Chevrolet Volt Electric/Hybrid Concept: Slated for Testing, Production by 2010
Story here. h/t: Bourque.org
TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. will begin road testing its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid in the spring of next year and remains on track to produce the rechargeable car by late 2010, a senior executive said on Thursday.As the race to bring a mass-market, rechargeable electric vehicle to the market heats up, GM's global product chief Bob Lutz said he expects to have next-generation lithium-ion battery packs ready for the vehicles by October this year.
(...)GM is the only automaker to have provided a timeline on the production of a plug-in hybrid vehicle, even though other companies, such as Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. are working on similar technology.(...)Unlike earlier gasoline-electric hybrids, which run on a parallel system twinning battery power and a combustion engine, plug-in cars are designed to allow short trips powered entirely by the electric motor, using a battery that can be charged through an electric socket at home.
Kudos to the General for taking the lead. It makes me pleased as a new (and completely satisfied- now been over one year with not a single problem with the Cobalt) Chevrolet owner.
This is the sort of move that'll not only help keep the General relevant and ultimately profitable, but that'll also push the rest of the industry to move its ass faster just to remain competitive.
Once again, the General demonstrates its leadership. Sure, it may no longer be the biggest, having been surpassed by Toyota in total vehicle sales, but the General marches on well into the 21st Century. If I were positioned to purchase GM shares, I would. Definitely a buy/hold at this time! Don't bother with Ford- I'm not impressed at all by the Blue Oval's current top leadership & product plans.
Now, would someone demand that wealthy "progressives" currently mouthing off and scaremongering about greenhouse gas emissions and "climate change" pledge to purchase Chevy Volts when they hit showrooms as one way to prove that they're putting their money where their big, fat mouths are? Al Gore still hasn't done anything to reduce his incredible wastefulness wrt energy: He infamously uses an estimated 20 times more than the average person and continues to own more than one big, fancy house, each with air conditioning and everything, plus all his dinosaur-juice sucking transportation modes.
Before long, I expect to see these rich moonbats switch from the foreign Toyota Prius hybrid to the up-to-40-miles-on-a-single-charge-without-using-any-fuel, all-American Chevrolet Volt.
