Volt Birth Watch 67: NYT Says The Volt is IT
Kevin Bacon fans note: there are no degrees of separation between Tesla Death Watch 12 and this, Volt Birth Watch 67. They're both based on the same TTAC-mentioning New York Times article on mainstream electric vehicles (EV). The Death Watch revealed scribe Joe Nocera's skepticism for Tesla's four-door dreams– sorry "plans" for a mainstream EV. And wails on Aptera's ambitions. So how will we all live together, together in electric dreams? The plug-in hybrid electric – gas Chevrolet Volt ! "So where should we look, realistically, for a mass-market electric vehicle? Believe it or not, Detroit. In fact, the quick-fix approach that strikes me as the most promising comes from — surprise! — General Motors, the chief villain of 'Who Killed the Electric Car?' The Chevy Volt, which the company wants to bring to market in 2010, is a plug-in hybrid that aspires to be able to travel 40 miles before switching to gasoline power. But the best part is that the combustion engine will automatically recharge the battery — so it can switch back even while you’re driving." Huh? What about the here-and-now Toyota Prius? Especially as it's headed for plug-in-itude. Nope. "It’s not sexy like the Tesla, and it’s not aerodynamic like the Aptera Typ-1. But for a mass-market solution in the here and now, [the Volt's] the one to root for."
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There is no "technology gap." GM is well aware of the technology that drives Toyota's HSN, and certainly could replicate it today. For better or for worse, it is trying to leapfrog the current technology. The Prius, with its necessary quirky looks and environmentally devastating nickel metal hydride batteries, is not the long-term solution.
Man, you keep putting links to New York Times articles in TTAC articles. You can't fool me into reading that stuff, no matter how many birth/death/plastic surgery/suicide watches you can get from a single NYT article! It just can't be good for one's brain, so much exposure to NYT writing and editing. But I'm happy to let your neurons take the hits... And I've shaken Kevin Bacon's hand, at a sound check for "The Bacon Brothers" band. So there!
What? The NYT reports inaccurate or unsubstantiated information??
detroit1701, how do you sleep at night? Given that you're clearly a GM shill, it can't be on top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies. http://www.thecarconnection.com/article/1010861_prius-versus-hummer-exploding-the-myth
The automaker has, in fact, only been purchasing significant amounts of nickel from the Sudbury , Ontario , Inco mine for its batteries in recent years, while the environmental disaster the headline is referring to largely occurred more than thirty years ago. And that ore is at the core of a semi-urban legend that leads to dumb headlines like “HUMMER Greener than Prius,” and others we’ve seen recently. Toyota says that nickel has been mined from in Sudbury since the 1800s, and that “the large majority of the environmental damage from nickel mining in and around Sudbury was caused by mining practices that were abandoned decades ago.” Out of the Inco mine’s 174,800-ton output in 2004, Toyota purchased 1000 tons, just over a half-percent of its output. The plant’s emissions of sulfur dioxide are down 90 percent from 1970 levels, and it’s targeting a 97-percent reduction in those emissions by 2015, according to Toyota.