GM News: GM: Plug-In and Electric Vehicles Coming, Hybrids Not So Much

[William Maley]

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

November 14, 2012

During an event in San Francisco, GM's product chief Mary Barra announced the company their green-car will focus on plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles.

"A major focus for GM's electrification strategy will center on the plug," said Barra. She went onto say that plug-ins offer "a unique opportunity to change the way people commute.”

GM's original strategy for green cars included the development of different powertrains, including hybrids. That plan has proven to be too expensive and not efficient.

"We need to make educated bets on which technologies hold the most potential for creating values for our customers and our company," said Barra.

GM's mild-hybrid system, branded the eAssist system will be sticking around.

GM is hoping by 2017 to sell 500,000 vehicles with some sort of electrification.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[hyperv6]

The truth is all automakers are praying to find a electric car that will sell in some kind of better numbers. Their futures will ride with these products. If they do not find a way to sell electric it will impact all other products and the ones we like the most.

Now that the election is over there is little hope the CAFE will get dialed back for a while.

[G. David Felt]

The truth is all automakers are praying to find a electric car that will sell in some kind of better numbers. Their futures will ride with these products. If they do not find a way to sell electric it will impact all other products and the ones we like the most.

Now that the election is over there is little hope the CAFE will get dialed back for a while.

Answer to this is CNG auto's, they can have all the green clean emission and power with this great advanced fuel.

[hyperv6]

CNG has a long road to go here.

I agree it works but the problem is the preception of the general public as a whole will have a hard time with it. Even if you educate them many just will not to want to bother as they still wlll not understand it.

The other problem is the lack of enough easy and fast filling stations. It is not like you can fill up just anywhere. Even if they started to add these things today most companies would be pressed to make a great dent in availability in the next ten year.

This was where the goverment should invest more vs solar companies and other green companies that are hear today and gone on Friday. They even could still pay back the unions by the added construction jobs to keep most happy.

CNG and Hydrogen both need more work to become more easy found and faster to fill.

After driving GM's Hydrogen Nox I was very impressed and found that it would be a great driver. All is perfect there till you try to fill it anywhere. Also you would have to teach people they will not bloe up there too.

The lack of a real energy plan not just with this admin but going all the way back to Cater and even Nixon has put us were we are today. We have 25 years of work that needs done in 10 years.

Killing NASA has hurt our energy advancments more than anything. I live near the Glenn NASA center and they specialize in advanced power systems for space but also have been used here on Earth. Since their budget has been chopped they have been able to advance so little anymore.

Edited November 15, 2012 by hyperv6

[G. David Felt]

CNG actually is making great strides and we can now go coast to coast with driving CNG auto's so it is becoming more common than you might expect.

There are many ways to see where the fast fill stations are and most people clearly see that it is not a problem with worring about blowing up. CNG is actually safer than a Petrol car.

http://www.altfuelprices.com/ you can find places and prices for all forms of alternative energy here

http://www.cngprices.com/station_map.php You can find CNG stations and price just by entering your zip code here.

I can see the CNG is the next logical step for America.

[hyperv6]

It is a step but it is far from wide spread acceptance.

I even bet here few could give you 5 places in a 20 mile radius that they could fill from with out looking it up.

It would take planning and knowing where to find it and most Americans are beyond doing that till it is on every corner like gasoline.

It will expand and improve but with the slow economy it will expand slowly as will sales till there is more easy to locate stations. Like Diesell I see this as a segement that will be slow growth.

Trust me I have nothing against it personally but I know the public and the American resistance to change.

If MFG want to make faster headway they really need to advertise and promote the system much more than they have. It needs to be moved out front and give all the good things to the people to sell them on it. At this point little has been done and so far little has been shown they will do much more other than offerng it and a blerb that it is availalble.

You want to sell this you market the hell out of it.

Edited November 16, 2012 by hyperv6

[G. David Felt]

It is a step but it is far from wide spread acceptance.

I even bet here few could give you 5 places in a 20 mile radius that they could fill from with out looking it up.

It would take planning and knowing where to find it and most Americans are beyond doing that till it is on every corner like gasoline.

It will expand and improve but with the slow economy it will expand slowly as will sales till there is more easy to locate stations. Like Diesell I see this as a segement that will be slow growth.

Trust me I have nothing against it personally but I know the public and the American resistance to change.

If MFG want to make faster headway they really need to advertise and promote the system much more than they have. It needs to be moved out front and give all the good things to the people to sell them on it. At this point little has been done and so far little has been shown they will do much more other than offerng it and a blerb that it is availalble.

You want to sell this you market the hell out of it.

Working on that very issue.

I see AT&T just ordered 1200 CNG Vans from GM.

[hyperv6]

It is a step but it is far from wide spread acceptance.

I even bet here few could give you 5 places in a 20 mile radius that they could fill from with out looking it up.

It would take planning and knowing where to find it and most Americans are beyond doing that till it is on every corner like gasoline.

It will expand and improve but with the slow economy it will expand slowly as will sales till there is more easy to locate stations. Like Diesell I see this as a segement that will be slow growth.

Trust me I have nothing against it personally but I know the public and the American resistance to change.

If MFG want to make faster headway they really need to advertise and promote the system much more than they have. It needs to be moved out front and give all the good things to the people to sell them on it. At this point little has been done and so far little has been shown they will do much more other than offerng it and a blerb that it is availalble.

You want to sell this you market the hell out of it.

Working on that very issue.

I see AT&T just ordered 1200 CNG Vans from GM.

Sorry fleet sales are not I am talking about as in my area they have been very common for years. the East Ohio Gas company has nearly run all their vehicles on NAtural gas as well as we have has othr companies on Natural gas as well as propane.

Even CF here ran the short city semi's on compressed gas.

The City of Akron and other Cities here have run buses on CNG.

The area for improvment is the private car owner that has no service manager to refuel their vehicles over night and filling stations in all areas not just a few where you have to go out of your way to find it. I know there is work in these areas too but they still have a long way to go.

Then it comes down to the average joe if given the choice what one would he buy. RIght now most average drivers could not even tell you what CNG is let along make a choice to buy a vehicle that would use it.

I hope you are righ and we see a large growth here but from where I see it the kind of growth needed will still take a lot of time.

As I see it electric cars are fools gold but people understand the cars and know they can fill them at home. Even then they are still a hard sell because of the limite range.

What worries me is if the carbon credit/ cap and trade stuff really gets on a roll and the price of electric really climbs it will scare off even those who like electric. I see energy cost in the next 4 year making some real increases in price in many parts of the country. It will play a large effect on many of the new fuels and old fuels that lead us into the future.

This is why we see the automakers scambling for any and all options. None know what is going to be the right one 25 years from now.

[G. David Felt]

There is a federal tax credit for buying a new CNG auto. Since they have EPA conversion kits, you can buy a new auto of your choice, have it converted and get the federal tax break.

BRC Fuelmaker who I am a distributor for has been working very hard this year to put a distributor in each state that can build up a reseller network. This way, people can buy a CNG auto and purchase a CNG appliance for their house.

Great thing is that the American Investment company that owns MTM Italia which is the parent company of BRC Fuelmaker is finishing up the new Fuelmaker manufacturing plant in Michigan and instead of me having to import and pass on those expenses to the customer, I will have the CNG Appliances made in America and get lower cost.

It is coming and the future is green for CNG!

[hyperv6]

Coming is nice but we are still along way off from wide spread acceptance.

[ocnblu]

How about fossil fuels? Say... gasoline and diesel fuel? Those seem readily available, at least in my neck of the woods.

[hyperv6]

Availability is not the issue it is the governent regulations that will create the changes to the products using these that will be the issue.

CNG and Electric will be free of these so far.

CNG may get a boost if they only offer large trucks and large cars only with this option. It would force many to give it a chance.

Also if the goverment continues to print money it will effect the price of oil as it will cost more dollars to buy a barrel of oil as it is devalued with more printing. The present people in charge have fallen back on this a couple times and I hope they finally decide enough is enough already. They are not going to print their way out.

Oil is a traded unit and the less the dollar is worth the more it will cost us at the pump.

We have one of the greatest supplies of natural gas here but it still has a ways to go to make it a common accepted fuel to the average driver. A lot of the money spent on these wind mills that amout to so little could have been spent to help build infrastructure to better distribute and supply CNG or even Hydrogen for vehicles. More filling stations and faster fills need to be done in more areas. Honda and GM could do limited runs with Hydrogen now but there are few places to fill. All the help in providing more infrastructure has fallen trough too.

Edited November 17, 2012 by hyperv6