Petropolicy and the Chevrolet Volt

January 7, 2007 – Vol.11 No.42

PETROPOLICY AND THE CHEVROLET VOLT.

My favorite bumper sticker reads “Think Globally, Act Locally.” What happens in the world beyond our immediate reach eventually affects us personally. More importantly the reverse is true as well. What we do at home affects others abroad. (By reading the news headlines this is apparent almost daily.)

We’re all interconnected whether we like it or not.

With GM’s announcement of the Chevrolet Volt concept plug-in hybrid vehicle the company might as well put “Think Globally, Act Locally” on the bumper. Whether the company will publicly admit it or not, it is taking oil policy into its own hands.

If GM goes ahead and builds the Volt, and moves to building fleets of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, it will, in effect, wash itself from the dirty, deadly business of oil. If other manufacturers follow suit, they too will no longer be dependent on the oil industry to keep their products rolling along the streets of the world.

Though GM may never admit it, it is clear that to survive as a major builder of vehicles it must make vehicles that are energized from local sources: electricity generated from the local power plant and biofuels brewed at the local distillery. If it succeeds, GM will no longer have to rely on an oil policy generated in Washington to keep them alive.

As products, they must be thinking, vehicles have to be more like computers, washing machines, cell phones, toasters or television sets. No manufacturer of those worries about where the energy will come from to operate them. They know that if there is a shortage of electricity more can always be generated from local sources including renewables.

Further, manufacturers of toasters don’t need wars to be fought, military bases to be built, warships to be deployed to keep the supply of energy flowing to brown a slice of whole wheat.

This is what, I believe, is the new strategy at GM: remove cars and trucks from total oil dependency. Make them products that are sold and marketed on their own merits.

That strategy has another benefit, of course: it helps combat global warming and cleans the air. Utilizing local sources of energy - even if it’s just the excess, off-peak capacity from coal fired power plants - reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Locally made renewable fuels - ethanol or biodiesel - along with locally generated wind or solar power used to charge the Volt’s batteries have obvious benefits as well.

In brief, the Volt, and a planet-wide fleet of others like it, would take cars out of the global warming/ climate change equation.

The problems with the Volt?

It’s not here today when we need it - badly.

It needs a battery system that not only will propel it for 40 miles per day but last 150,000 miles or 10 years. (GM says that technology is not here today. At least one lithium battery company, Altairnano, will disagree.)

And it needs help from government. Tax help for plug-in hybrids is already being considered in Congress. GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler and Ford have already asked the White House for $500 million in funding for battery research. But the Volt and other plug-in hybrids also need the bully pulpit of governments from the local community on up to promote this new direction for the automotive industry.

Visit GM at http://www.gm.com/ Altairnano at http://www.altairnano.com/