Funky Cars > BG Views - Hybrid cars create obstacle for Obama

[The BG News on BG Views Network] Obama's own auto industry task force, which is trying to help GM and Chrysler emerge from the crisis that left them needing $17.4 billion in government loans, casts doubt on the Volt in a March 30 report which says while the car "holds promise, it will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short term." GM has not announced pricing for the Volt, but it's expected to cost between $30,000 and $40,000.

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[Omaha World-Herald > Money] Omaha.com Money Section: During his campaign, Obama promised $4 billion in tax credits to automakers to revamp their plants to build plug-ins, and a $7,000 tax credit for consumers who buy early versions of the cars. He even pledged to convert the White House vehicle fleet to plug-ins within a year, as security permits, and require half the cars bought by the government to be plug-in or all-electric by 2012.

[ECN: Electronic Component News Highlights] Chevy Volt Not the Answer, Says Obama Administration: The claim of about-face doesn't fly - a government task force comment that the Volt may not be 'commercially viable' is not mutually exclusive of the Lutz comment "...won't make a dime on this car for years..." especially since Lutz's comment was made quite a while ago, and when the my second point is considered: Point 2: Although asked, questioning the viability of the Volt isn't relevant - the concept will be turned into production, whether it's by Chevy or someone else: It's the presidents job to protect the country and if he sees a way to ensure this country maintains a viable manufacturing capability - he should try to retain it. If the government can encourage a more efficient car built by US workers by a US company using US built components that consume raw materials sourced in the US, the better WE ALL ARE for his action.

[NBC25 - News] Plug-in cars goal hard to hit : News : WEYI NBC25: Obama's own auto industry task force, which is trying to help GM and Chrysler emerge from the crisis that left them needing $17.4 billion in government loans, casts doubt on the Volt in a March 30 report which says while the car "holds promise, it will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short term." GM has not announced pricing for the Volt, but it's expected to cost between $30,000 and $40,000.

[GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site] Jaguar Announces Plans To Build Extended Range XJ Hybrid Electric ...: Now, with new battery technology (Li-Ion), a cooling/heating system, battery management software to keep the charge between 80 and 30% SOC, GM feels that they can supply a reliable battery pack that will last for 10 years, 150,000 miles. The ICE is an essential part of this scheme, warming the battery in extreme cold, and providing power when the battery SOC is at its minimum.

[Technology Review Feed - TR Editors' Blog] Technology Review: Blogs: Potential Energy: Criticism of the Obama ...: A couple of weeks ago a report from President Obama's Auto Task Force roundly criticized GM's Volt plug-in hybrid--an electric car designed to travel 40 miles on battery power alone and hundreds of miles using a gasoline or ethanol-powered generator. Now some are claiming that the task force's assessment of the Volt may have been based on some erroneous figures supplied by a consulting firm.

[SignOnSanDiego.com: Business] PROMISES, PROMISES: Plug-in cars goal hard to hit: Obama's own auto industry task force, which is trying to help GM and Chrysler emerge from the crisis that left them needing $17.4 billion in government loans, casts doubt on the Volt in a March 30 report which says while the car "holds promise, it will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short term." GM has not announced pricing for the Volt, but it's expected to cost between $30,000 and $40,000.

[Daily Advance - Nation] PROMISES, PROMISES: Plug-in cars goal hard to hit - Nation ...: FILE - In this March 19,2008 file photo, a Chevy Volt is on display during the Chevrolet news conference at the New York International Auto Show in New York. President Barack Obama's promise to put a million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015 is fraught with problems, from engineering hurdles to the realities of the auto market and the economy.

[lansingstatejournal.com - News] Obama's goal for plug-ins may be too difficult to hit ...: WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's campaign pledge to put 1 million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015 is fraught with difficulties, from technical and engineering hurdles to the realities of the economy and the price of gasoline.

[GoodCleanTech] GM: Chevy Volt Exception to 'Pay the Rent' Rule - GoodCleanTech: While the Volt is incredibly significant, it's also a moon shot, asformer vice chairman Bob Lutz had called it. Cool as it is, the Volt isn't the $20,000 volume seller GM needs right away to compete withthe Prius, the Civic, the Insight, the Jetta TDI, and any number of economical cars that embarrass GM's current non-hybrid Cobalt and Aveo--not tomention GM's total lack of a hybrid or clean diesel car in those size classes.

[Climate Progress] Climate Progress » Blog Archive » Automotive Task Force ...: It begins inauspiciously by saying there is little consensus in the auto industry, citing two poles: “one perspective holds that hybrid electric engines violate the laws of physics, whereas another holds that by 2020, companies will sell nothing but hybrids.” (This is either a joke, or perhaps an attempt to mimic the style of global warming deniers.) The report then makes admirably short work of natural gas and hydrogen, and while acknowledging that electric propulsion wins on CO2 reductions, picks improvements in internal combustion engine (ICE) technologies as the most likely path to reduce CO2.

[Hybrid Cars] Hybrid Cars: Cap-and-trade or gas tax: Are we fooling ourselves?: If you like to follow the issues regarding hybrid cars including concept hybrids, such as plug-in hybrid vehicles and the politics of hybrids, such as tax credits for hybrid vehicles, the hybrid car blog is for you. So, will $7500 tax credits on 60000 Chevy Volts per year really inspire the American populace to greater fuel efficiency, or will 60000 Volts simply serve as a tool to balance GM's CAFE requirements, enabling the sale of more gas-guzzlers?

[The Truth About Cars] Volt Birth Watch 137: CNN Shills for Chevy | The Truth About Cars: At this point in the game, GM should be able to provide at least one example that is able to demonstrate the car’s performance in both modes. The fact that they’re s still only allowing electric-only rides in hacked-together mules means that either they’re hiding the volt’s real performance because it sucks or the whole program is a PR smokescreen (or both).

[Hybrid Cars] Hybrid Cars: Chevy Volt can't save GM: GM's viability, I've believed, had to be about more than the Volt, especially in the short term, and President Obama's task force agrees. "While the Volt holds promise, it will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short-term," an .

[Cincinnatus Blog /// Political, Social and Environmental Commentary] Obama Motors - The Not For Profit Car Company | Cincinnatus Blog ...: I should point out that the actual cost ($40,000) is inclusive of the money that GM is spemding on supporting the failing car lines, particularly the SUV and trucks which are rattle traps at best these days. Also, GM had the first commercially viable electic car which ran fo multiple years in the 90’s and GM is refusing to use that technology to dig themselves out only because of arrogance.

[GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site] Chevy Volt Will Not be Cut by Obama! | GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt ...: Having read the report, I never interpreted those sections that way, but then again my filter is that Obama is fully committed to the electrification of transportation and the Volt is the best option on the table at the moment. Like I said, for a man careful with his words, you wouldn’t expect him to be giving speeches about EVs rolling off US assembly lines with Korean batteries unless he expected that to happen.

[BBC NEWS | Ethical Man blog] BBC - Ethical Man blog: Test driving an electric car in Motor City: is the Chevy Volt as featured, I?d say that the US might be stretched to show us anything worth a darn for now. But nice that it all comes to complement the coincidental PR assault on the airwaves and columns over here, right now, from the likes of trusted pols such as Mandelson, Brown and now Hoon (see Richard Black?s latest post).

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