? If its the same non-renewable source like coal, we have just shifted the problem around, not solved it.
In my opinion we need to solve problems systematically
1) Use renewable sources - solar, wind, hydel
2) Use more efficient technologies as applicable. e.g. fuel cells have a higher efficiency.
3) Use a combination of techniques and fitting the problem keeping in mind that there is no "one size fits all" solution.
4) Encourage, plan and implement effective mass transportation. This is woefully lacking in most of the US.
That this if we really intend to solve/mitigate the problems.
We Americans are ridiculous..if it wont go 500 miles on a charge, we dont want it. We better be waking up soon, the Amero is coming ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amero ) and times are-a-changing. We must stop believing everything CNN, Fox and MSNBC tell us as gospel and find out for ourselves.
Remember folks, no-where is it set in stone that The United States will prevail forever, its up to us.
People should not fear its Government, Governments should fear its PEOPLE!!
BDR
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by willdryden
June 2, 2008 2:03 AM PDT
- I ordered mine Volt. http://www.chevymall.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=5077&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=volt Buy it now before they pull the model off the market. I do not think they will ever built the full sized version.
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