Saturday, August 16, 2008
GM announced this week that the Chevy Volt is still on schedule for a November 2010 release. The new plug in hybrid (PHEV) is expected to sell for between $30,000 to $40,000. However, GM only expects to be able to ramp production to 100,000 a year by 2012. As a comparison, the Toyota Prius is selling at a rate of almost a quarter a million per year.
While GM works hard to solve battery delays, cooling issues, and other unexpected issues, other companies are also speeding up their own PHEV development. Toyota has announced a follow-on Prius PHEV that will be released in 2009 using standard NiMh battery packs, but will follow-up with Li-ion packs in 2010. Ford has basically given up and said that they hope to have a PHEV available in 5 years.
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Filed in Chevy, Electric Car
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Also tagged Chevy, chevy volt, development, Ford, GM, NiMh, plug in hybrid phev, Prius, production, Toyota, toyota prius, Volt
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EV1
We watched Who Killed the Electric Car last night on the Tivo. I am surprised that I have not watched before, but I guess I figured it would just be a rant. Surprisingly, I felt they had a very balanced message, rightfully placing the blame on pretty much everyone.
- Consumers – wanting huge SUV’s instead of smaller efficient vehicles
- Car Companies – Too addicted to ICE (Internal Combustion Engine)
- Gas Companies – wanting to preserve current profits $$$
- Government – Not mandating change
- CARB – Switching from a mandate for electric to hydrogen at the last minute
The funny part is that if Toyota, GM, and Ford all had continued production of their EV’s, they would be selling like hot cakes today. Toyota had a very usable RAV EV, GM had the EV1, and Ford had the Th!nk, which they have since sold to a European firm. All of these cars were in production, and could be sold today. And, with the advances in battery technology (imagine a EV1 with LiON batteries!), they would be even better, and cheaper.
Let’s hope the car companies can get their EV’s back into production, and start getting practical PHEV’s into production.
Filed in Cars, GM, Movie
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Also tagged battery, battery technology, Car, car companies, CARB, ev1, Ford, GM, government, Hydrogen, ICE, internal combustion engine, LiON, tivo, Toyota, who killed the electric car
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If Bush decided that we needed to become energy independent, what policy initiatives should we have? This is what I would tell him (assuming he could stay awake):
Finance the fastest practical development and pilot test programs for fuel cell technology
Block the issuance of permits for any coal-burning powerplants without plans for full carbon sequestration.
Require most new vehicles to be PHEV’s.
Promote or require plug-in facilities for new or renovated construction.
Net metering or other feed-in law is required for the grid.
Get rid of all preferences and mandates for alternative fuels; incentives should be created by taxes on oil, coal and natural gas.
Filed in Energy-Independence
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Also tagged alternative fuels, bush, carbon, carbon sequestration, coal, Finance, fuel, fuel cell technology, incentives, natural-gas, new vehicles, pilot test, policy initiatives, powerplants, President
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