Good news for General Motors: the 2011 Chevy Volt is effectively sold out. General Electric is planning to purchase 25,000 electric cars, including 12,000 Chevy Volts, as it converts half its fleet to electrics by 2015.
Chevy Volt: who revived the electric car?
The Volt goes on sale in December at more than 600 dealerships across the U.S., while GM is producing just 10,000 cars next year. So if only 4,000 of those cars go to GE initially, that leaves an average of 10 cars per dealership for the general public. One dealership has reported getting only two cars: one for demonstration and one to sell, which it already has. If this is representative of Volt dealers nationwide, then essentially the 2011 Volt could be sold out.
After the 2011 rollout of the Volt, GE will get approximately 2,000 to 3,000 Volts annually. Where will GE go for the remainder of its electric cars? Both the Nissan LEAF and Mitsubishi i-Miev are likely contenders.
Buying into electric cars makes perfect business sense for GE: it stands to gain from developing much of the charging station infrastructure envisioned by some as the necessary enabler for electric car adoption in this country, where longer average daily driving distances and commutes will require more juice.
GM has committed to installing over 5,000 charging stations, working with local utility companies, in its home state of Michigan. By buying up electric cars, is GE calling GM's bluff? GM had claimed not so long ago, despite a throng of public and celebrity support, that no one wanted electric cars.
How many people considering a Chevy will want an electric car? How many people considering an electric car will spend $40,000 on a Chevy? Maybe if GE's moves stimulate sufficient demand, GM won't be able to pull the plug this time.
©2010 Jim Hathaway for Gather.com
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Comments: 4
The bigger question, can they replace gasoline cars?- that will not happen for a long time. I am guessing that plug ins might get 2 to 5% of the market within ten years, but that is not enough to make a major difference in terms of greenhouse gases in the USA. We need to accelerate our move to renewable energy, but the new House Republicans may prefer to slow down. It has me worried.
Also, if the house doesn't have enough room in its electric panel to supply the power the panel will have to be updated which is an additional cost. If enough cars in a given area are electric, the transformer grid has to be updated which is expensive for whoever supplies electricity which will drive the cost of electricity higher.
To supply the electricity will involve burning more coal and natural gas, building new dams (ain't gonna happen) or use very expensive "renewable energy" sources that have their own set of problems.
If the only way they can sell them is by giving government subsidies to the buyers or sellers they need to be scrapped. Let the free market set their value and their demand.
The point I am making is that there are trade offs and electric cars aren't the panacea many people think they are. The hybrid cars, IMO, make much more sense given the current technology and cost.
not until there are millions of plug in cars on the road, which ain't happening overnight. The electrical grid will be able to absorb hundreds of thousands of plug in car loads without upping capacity, because most of the charging happens overnight when electrical demand is tiny. It's actually a win/win for the electrical grid.