Hello -
I find this interesting :
GM admits Volt doubts - Autocar.co.uk
Quote:
GM is also fearful that wealthier competitors will come up with similar technology to the Volt and it will be left behind.
“Our competitors and others are pursuing similar technologies and other competing technologies, in some cases with more money available,” said GM.
“There can be no assurance that they will not acquire similar or superior technologies sooner than we do.”
|
The reason is, I have read speculation that the Prius and Insight came into existance out of
fear of also being left behind :
Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quote:
The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles was a cooperative research program between the U.S. government and major auto corporations, aimed at bringing extremely fuel-efficient (up to 80 mpg) vehicles to market by 2003. The partnership, formed in 1993, involved 8 federal agencies [1], the national laboratories, universities, and the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), which comprises DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation. On track to achieving its objectives, the program was cancelled by the Bush Administration in 2001 at the request of the automakers, with some of its aspects shifted to the much more distant FreedomCAR program.
...
Researchers for the PNGV identified a number of ways to reach 80 mpg including reducing vehicle weight, increasing engine efficiency, combining gasoline engines and electric motors in hybrid vehicles, implementing regenerative braking, and switching to high efficiency fuel cell powerplants. Specific new technology breakthroughs achieved under the program include [5]:
- Development of carbon foam with extremely high heat conductivity (2000 R&D 100 Award)
- Near frictionless carbon coating, many times slicker than Teflon (1998 R&D 100 Award)
- Oxygen-rich air supplier for clean diesel technology (1999 R&D 100 Award)
- Development of a compact microchannel fuel vaporizer to convert gasoline to hydrogen for fuel cells (1999 R&D 100 Award)
- Development of aftertreatment devices to remove nitrogen oxides from diesel exhaust with efficiencies greater than 90 percent, when used with diesel fuel containing 3 ppm of sulfur
- Improvement of the overall efficiency and power-to-weight ratios of power electronics to within 25 percent of targets, while reducing cost by 86 percent to $10/kW since 1995
- Reduction in cost of lightweight aluminum, magnesium, and glass-fiber-reinforced polymer components to less than 50 percent the cost of steel
Reduction in the costs of fuel cells from $10,000/kW in 1994 to $300/kW in 2000
- Substantial weight reduction to within 5 to 10 percent of the vehicle weight reduction goal
|
Now, I don't know what the real-world cost would have been to bring these cars to market. The Insight was sold at a loss, so a "first gen" of these cars may have done the same.
It's sad to think that the Big 3 might have scared the competition into beating us to the punch.
CarloSW2