The Mighty GM Publicity Machine and its Media Chorus put on a show in Hamtramck, Michigan Tuesday, introducing the General\u2019s new Chevy Volt electric car with anticipation not seen since . . . well, since GM last rolled out its ill-fated EV-1 electric car just over a decade ago.<\/p>\n
Even by Detroit\u2019s carnival barker standards, the first plug-in Chevy Volt to come off the assembly line generated an impressive display of hyperbole and myth-making. But then, not every vehicle launch is accompanied by politicians and the full-backing of the federal government. Washington\u2019s ruling class has proclaimed the Volt a revolution in automobility (and GM is more than happy to milk the free publicity) which gave the event the air, if not the reality, of a game-changing moon-shot.<\/p>\n
“Every aspect of the Volt \u2014 from its aerodynamic shape to its battery chemistry \u2014 is a testament to the importance of math and sciences,” crowed Chief Carnival Barker Mark Reuss, President of GM North America, about the egg-shaped vehicle before him. “By encouraging Detroit-area students to pursue these topics, we hope to cultivate the next generation of engineers who will build upon the Volt’s innovative technologies.”<\/p>\n
Actually, the Volt\u2019s battery-driven technology is hardly new.<\/p>\n
The battery lost out to the internal combustion engine (its current direct-injection evolution is itself a marvel of the math and sciences) in the early 20th century and has been playing catch-up ever since. What has changed is consumer taste. In 21st century, three-car garage America, automakers have discovered a new niche \u2013 not unlike sports-car-buying motor heads who covet Chevy Corvettes \u2013 of influential green buyers.<\/p>\n
The current darling of this niche class might as well be steam power, the other technology that displayed early auto promise before succumbing to the ICE\u2019s superior mix of cost and convenience.<\/p>\n
Why, if this GM electric thing fails for a second time (after a now-familiar greengasm of ecstasy over the EV-1\u2019s revolution, a fickle press quickly soured in 1996 when the little electric didn\u2019t get the advertised 100 miles-per-charge and sales sagged). . . imagine \u2013 imagine! – a car that only runs on water, that is lighter than a combustion engine (well, if you leave out the boiler), that has instant torque and is as easy to refill as your local creek, and. . . and we\u2019ll call it the GM Stanley Steamer!<\/p>\n
And Senator Carl Levin can take credit for it.<\/p>\n
Yes, Senator Levin. Since the automobile is the most regulated consumer product on the planet, political interference is inevitable. And so in addition to today\u2019s roll-out of the global warming-fighting, foreign oil-independent Volt (which draws its electricity from coal and gets its lithium batteries from mines in Australia and South America) we also got Carl wheeling out his giant straw man.<\/p>\n
“We’ve always known there would be doubters,\u201d said the Michigan Senator in a letter to GM\u2019s CEO – leaked for the occasion, natch. \u201cCongratulations on answering them so well. (TheVolt) is testament to the notion that industry and government can work in partnership to advance the complimentary goals of strengthening our industrial economy and protecting our environment.”<\/p>\n
Actually, no one ever doubted GM \u2013 America\u2019s biggest car company \u2013 could build an electric car. But plenty have reason to doubt whether it will ever sell above cost (the $41k wonder costs $40 k to produce), whether it\u2019s good policy for American taxpayers to be subsidizing rich celebrity buyers like Leo DiCaprio at $75000 per Volt sold, and whether anyone other than green elites will pay $41 k for a glorified Chevy Cruze with gas at $2.90 a gallon.<\/p>\n
Hamtramck was a glorious place to be Tuesday morning as American ingenuity polished another beautifully-engineered product. But while pols were high-fiving each other over their joint government-industry, planet-saving small car . . . just a few miles south on I-75 in Detroit, Jeep Assembly was cranking at full-speed, three-shifts-a-day, 24-hours-a-day to meet America\u2019s unslakable thirst for $30,000, V-6 \u2013powered Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs.<\/p>\n
And they make a nice profit of $5 grand apiece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Mighty GM Publicity Machine and its Media Chorus put on a show in Hamtramck, Michigan Tuesday, introducing the General\u2019s new Chevy Volt electric car with anticipation not seen since . . . well, since GM last rolled out its ill-fated EV-1 electric car just over a decade ago. Even by Detroit\u2019s carnival barker standards, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6079"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6080,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6079\/revisions\/6080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}