Re: GM Nonsense About their "new" Electric Car

Jan 07, 2007 10 Replies

More nonsense from GM about how they are "working" on an electric car but this time it will have a little "hybrid" gasonline engine.



Pay no attention to this nonsense, GM already had an electric car and whatever its limitations, they were too busy destroying them in a remote auto junkyard rather than working on that design or letting the eager users buy them.



Nobody believes GM now.



CItizen Jimserac



To be fair, all the other manufacturers destroyed their EVs. Toyota had sold some to customers, instead of leased them, so they couldn't destroy those. But I don't think Honda acted any differently than GM-- their EV just wasn't as good.

No, Toyota leased them all and then sold some after the experiment was over.

I believe if you do a search you will discover GM could not have sold their electric cars to the general public, even if they wanted to sell them GM was given emission and safety exemptions by the EPA and NHTSA, for those cars as limited production, experimental, vehicles. Like all experimental vehicles, the manufactures destroy them to avoid liability if they would get into the hands of the public.

mike

How do you know why the various manufacturers destroyed their EVs? Are you on GM's corporate board?

I don't know the truth of the matter, so I'm not making a SWAG (s = silly).

One telling moment in the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car" is the mechanic who said his hands weren't even dirty after a day's work. Moviemakers lined up all oil filters, bottles of lubricant, and other crap needed to make a regular car run for a year. The implication was that electric cars don't use enough consumables to enhance corporate profits.

I thought that was a bit odd; especially after I watched "Who Killed The Electric Car" Saturday night and then saw the article about GM's "new" electric car the next day. The difference is this new one isn't "really" an electric car at all...just a different hybrid. I think consumers should quit waiting for the Big 3 to release the cars for mass consumption and take a chance on some of the Zap offerings (I could just see me toolin' down the highway in my Obvio or Zebra).

Maybe that's why Ed Bigley, Jr. still has his Rav4 EV, eh? I noticed his wife has a Prius (he has a new show on HGTV "Living with Ed" where he does all things environmental and drives his wife nuts with it).

GM's Volt is "almost ready" which means they will take several years to get it out, talking it up all the while. GM must be hoping they can stall consumers from buying hybrids that are already available and that actually work properly. Can you imagine what the "quality" problems would be the first (or second or third or...) year of actual production? Consumers do not have a whole lot of faith in Detroit (they have long memories) as witnessed by their loss of market share. In the software world the first year of production would equate to Alpha testing with the poor car buyer being the alpha tester.

Sure... Sure... Of course, this doesn't explain why there are still Rav4-EVs on the road.

Exactly. Everyone recalls the unmitigated disaster that occured back in the late 70's and early 80's when GM attempted to make diesel engine automobiles. This company, just like the other major auto companies, cannot create real innovation anymore. They are fooling nobody but themselves now.

Likewise, everytime the president of Ford appears and starts talking about their new innovative ideas, this is cause for instant laughter from the company that made such classics as the "Taurus" (now discontinued, thankfully).

Jimserac

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