Last week I put forth that GM had shut down the Volt vote but what actually had happened was the Volt vote link had been taken off the GM website. I am happy to announce that you can still vote for the Volt. Just click on the link here. Volt or Volt
I know that many people don’t understand why I have been pushing for people to vote for the Volt so much. I haven’t been a big fan of GM since the demise of the beloved EV1. During the crushing of that stupendous product, GM claimed that there was no demand for electric vehicles. When confronted with a waiting list of over 4,000 names, GM claimed that those would be customers, once told of the shortcomings of the vehicle, were whittled down to 50 people who still wanted the vehicle.
I know and you know that there were and are far more people that want electric vehicles than GM claimed. The superior sales of the Prius, I believe was do in large part to the narrowing of options for people who wanted electric vehicles. The whittled down group of 50 people that still insisted that they wanted the EV1 even after being told of all its shortcomings represents 1.25%. The hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of hybrids vehicles sold in the United States still represent only about 1.8% of the entire car market. If I were GM, I would have realized that 1.25% of the entire market of vehicles is not a bad niche to have gone after. The halo effect that Toyota enjoys with the public has helped them break into a US market that would have rather purchased American, but buy Toyota because of quality, reliability, economy and their perceived efforts to clean up their act when it comes to environmental issues. GM has nothing like that going for them.
The only objections that people had about electric vehicles were the range and the charge time. With a series hybrid like the Volt above all the objections to electric propulsion go away. For us in the plug-in movement the Volt represents the vehicle that we know will revolutionize the auto industry. The last time we came close like this was when GM showed off its various plug-in hybrid versions of the EV1 pictured at the top of this blog.
With electricity the infrastructure is already there. If you have an outlet in your home you have what you need to power your car. Electricity, as an alternative fuel to oil, is easy, inexpensive and everywhere. It is the shortest path to reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
So, for me, go to the Volt vote through this link and vote. Volt
My goal is to reach 500,000 by Earth Day.
GM can do the Volt today with NIMH batteries. This is the second time around with this prototype. How about now we build the dang thing.
