VOLT GETS SUPPORT

Electric-Car Fans Rally Around the Volt
Leora Broydo Vestel, April 17, 2009 (NY Times)

"Electric car supporters are rising to defend General Motors’ development of the Chevy Volt after the Obama Administration’s automotive task force proclaimed that the car was probably too expensive to be commercially successful in the near future…

"G.M. is hoping to launch the Volt in late 2010 with a price tag of about $40,000…"

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"Advocacy groups argue the task force’s assessment is shortsighted and worry that the Volt project may land in the scrap heap as G.M. rolls toward bankruptcy. Financial aid for such projects has been put on hold as G.M. and Chrysler struggle to come up with business plans that regulators will embrace…

"Electric car proponents at The California Cars Initiative believe the task force was unduly influenced by “plug-in skeptics” at the Boston Consulting Group, which is under government contract to provide input on the prospects for G.M. and Chrysler…"

Yeah, and a decade after that, people will begin to forget what gas-powered vehicles were. (click to enlarge)

"The group pointed to a B.C.G. report titled, The Comeback of the Electric Car? How Real, How Soon, and What Must Happen Next, which concludes the costs of creating an automotive market dominated by electric and hybrid cars are prohibitively high for the foreseeable future – as high as $49 billion for Europe alone (along with another $21 billion for battery-charging infrastructure)…

"Still, the word from on high is that the Volt will make it to the finish line…"