I’m not sure how to take this, really, but Bob Lutz isn’t too impressed with the vehicles he pushed into production a couple years ago, namely the Chevy Volt with extended-range electric vehicle [E-REV] technology.
“If I had my time again at GM then I would have started with the Cadillac Escalade for the range-extender technology, and brought the Volt in later. The more gas-guzzling the vehicle, the more economic sense of electrifying it,” said Lutz in an interview.
Bob Lutz, former General Motors [GM] Vice Chairman, recently unveiled the VIA Motors X-Truck, a full-size EVer pickup truck, that he’s claiming it’ll get 100 MPGe. An Escalade-class E-REV is also in the works. When he was with GM, Lutz pushed the Chevy Volt as part of the package to get emergency funding from the Obama administration, a pledge to environmental vehicle technology. Economically speaking, though, Lutz thinks this doesn’t make any sense anymore.
I can see his point, sort of, because smaller cars are cheaper to begin with, and there aren’t too many people that want to pay a premium on the battery technology that goes into such a small vehicle for such small returns in fuel economy. On the other hand, VIA Motors’ X-Truck and the unnamed SUV, both using similar E-REV technology as the Chevy Volt, are going to cost twice as much as their conventionally-powered counterparts.
How many people are out there that, one, need such a beast, and two, can afford to buy one? Perhaps there is a market for this, but if the Chevy Volt hadn’t been there to open the doors earlier, would there be a market for larger versions now?
