Student Post: The Chevy Volt: Moving at a Snail’s Pace

While I believe it is important to take the opinions and assertions presented in “Who Killed the Electric Car” with a grain of salt, I was nevertheless surprised by the events that transpired following the release of GM’s EV-1. Growing up, I was a car fanatic, reading every car magazine I could get my hands on. I remember reading about the EV-1 prior to its release, and even seeing pictures of the concept vehicle, but my interest was limited since, as a 7th grader, I always thought other cars, like GM’s Corvette, were way “cooler.” This “cool” factor has been a pervading trend in the American automobile industry since its beginning. Americans love their cars, and they love their cars to be big and fast. Following GM’s eradication of the EV-1, the documentary emphasized the almost ironic promotion of GM’s gas-guzzling vehicles such as the Hummer H2. In a symbolic “one step forward and two steps back” approach to the alleged demand for fuel-efficiency, GM abandoned a promising innovation to return to the status quo. The question remains, however, is the paradigm shifting? Are Americans becoming increasingly serious about their need for fuel efficiency? It seems that in the last couple of years auto makers have jumped on the colloquial bandwagon in an effort to produce vehicles that use less gas. One of the most anticipated events to occur as a result of this trend was the introduction of the Chevy Volt in 2011, a vehicle that has both gasoline and electric machinery. This vehicle seemed to be the first big step in a direction back towards the electric automobile, but how has it been received by consumers like you and me?

The Wall Street Journal released a blog post yesterday on the recent news that GM will be halting production of the Chevy Volt for the next five weeks. This announcement is noteworthy for a couple of reasons. First, it compromises President Obama’s plan to have one million electric cars on the road in the U.S by 2015. The anticipation in the popularity of the Chevy Volt played a key role in the formulation of this plan. GM had initially planned to sell 15,000 Volts in 2011, but had to reduce this target to 10,000. Unfortunately, GM ended up only selling 7,700 Volts in 2011. Taking into account this disappointing reception, GM’s plan to sell 45,000 Volts in 2012 is now being reevaluated. With thousands of Volts remaining in inventory, GM is finding itself in somewhat of a sticky situation. Obama’s plan for one million electric cars on the road by 2015, 505,000 of which were supposed to be Chevy Volts, is losing speed quickly.

The second interesting issue centers on the consumer’s actual demand for electric vehicles. It is undeniable that there was significant hype on the release of the Volt. It was arguably one of the most anticipated vehicles in recent years. Yet we see that this hype has not resulted in sales. Consumers seem to be leery about taking the plunge. It should be noted that there were some safety issues with the Volt’s batteries, which perhaps left some consumers cautious, but was this really enough to drive most potential purchasers away? It seems that the consumer passion demonstrated by EV-1 owners in the documentary has not caught on yet by the modern majority of Americans. Although I believe that the paradigm is starting to shift away from strictly gasoline vehicles, it appears to be moving at a snail’s pace.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/03/05/gms-volt-stumble-imperils-obamas-electric-car-goals/