General Motors' Chevrolet is now advertising the latest make and model of vehicle that consumers should buy. Unlike any other car, you don't need to spend a single cent for the high price of gasoline. A vehicle that doesn't use gas or diesel. Shall we say: welcome to the future! Yes it is real and this is no longer a rumor. As according to their advertisement, "Imagine: A Daily Commute Without Using a Drop of Gas."
See web link: http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/
"The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in series-hybrid electric vehicle by General Motors, with production expected to begin in 2010. The Chevy Volt will be built at the General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The company has avoided the use of the term "hybrid," preferring to call it an electric vehicle with a "range extender" due to its design. The vehicle is designed to run purely on electricity from on-board batteries for up to 40 miles (64 km), or about half the range of the GM EV1 — a large enough distance to cover the daily commutes of most Americans, which is around 33 miles (53 km). With use of a small internal combustion engine driving a generator to resupply the batteries, the vehicle's range is potentially increased to 360 miles (579 km) on the highway. Early estimates, from GM staff, were of initial annual production of 60,000 units, but these claims have been scaled back to a planned 10,000 units, as of May 2008, with a ramp up to 60,000 units in the second year.
The Volt concept vehicle was officially unveiled at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) on January 7, 2007 in Detroit, Michigan. An updated version was unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2007 in Shanghai, China. At the time of unveiling, the Volt project had been in existence for less than a year. The Volt was targeted to cost around US$30,000. As of April 2008, General Motors Vice Chairman of Global Product Development Robert Lutz was quoted as saying that the realistic unsubsidised price had risen to US$48,000, that he reckoned that US$40,000 might be possible, without making any profit, and that only government tax incentives could take the price tag nearer to US$30,000. When asked directly about the price later, Lutz indicated that this was a misquote - and said "The answer is that we don’t know."
GM faces competition from Nissan Motors, which announced their own electric cars on May 13, 2008, Toyota, Mitsubishi Motors, as well as a number of start up auto manufacturers, some backed by Silicon Valley angel financing."
See web link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt
The practical consequence is that (1) this answers the problem of global oil price hike; (2) this resolves a lot of environment issues; and (3) this promotes competition among vehicle manufacturers, giving opportunity for its cost to go down.
The pricing that has been forcasted of around US$40,000 is almost buying a 2009 Ford Mustang GT Premium Convertible which is US$33,200, well, not as cheap and not as fast, but not to the extent of a typical Ferrari which cost US$150,000 to US$500,000, well, not as luxurious and not as fast. However, imagine the amount of money that you can save of not buying gas or the help that you can give for a cleaner environment. This car is definitely a practical choice of the future.
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