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GM Boss Promises Plug-in Hybrid

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

December 1, 2006

Electric Cars • Chrysler Begins Production on Electric Car • GM Unveils Chevy Volt • 33,000 Sign Up for Battery-Powered Car • GM, Power Companies Study Plug-In Problems • Utility Preps for Electric Cars • GM Boss Promises Plug-in Hybrid • GM Plans New Plug-In Hybrid • Toyota Looks at Plug-in Hybrid • Ford May Build a Plug-In Hybrid • GM Crushes Electric Car Hopes --- • Gas-Electric Hybrids • More Automotive News...

General Motors has made it official: it has promised to build a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle that can be recharged from an electric socket. Details are sketchy, but the company plans include a plug-in hybrid version of the Saturn Vue as part of a long term GM strategy.

"There is no one solution to weaning America off its reliance on foreign oil but a variety of measures are needed," General Motors Corp. Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Wagoner and other GM executives have conceded they misunderstood the impact of Toyota's hybrid Prius in 1999, promising now to get ahead of public opinion in new technologies.

"We intend to bring our substantial global resources to bear on this issue starting now," Wagoner said. Reports of the plan began circulating last month.

This would not be the first GM attempt to build a plug-in car. GM developed an electric car called the EV1 but killed the project amid sharp criticism in 2002.

The EV1 was introduced at the 1997 Los Angeles Auto Show and leased to selected customers but GM ended the project citing insufficient public support.

GM collected and destroyed almost all of the 1,000 EV1 cars, prompting the making of a documentary titled "Who Killed the Electric Car?" The film was released this summer.

Wagoner has said killing the $1 billion EV1 program was his worst decision. While it did not affect GM profitability, Wagoner conceded the move hurt the automaker's image.

Plug-in hybrids have gained a vocal following in recent years due to rising concerns about global warming and U.S. dependence on foreign sources of energy. A plug-in hybrid could charge its batteries with cheap off-hours electricity, using that power for the first 20 or 30 miles of travel every day.

Plug-in research focuses on several battery problems that need solutions before the hybrids can succeed. A plug-in hybrid built with current technology would cost thousands of dollars more than a typical hybrid and its batteries might not survive draining and recharging completely every day.

GM's plug-in system could double the Vue's fuel economy compared with other SUVs on the road, however.

The 2008 Vue will be available with GM's current hybrid system, which reduces fuel consumption about 25 percent, and a more costly "two-mode" system that will cut fuel use 45 percent compared with a V6 gasoline-powered Vue.

GM will also offer the two-mode system in its 2008 GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe full-size SUVs. Those vehicles will use a V8 engine and two electric motors to reduce fuel consumption 25 percent.

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