The following is a guest post by Marc Geller, who blogs at Plugs and Cars, serves on the board of directors of the Electric Auto Association, cofounded Plug In America and DontCrush.com, and appeared in Who Killed The Electric Car.
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CNNMoney.com reports on an online chat with GM CEO Rick Waggoner.
General Motors might not be able to hit its target to have its breakthrough electric-powered car the Chevrolet Volt in production by 2010 … GM has already started to build advertising campaigns around the Volt, even though in the best-case scenario it is years away from production. It is seen as a way of trying to change public perceptions about the fuel efficiency and environmental responsibility of the U.S. automaker, which is more closely associated with large SUVs or pickup trucks.
Not the way to mark the 100th anniversary of the company. If GM wants to be believed, they need to do more than flap their lips, run hopeful ads, and buy dinner for bloggers.
They ought to have used the 100th anniversary to deliver even a few real electric cars, something they actually know how to build. Hell, they could simply sell the few EV1s they still have running around. They could encourage museums and universities with donated, disabled EV1s to rebuild them as electric cars and allow them on the roads. They could make a preliminary, limited run Volt without waiting for “perfect” batteries – say something like the NiMH that worked quite well in the EV1 (and still do in our RAV4 EVs.)
Had GM taken any such actions, some of the continuing disbelief might be dissipated.
This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
