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My only beef with GM is about their new electric car - they had an excellent start ten years ago, and killed it. Now they are pretending to be virtuous by developing an electric which isn't even a fully electric - it's a hybrid.



Jeez - they built the car. To replace the batteries would have cost more than the car was worth. They killed it because there was not a business case to continue it. I drove the EV-1 two different occasions. It was a joy to drive, but the batteries just wouldn't last.

The Volt IS an electric car. It's a practical electric car. The battery size allows you to go 40 miles without a charge. The range extending feature (take your pick: gasoline, diesel, fuel cell) allows the battery to remain reasonable in size, meet federal crash requirements, etc. etc. etc.

Most people that buy it for a commuting vehicle will not need to ever run the gasoline engine.

It's an electric car. Plain and simple. It just won't leave you stranded should you drive it farther than 40 miles.

I could go into the details of what a hybrid actually means, but in simple terms: The Prius is a hybrid. The gas motor powers the drive wheels at times. Not the case with the Volt. Pure electric drive.

Hybrids are the short game.

I've driven GM's fuel cell vehicles, at least a production ready Equinox that made nothing but water out of the tailpipe. That's the green future state - but it requires an infrastructure change that the car companies can't finance on their own.

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