Posted on 02/08/2015 1:46:55 PM PST by LogicDesigner
Conventional Chevy Silverados being transformed into plug-in hybrid trucks at VIA Motors high volume assembly plant.
Think of it as a Volt with a flat bed.
Via Motors electrified 4WD Chevy Silverado entered commercial production last month. Thats a first for the company founded in 2010 that retrofits GM pickups and vans and turns them into $85,000-plus plug-in hybrids that can also function as roving generators. (More on pricing below.)
Its no coincidence that the concept is similar to the Volt. The chairman of Via Motors is Bob Lutz, father of the Chevy plug-in hybrid. Its also no coincidence that Alan Perriton, who is a longtime colleague and friend of Lutzs from GM, is president of Via Motors. Perriton spent 34 years at GM.
Perritons background includes pulling together the GM-Toyota NUMMI plant in Fremont, Calif. (which was later taken over by Tesla) and a stint as vice president of the GM Saturn project in Tennessee. He has also held executive positions for GM in Asia.
How did Perriton and Via Motors get Lutz on board? We took a pickup to Bobs place in Ann Arbor, Perriton said in a phone interview. And that was enough to convince him. (Lutz was appointed chairman in February 2014.)
Perriton echoes Lutzs belief that the light-duty vehicle market has been in dire need of a fuel-efficient vehicle.
[The pickup] is the workhorse of America, this is where the most gasoline gets consumed in the vehicle sector [Via] takes a vehicle from 12 15 mpg and moves it up to the range 80 100 mpg [in some use cases], Perriton said, echoing Lutzs sentiment.
Via trucks can also be mobile generators.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
If I had $100K to spend on a vehicle, it would be Mopar, have a Hemi, been made before 1974 and I would not give a rat’s ass about gas mileage.
I just want something that jumps off the line and slams me back into the seat.
:D
If I bought $100,000.00 vehicles, I probably wouldn’t sweat a $300.00 difference on my annual gasoline card.
Nope, not a bit.
:)
While usually the military is used to protect life and liberty, sometimes our interests have more to do with our pocketbooks. I don't think anyone, including yourself, would argue that the Gulf War was about anything other than oil.
How can you ignore the cost in blood and treasure? You keep talking about “MY Cash” without realizing that the amount of your cash that is spent on electric vehicles is microscopic compared to the amount of your cash that is spent protecting oil supplies.
My rough, back-of-the-envelope calculation puts EV subsidies at around $9 per taxpayer per year ($6.5 billion divided by six years divided by 120 million taxpayers). If I remember correctly, about half our budget is spent on defense and RAND (hardly a liberal organization by any stretch of the imagination) says that at least 12% of our military spending could be saved if we didn't have to worry about securing Persian Gulf oil supplies.
So what is 6% (50% times 12%) of your federal taxes last year? Compare that to the $9 that you are concerned about. These are rough estimates, but it gives you just an idea of the scale that we are talking about.
Like George W. Bush said in his 2006 State of the Union, “Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology. Since 2001, we have spent nearly $10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper and more reliable alternative energy sources. And we are on the threshold of incredible advances.”
Few people on FR realize that it was GWB who signed the $7,500 federal EV rebate into law. It has nothing to do with Solyndra or "winners and losers" and has everything to with saving our blood and mountains of our treasure.
You need to try someplace beside a conservative forum to sell your subsidies.
No sell. No way. Not the government’s business.
I guess that means you prefer to pay higher taxes.
For example, a married couple making a total of $80,000 pays about $8,000 in taxes. 6% of that is $480. Compare that to the $9 spent to subsidize EVs.
So do you just enjoy paying higher taxes? Is spending $9 a year so that we can start saving $480 a year a bad idea?
I swear, some people have a “selective purity” when it comes to paying higher taxes. That, or they don't want to bother doing the math.
I meant “my” in General Terms.
I’m not Obama making a Speech.
You are bringing up things that have nothing to do with what I was talking about. I disagree that your Premise has anything to do with the Government giving Rebates to people who “choose” to by a Hybrid / Electric Car.
While I appreciate your well thought out Postings, you are wasting your time going on about the Military in responding to my position. Two different subjects, at least to me.
This Thread has nothing to do with our Military.
BTW - With Obama in charge, we really aren’t protecting Oil supplies, Foreign or Domestic.
As far as Bush starting the Rebate program, it isn’t surprising considering he is a RINO. Just because he did it doesn’t mean I agree with it. He started No Child Left Behind, well he actually let Ted Kennedy do it.
Nixon started the EPA, should I be impressed with that too?
The only difference between Obama and the two Republican Presidents I just mentioned is simple, they loved America, Obama hates it.
Again, I don’t mean to keep wasting your time. Lets’ just agree to disagree on whatever the heck we are discussing.
I can fill my car up in 5 minutes. Try charging an e-car up that fast.
You are just repeating the same silly nonsense. There is no savings. It won’t happen. Repeating the falsehood doesn’t make it true.
“the amount of your cash that is spent on electric vehicles is microscopic compared to the amount of your cash that is spent protecting oil supplies.”
But we make a HUGE ROI from protecting oil supplies for the world- and NOTHING from subsidizing E-cars.
You have no understanding of the military or the world so you create one- one that is small enough to support your fanboy Ecar dreams.
We’ve been guaranteeing mid-east oil supplies to Europe and Japan since Eisenhower, and now we do it for China- at a huge financial and geopolitical “profit”.
Out of that “profit” comes the money to subsidize your Ecars, EBT cards, and other welfare.
Does that make you feel bad? So you have to pretend it isn’t so? Well, it’s the way of the world.
Many Freepers are interested in the good and bad of Ecars. Don’t spoil these threads with a childish defensiveness. Lighten up.
I think something about a pot and a kettle would be appropriate here.
“But we make a HUGE ROI from protecting oil supplies for the world- and NOTHING from subsidizing E-cars.”
We make a large ROI because it has provided the world with cheap $2 to $3 gasoline. Electricity costs the equivalent of $1 to $1.50 a gallon. That is where the potential ROI is found by getting EV batteries off the ground.
Since you brought up China, then you should know that they see the downsides of oil dependence and are going gangbusters in electric car investment.
“I think something about a pot and a kettle “
Of course you would.
I still need to wait to see a Via truck that will haul and tow... until then I’ll keep my truck and SUV...
“high volume” assembly plant?
Are they going to force businesses to buy them?
Of course not, lol.
Electricity costs half as much as gasoline and the additional benefit of functioning as a roving generator can make this an attractive vehicle for niche applications.
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