Who Knew An American Car Company Had It In Them?
I’m in love . . .
Looks like GM (of all companies) may have the first working, commercially available, electric vehicle on the market. Dubbed the “Volt” . . . expect the name to change before it is released. The new EV is expected to have a 40 mile battery only range, with a small fuel powered engine that exists solely to charge the battery . . . that’s right, this car has no direct drive linkage to the fuel powered motor making it an EV rather than a hybrid! The EV batteries are expected to be fully charged by the fuel motor within 30 minutes . . . even as the car cruises at 70MPH!
Concept and marketing photos of the Volt are available at AutoBlogGreen.
It appears that the new EV will have a modular architecture that allows for different charging motor technologies to be installed based on local markets for alternate fuels . . . such as E85, E100, Hydrogen and Biodiesel.
I want one . . . with my current driving commute of less than 3 miles a day . . . I’ve already been looking at a long available EV . . . the Segway to fully eliminate all fossil fuel burning from my commute . . . after all, I can’t force BART to use solar, hydro or wind power for the trains . . . at least not yet 
This could actually be considered for my next car. I refuse to buy another gasoline driven vehicle. Yes, this even means a hybrid is out of the question. World events and true national security requirements dictates that we remove ourselves from the global oil economy sooner rather than latter. I don’t think that the current generation of cars being sold today will have a useful life span beyond 5-7 years due to the expected high price (in dollars and lives) or crude oil. Those in the oil business in the US better get in gear and figure out what their business continuity plans are post Oil . . . or they go the way of the dinosaurs. Come to think of it . . . maybe they will be THE next energy source, quite literally
