GM to offer plug-in hybrids as soon as 2010

[Ters]

General Motors Corp. plans to be the first automaker to offer plug-in hybrids to consumers with production of Saturn Vue sports utility vehicles beginning as soon as 2010, the company said Monday.

This will coincide with the anticipated launch of GM's electric car, the Chevy Volt, and is part of a major incursion into the hybrid market currently dominated by Japanese rival Toyota Motor.

Toyota announced plans Sunday to deliver a small fleet of plug-in hybrids to commercial customers but did not reveal when they would be available to the general public.

GM, which was late in introducing gas-electric hybrids, will be selling eight models in the US by the end of the year and plans to introduce 16 new hybrids over the next four years.

It is also making a major incursion into flex-fuel vehicles, having announced plans Sunday to produce biofuel out of garbage at a cost of less than a dollar a gallon in a venture with Illinois-based Coskata Inc.

GM is currently producing more than a million flex-fuel vehicles a year globally and is committed to making half its production flex-fuel by 2012.

The Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid is an improvement over GM's current hybrid and will be able to drive up to 10 miles on electricity alone, GM said.

"When the lithium-ion batteries are fully charged, the Vue plug-in hybrid will potentially double the fuel efficiency of any current SUV," GM said in a statement.

Source: Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080114/ts_alt_afp/usautoenvironmentcompanygm_080114173933)

[T4R0K]

Nice to hear an American car manufacturer doing something responsible for the planet ! Maybe finally a profitable "green" SUV

I just hope its sells don't drop because of it... ("Lol fags. Real men drive gasoline suckers !")

/jk, I R not anti-american.

[Inuhanyou]

Good to know atleast some people are taking steps instead of shoving pollution problems to the backburner

[Tsukiyomi]

The thing I don't understand is how does this stop pollution? The energy you get out of the wall comes from burning coal and such anyway. So instead of your car spewing out smoke, more smoke will come from the power plant sending you said power.

[Shark Skin]

Well I don't know about this. Ford made some sort of promise about hybrids a couple of years back and about a year after they did they said they couldn't go through with it and were going to scale back the plans.

[narutosimpson]

The thing I don't understand is how does this stop pollution? The energy you get out of the wall comes from burning coal and such anyway. So instead of your car spewing out smoke, more smoke will come from the power plant sending you said power.

please recall my old thread called "who killed the electric car" or something to that effect. burning coal in massive amounts from energy should (though i can' say it's true for sure, i would imagine it could be true) be cleaner than burning gas in small engines in small quantities. Add to that this car could accept electric energy from any source including wind turbines, solar panels, wave power, nuclear, etc., I would say it's much more desirable.

On topic, this "development" is many years late :notrust

[maximilyan]

Its about time... anything to help the environment, i'm down.

[Tsukiyomi]

please recall my old thread called "who killed the electric car" or something to that effect. burning coal in massive amounts from energy should (though i can' say it's true for sure, i would imagine it could be true) be cleaner than burning gas in small engines in small quantities. Add to that this car could accept electric energy from any source including wind turbines, solar panels, wave power, nuclear, etc., I would say it's much more desirable.

On topic, this "development" is many years late :notrust

Wind, solar, wave and nuclear don't generate nearly enough energy for these things to replace to current infrastructure.

[narutosimpson]

Wind, solar, wave and nuclear don't generate nearly enough energy for these things to replace to current infrastructure.

i also said etc. This doesn't mean gas would be replaced entirely, if its there and can be used cleanly, why not. Then we can also pick and choose our supplier as well.