GM Announces Establishment of Battery Electric Vehicle Demo Program - Again

Speaking at the “Electrification - Plugging into the Future Forum” today at the SAIC-GM Pavilion at World Expo 2010 Shanghai, GM Vice President of Global Vehicle Engineering Karl Stracke announced that GM is establishing battery electric vehicle demo fleets in different regions around the world using different vehicles.

These demo fleets are intended to increase GM’s competitiveness in vehicle electrification by providing GM with real-world data on driving patterns, battery charging, market needs and customer acceptance while sharing costs and resources with supplier and government partners.

While GM is not yet announcing its partners, a GM spokesperson said that no other automakers are currently involved. Additional details about the battery-electric vehicle demo fleets will be announced in the future.

GM has already performed all the BEV demo's and testing necessary. Their EV-1 in the late 1990's was a simultaneous engineering success and marketing catastrophe. The EV-1 was a 140 mile range all-electric, technological marvel two seater built with rugged NiMH batteries that every lessee enjoyed. Unfortunately, GM recalled and crushed them after California reneged on its ZEV (Zero Emissions Vehicle) ARB mandate.

It is obvious that General Motors has the technological and engineering wherewithal to build electric vehicles as evidenced by the EV-1, Chevy S-10 Electric pickup and now the Chevrolet Volt. What is lacking is the intestinal fortitude and integrity to build alternate energy vehicles on a mass market scale and offer them to a public that is growing increasingly weary of oil fired transportation.