The first plug-in electric American car, the Chevy Volt, is going on the market in 2010. It doesn’t look like the phallus some gearheads want it to look like (they were into the old car-show model, shown here), and this is causing lamentation in the blogosphere. Pay no attention; this is very good news.
Basically, the Volt can go 40 miles without using any gasoline, and plugs into any old home socket. It takes a few hours to recharge. Only when you’re taking long trips do you need to use gas; the gas motor kicks in after 40 miles and takes you another 300. It uses less electricity a year than a fridge.
The only problem: It’s not really viable as a mass-market business proposition yet. It’ll probably cost about $40,000, and GM doesn’t expect to make a significant profit, even with that hefty price. So while in my wildest dreams it becomes illegal to make any other kind of family car in 2011, that’s not going to happen without destroying the American economy.
Image: flickr/jurvetson
September 16th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Sorry, but I believe there are actually two problems. The one you missed is that GM failed to incorporate photovoltaic cells into the Volt. If GM had looked into thin-film solar panels for the roof of the car, they could have drastically improved its range. Companies like Nanosolar have proven the cost-effectiveness of thin-film solar panels. For the minimal cost, the Volt could sit out in the company parking lot and charge from the sun during the day, rather than sucking power from the grid at night. Too bad GM, you almost hit it perfect this time. We can only hope that the Volt will still sell so that the thin-film solar roofs can be implemented on future models.
September 25th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
PTownGrad makes my desired point, whether or not intended. Large companies are NOT the best ones to develop & sell a new technology, especially one that undercuts the established engine plants that GM has. As gasoline engines go, GM’s engines are very good, and the cars they make fit certain functional markets very well – a fully ‘developed’ technology. they depend on an established market, and must make very large bets with large payoffs to even notice the effect on the corporate bottom line.
A small start-up company, perhaps with Nanosolar, could come up with something like the Volt, make a few, sell a few, adjust the technology as needed and make more. They would have a cash flow to support added development, and they would really, really care to make their baby come out ahead. They could sell to small niche markets, such as short, near-town commutes and city fleets. The real-world experience would tell the engineers how to adapt the cars to those conditions. Suppose the US Post Office accepted a small Federal incentive package to underwrite a 15% premium to buy electric vehicles for delivery (short runs). Suddenly there is a large (to these supplier companies) market, so they can flow their cash while they learn how to build better & lower unit cost vehicles.
At the risk of being catty,
You could buy a 40 mile range all electric car 15 years ago; it looked like a Corvair (which some of them were), used regular lead-acid auto batteries, and didn’t set speed records. And you maintained it yourself. The Volt will do better, in a couple years.
Maybe GM could do as well with a couple EV-1’s.
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