With travelling coffee in hand and a groggy, morning smile on my face, I climb into my well-worn and slightly abused Pontiac Sunfire. This car is my baby; I could pick it out of a line-up of 2002 silver two-door Sunfires. Owning a cherished possession that GM produced has made me sentimental where the company is concerned. I’ve spent countless hours in my Sunfire, logged over many road trips from my home in Toronto to Ottawa, the city that most of my old friends from university still call home.
I get in, turn on the radio, and drive.
Lately, however, I’ve stopped listening to the news stations, preferring music to the ominous economic visions that every station seems to foretell on an incessant, hourly cycle.
I get it. Many companies are in financial trouble. In the case of General Motors, however, I genuinely believe that the future is bright. My view isn’t based on pure optimism or Sunfire-sentimentality, either.
General Motors has been revamping its car lineup for some time, creating new fuel-efficient and low-emission vehicles. These developments will undoubtedly cater to the rising demand for environmentally-friendly products and services. The hot-button issue of environmental responsibility isn’t going away any time soon: GM seems to understand this.
The Chevy Volt will be the personification of the green lineup that will shape the automotive future. It’s set to launch in the fall of 2010, and I have been following the progress of this car since it was a mere engineering concept. Essentially a car you can plug in, the Volt will be equipped with a lithium ion battery in conjunction with range-extending onboard power source that will be configured to run on gas or E85 ethanol.
Sounds fancy and complicated — but it won’t be. Recharging the Volt can be done by plugging it into a common 110V plug. A single charge will last for 64 kilometres, a driving range that targets a large population of Canadians. According to GM research, 78 percent of Canadians drive less than 65 kilometres to and from work each day; thus, integrating the Volt into their lifestyle would be shockingly easy. Once the car approaches the 64-kilometre mark, the engine will kick in to recharge the battery and keep the car going for what GM has estimated to be over 1,000 kilometres before needing to fill-up. Now that is fuel efficiency. (Estimates on gas usage per distance range from 1.6L/100km to 4.7L/100km.)
In September, GM unveiled the planned production of the Volt and confirmed a $40 million (CAD) research project focused on electrication projects and other fuel efficiency endeavours. Plans are to be carried out at the engineering centre in Oshawa. Working towards a future of clean transportation will inevitably recreate jobs for the company.
GM has had the foresight to recognize that clean-running vehicles are the new wave. As we enter a Jetsons era, the company seems to understand that whether or not easily extractable non-renewable resources are running out, the question of whether or not we should still burn them is an easier one to answer.
Originally known for its iconic gas-guzzling pickup trucks and SUVs, General Motors has been in the process of revamping its image and vehicle lineup to ensure that its cars will be desirable consumer items for the future. For quite a few years now, the folks at GM have understood that the Volt is their future. My future, personally, will involve — at the very least — test driving the Chevrolet Volt.
For more information on the Volt, please visit http://www.gm.ca/gm/english/corporate/green-by-design/vehicles/electric
Women’s Post automotive editor Angela Trimmer will not stop bothering GM about when the Volt will be ready for test drives.
Image courtesy Chevrolet
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