Even though electric vehicles seem to be the future, some car manufacturers do not rush into changing to green, alternative energy sources. There is some incertitude when it comes to changing so fast from fossil fuels and some automakers just take their time to see what is best for the market.
For example, GM is still on track with their Chevy Volt project and should be released by 2011. But uncertainty floats in the air when it comes to the manufacturing technology as GM already sent some signals to the market. GM also had some plans to build a regular hybrid, a 53-mpg Prius fighter to be sold under the Chevy brand, maybe a car more close to the Buick Regal. But this comes after a huge Honda Insight failure against the Toyota Prius. The Chevy hybrid should not stand a chance to compete in this segment anymore, and GM already decided to cut this project off.
The report on GM-Volt.com says that the automaker is now focusing on plug-in hybrids as well as on electric cars like the Volt. One thing to be noted is the fact that the Volt has a gas motor that charges the batteries but the consumption is about 1L/100km which comes with a real low CO2 emission. Plug-in hybrids and EVs will put GM over Toyota, focused on regular hybrids and a new plug-in hybrid version of the Prius that could achieve over 134mpg.
For people like you and me things should be very easy in the automotive industry: change to EV. But we are not always the market’s voice.
