Big News of Production Volt drowned out by financial crisis

GM’s making serious headway and commitments around the green flagship, the Chevy Volt.  This is a serious contender that could vault GM into a leadership position.  Unfortunately the news was completely eclipsed by the Wall Street meltdown (see my post: Now I’m really scared…Financial meltdown foreshadows sustainability crisis).  (more images >> Jalopnik)The Volt’s got the right design components to be a winner:

• It’s a series hybrid - really an EV with a generator
• It’s using lithium batteries (from A123)
• The cost is Prius level ($30-40k) - low enough for middle class green freaks.  
• It also has a 30-40 miles 100% electric range which covers 70% of US daily driving.
• Looks are pretty good (according to Jalopnik.com, but not Edmunds) - I think it’s a sexed up Cobalt.
• The gas generator (range extender) is enough to run the car without batteries - helpful insurance for nervous buyers.

This entry was posted on September 20, 2008 at 12:36 pm and is filed under Major Car Makers, Electric Vehicles, EV News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.