The State of Things Electric
Electric Cars - the future is on pause?
In the midst of the reorganization of General
Motors and Chrysler, it’s disappointing to learn that Chrysler is bailing out
of the electric vehicle game, jettisoning a plan to have 500,000 Chrysler EVs
on the road by 2013 and shuttering its “Envi” division. (Even more disappointing
since the company took $70 million from the Department of Energy in August to
develop a test fleet of hybrid pickups and minivans.)
The cited reason for the dramatic change in
direction? Problems with battery storage. Well. Duh. That’s the name of the EV
game and it leaves us to wonder how well Chrysler will do reaching a break-even
point by 2011 (that’s the plan) and rolling out all those new models on Fiat
platforms when the face of the automotive game is changing toward alternative
means of propulsion. Short-term profitability but no long-term plan embracing
new technology? Maybe not the wisest choice.
The competition apparently has no
battery-related qualms as Toyota contemplates a whole family of hybrids based
on the Prius, a name that in and of itself could well become a brand. General
Motors is clear that it sees the Chevrolet Volt, which will debut in 2010, as
the opening shot in a volley of vehicles combining rechargeable batteries and
gas-powered generators. It’s a reasonable trade-off — 40 miles on a single
electric charge, a conventional engine for longer excursions — even if the
initial price tag of $40,000 stops some short. (Figure in a $7,500 consumer tax
credit and it’s a little more palatable.)
And the big boys are far from the only ones
embracing (or abandoning) big electric vehicle plans. Fisker is buying an
abandoned GM plant in Delaware for $18 million with the intent of retooling the
facility as a construction site for plug-in hybrids. After a three-year
conversion, and armed with $528.7 million in federal loans from the
government’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program ($175 million of
which will go directly to the Delaware plant), Fisker expects to be rolling out
units by 2012. One of those products will be a mid-sized family sedan currently
set at around $39,900.
Roll all this and countless other projects
together and we are looking at a nascent electric vehicle revolution, one that
will initially be expensive for the consumer but that has tremendous long-term
potential for our global dependence on fossil fuels. A year ago I confess I
didn’t think we’d be this far down the EV road. Now? I’m looking forward to
seeing what 2010 holds in store for this exciting transportation genre.
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