A
Volt for every dysfunctional American
Tuesday, March 11, 2009
The
cure for America's range anxiety?
OK. Let's get this out of the way. In a perfect world, the
Chevy
Volt doesn't make sense.
Elon Musk of Tesla has said it. Studies like the recent CMU
study suggest it.
Battery powered vehicles are simply most efficient on
short trips - about 20 miles or less between charges.
Fortunately, that would accommodate the real world driving
patterns of most Americans.
Of course, it's not as simple as that. We Americans are
never that easy to please. For instance, where do you
charge every 20 miles? What if you forget to charge? What
if you want to make a spur of the moment 300 mile trip to
your favorite getaway? What if our decrepit electric grid
blacks out for a few days?
Americans expect a lot from their cars, and we certainly
expect to achieve a few 100 miles per fueling. Anything
else causes, well, range anxiety.
Thus, GM developed the Chevy Volt to be a range extended
electric vehicle that attempts to give consumers the best
of both worlds - the future and the past. The Volt
addresses the future in a package in which most Americans
can find comfort.
Will the Volt always make more economic and environmental
sense than a plug-in Prius or a Honda Insight? No.
Of course, when have American automobile choices ever made
sense?
Ultimately, the Volt is a step in the right direction - a
pretty big step, and it will
make sense for some consumers.
Inevitably, however, the Volt is as much about psychology
as it is about technology. And while the Volt might not be
the perfect technology for America's automotive future,
it's a pretty fantastic psychological tool for curing
America's EV anxiety.
And, changing the psychology of the American consumer
might be the biggest obstacle to ending America's
dependence upon oil.
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