2010 is the Year to Volt

In an unorthodox move, General Motors (GM) released a list of cars that they will be producing in America over the next five years. Among the list is the first serial hybrid produced by a major auto company in more than 100 years.

The car is not like a normal hybrid. In all hybrids built by major companies over the last hundred years, two separate engines, called parallel engines, drive the wheels. The GM Volt will be the first serial hybrid, which only one engine drives the wheels, since the 1901 Porsche.

The car does not need a plug. This is possible because a serial hybrid has an gas engine to recharge the batteries and electric motors in the wheels.

Unfortunately, since Porsche did not see reason to continue the production of a hybrid car (gas was reasonable cheap) they discontinued the idea. Now with gas prices rising with no signals saying they will be coming down soon, and constant electrical outages, the new hybrid can not get here soon enough.

GM’s decision to announce the list of cars, especially the hybrid, has brought about a debate between themselves, autoworkers, and critics (bloggers like myself). The decision was made after an agreement they made with the United Auto Workers. According to ecogeek blogger Hank Green, the list was never released before because they feared, “price undercuts and retaliations from other auto companies.”

The retaliation of other auto companies is not what concerns consumers like myself. In fact I find it good that by 2010 I, along with many other consumers, might have a choice of serial hybrid cars to choose from. What I don’t like is that 2010 seems so far away and a lot can happen to the concept of the car.

The first thing I can think of is that the technology may be too expensive. The technology, which has been produced before, has never been produced with the amount of power that is expected to be in the Volt. The car is expected to get at least 40 miles of all-electricity range without recharging. It may not seem like a lot, but it is a hybrid. 

The independent company that will be used to make the battery must find a way to decrease the 400 pound weight that current technology would suggest the battery would way and produce 60,000 units by 2010.

The idea is slightly crazy for a small battery company that has never produced on a large scale before. Even if they did manage it, the company may not be able to stay in a reasonable price range for the consumer. Bloomberg Press has rumored that the price the company wants to sell the car for is less than $30,000.

Another potential problem is that GM is believed to want to produce 60,000 units the first year. The demand may be too much to produce. Toyota produced one quarter of that number the the first year the sold the Prius.

The third an most conspiracy based theory is that how long will oil companies, one of the biggest industries in the United States, allow hybrid like this to exist without some kind of competition.

The last concern is hopefully completely ridiculous. People now know a few things that make it ridiculous. Gasoline prices are rising, the resource is disappearing, and hybrid technology is possible. But who knows with the way people allow big-business to manipulate society.

Without finding a way to compete with the new technology, oil companies, like us, must wait to see if the idea is too big for the time.