GM plans electric car for 2010
mongabay.com
March 6, 2007
Underperforming U.S. automaker General Motors said it has set a 2010 target for production of an-electric car according to a statement from Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, as reported by Reuters.
Lutz said the largest concern for the production of the Chevrolet Volt, a concept vehicle first shown in January, was its battery system. GM previousy offer the EV1 in California in the late 1990s but pulled the car in the early 2000s. The decision proved unpopular among the few that owned the car and later became the subject of a documentary tittled ‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’ which theorized that the EV1 program was eliminated because it posed a threat to the oil and car industries.
GM also released a statement Tuesday saying it was “comitted to energy diversity”, highlighting its introduction of a deisel engine in Europe and the announcement of a next-generation fuel cell demonstration fleet.
“The key as we see it at GM is energy diversity – being able to offer our customers vehicles that can be powered with many different sources of energy,” General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said at the Geneva Motor Show. “We must – as a business necessity – develop alternative sources of propulsion, based on alternative sources of energy, in order to meet the world’s growing demand for our cars and trucks.”
The car company also said it would work to develop vehicles that can run on E85 ethanol and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas).
“We’re big believers in bioethanol, the world’s fastest growing alternative fuel, both as a renewable source of fuel, and for its potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions on a ‘well to wheels’ basis,” Wagoner added.
Wagoner said that GM is working to meet the European Commission’s goal of reducing CO2 emissions.