GM: Don't expect a Dirty Dog to Learn Clean Tricks.
General Motors says its planned plug-in electric car, the Chevrolet Volt, will take longer to hit dealer showrooms than promised. GM's key battery supplier is having a tough time coming up with cells that will give the cars necessary power and range.
Even if the Volt does manage to hit the road as promised in 2010, don’t expect the vehicle to be popular with consumers. GM has little experience with hybrid technology. It's likely too much to ask for GM to come up with an appealing car that can also operate on electricity full time. That would be killing two birds with one stone, an unlikely feat from the fading auto giant.
But do count on Toyota’s planned plug-in hybrid version of the Prius to hit showrooms in about the same time. The current Prius is a well tested and popular. In addition, a whole cottage industry has arisen that specializes in converting the Prius to a plug-in electric vehicle. Toyota will have the advantage of learning from the small time modifiers as it readies its own design.
GM’s plans for a plug in electric are either naïve, or the latest example of the General’s cynical campaign to paint itself as environmentally friendly while doing little to actually offer cleaner cars.
Take, for example, GM’s introduction of flex-fuel capable versions of its popular models. Modifying a hulking Chevy Silverado pickup to accept an 85% ethanol blend of fuel is easy. A quick reprogramming of the engines electronic controls does the trick.
Yet few drivers have access to flex fuel at their local filling station. And ethanol itself has been getting a black eye lately: production of the fuel consumes vast amounts of energy and water, and has caused corn prices to rise.
GM has also been touting a hydrogen car concept. But a vast hydrogen fueling infrastructure will have to be built to support such a vehicle. No one has stepped up to fund that. And hydrogen, like ethanol, is dirty to make.
The promise of greener cars helps GM to hide the fact that it sells mostly gas guzzlers. If its electric and hydrogen car programs pan out, they'll succeed only in moving the direct blame for pollution to the electric utilities that will charge electric vehicles by burning more natural gas and coal.
GM has proven time and again that its clean tricks are really just that.
Even if the Volt does manage to hit the road as promised in 2010, don’t expect the vehicle to be popular with consumers. GM has little experience with hybrid technology. It's likely too much to ask for GM to come up with an appealing car that can also operate on electricity full time. That would be killing two birds with one stone, an unlikely feat from the fading auto giant.
But do count on Toyota’s planned plug-in hybrid version of the Prius to hit showrooms in about the same time. The current Prius is a well tested and popular. In addition, a whole cottage industry has arisen that specializes in converting the Prius to a plug-in electric vehicle. Toyota will have the advantage of learning from the small time modifiers as it readies its own design.
GM’s plans for a plug in electric are either naïve, or the latest example of the General’s cynical campaign to paint itself as environmentally friendly while doing little to actually offer cleaner cars.
Take, for example, GM’s introduction of flex-fuel capable versions of its popular models. Modifying a hulking Chevy Silverado pickup to accept an 85% ethanol blend of fuel is easy. A quick reprogramming of the engines electronic controls does the trick.
Yet few drivers have access to flex fuel at their local filling station. And ethanol itself has been getting a black eye lately: production of the fuel consumes vast amounts of energy and water, and has caused corn prices to rise.
GM has also been touting a hydrogen car concept. But a vast hydrogen fueling infrastructure will have to be built to support such a vehicle. No one has stepped up to fund that. And hydrogen, like ethanol, is dirty to make.
The promise of greener cars helps GM to hide the fact that it sells mostly gas guzzlers. If its electric and hydrogen car programs pan out, they'll succeed only in moving the direct blame for pollution to the electric utilities that will charge electric vehicles by burning more natural gas and coal.
GM has proven time and again that its clean tricks are really just that.
posted by CatZoo at 4:17 PM
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