Wagoner: GM turnaround plan working; batteries are the future

[LuckyTheDog]

Interesting. Is GM finally seeing the light?

http://wwj.typepad.com/michigan_future/2007/06/gm_to_speed_up_.html

General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner told GM stockholders Tuesday that the company's turnaround plan is working, but it's a long term process.

"We've made a lot of progress over the past several years," said Wagoner, at the company's annual meeting in Deleware. "Validation that we have the right strategy, a strategy that is working. It's not about short term initiatives to react to short term challenges."

<SNIP>

Ethanol is the best short term choice, says Wagoner, who believes electric vehicles are the long term solution. He announced two more battery contracts to help in the development of a production version of the Chevy Volt concept car. The vehicle runs on pure electric power, with an on-board gasoline generator to keep the batteries charged on longer trips.

[BridgeTheGap]

1. G.M. seeing the light?

Watch the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F

[LuckyTheDog]

2. Well, you forget one thing

GM lost a lot of money on the model that was "killed." The Volt concept is an entirely different idea.

I am encouraged to see the U.S. automakers finally embracing hybrids. Plug-in hybrids have real potential.

[BridgeTheGap]

8. They "lost money" because they wouldn't sell it or

market the EV1 like they do their other vehicles. When you have a new make/concept, it can take time to turn a profit. It was not killed for "failure to make" money. It was killed because it doesn't use petroleum and doesn't provide the "after market" maintenance that provide more of the income to dealers than the sale of the car itself.
This is monopolism at work, plain and simple.

[oldgrowth]

3. Here is what GM did to there electric vehicles!!Most are new!

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[LuckyTheDog]

6. And? So?

I don't see a Chevy Volt in that pile. And I'd rather concentrate on looking forward, rather than to the past. The EV-1 was a money loser for GM and not a very practical car (it had a very short range). There is better technology available now that could finally make electric cars viable.

[in_cog_ni_to]

9. EV1 would have been perfect for me! I drive around town almost always.

I could easily do all my errands, run my son around and anything else on 80-100 miles PER DAY! Plug it in when you get home and off you go the next day.. It wouldn't be a car for long trips, but for running around town...it was a GREAT car. Hell, I hadn't even heard of the EV1 until I saw "Who Killed the Electric Car." Their PR for the car was ZERO.

[madokie]

11. if we had an ev-1 we would be able to do about 99% of our driving

with electric power. Of course we would still need a longer range vehicle also a pick-em-up for hauling things and that vehicle could be the same and do pretty much what our f150 does now which is set under the carport, sometimes weeks without being moved.
To me for us an electric car would be a perfect combo to our truck.

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. Same here. That would be the ONLY car I would need....until it's time for the interstate and

then a PRIUS would be a PERFECT 2nd car. You can haul a LOT of stuff in a Prius. Think of all the OIL we wouldn't be using.:(

[in_cog_ni_to]

10. I can't see your image..here's another one. SO SAD!!!

[ThomWV]

4. Silly, silly, silly .....

How do they plan to charge those batteries? I don't mean the yahoo on-board gasoline charger that will be used to top it off (one wonders why they didn't opt for the more fuel efficient diesel engine for the charger), I mean where do they think the power is going to come from for the daily "over-night" charge?

Look let's get one thing straight right up front. To move things energy is required. Some amount of energy is supplied today via gasoline, that same amount (presuming the same amount or more of travel) of energy will now have to come over the power grid every night. Do you think for a moment that we have either the generation capacity or the distribution capacity to handel that increased power load?

I think I may start a separate post on this one subject, just so people have some clue how nonsensical this battery powered bullshit actually is.

[LuckyTheDog]

5. It is not nonsense at all

Do some research.

Also: what's your solution?

[madokie]

7. with all due respect

what exactly do you propose we as a country do, today, to alleviate the problems of the energy required to live the life we Americans live.

[IDemo]

13. Do we have either the generation capacity or the distribution capacity?

For a very large percentage of the light vehicle fleet, yes:

http://www.pnl.gov/energy/eed/etd/pdfs/phev_feasibility_analysis_combined.pdf

The U.S. electric power infrastructure is a strategic national asset that is underutilized most of the time. With the proper changes in the operational paradigm, it could generate and deliver the necessary energy to fuel the majority of the U.S. light duty vehicle fleet. In doing so, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve the economics of the electricity industry, and reduce the U.S. dependency on foreign oil. Two companion papers investigate the technical potential and economic impacts of using the existing idle capacity of the electric infrastructure in conjunction with the emerging plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) technology to meet the majority of the daily energy needs of the U.S. LDV fleet.
This initial paper estimates the regional percentages of the energy requirements for the U.S. LDV stock that could be supported by the existing infrastructure, based on the 12 modified North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) regions, as of 2002, and taking into account congestion in regional transmission and distribution systems. For the United States as a whole, 84% of U.S. cars, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) could be supported by the existing infrastructure, although the local percentages vary by region. Using the light duty vehicle fleet (LDV) classification, that includes cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans, the technical potential is 73%. This has a gasoline displacement potential of 6.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, or 52% of the nation’s oil imports.

more--> Mileage from megawatts: Study finds enough electric capacity to "fill up" plug-in vehicles across much of the nation

[dkofos]

12. Just more feel good corporate bullshit.