Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

General Motors names Mary Barra as new boss

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Just searched for her and found this:

In her profile in Stanford's alumni magazine, Barra ticks off the challenges facing GM, and every other carmaker, in the years ahead: "Automakers must develop and master advanced propulsion systems, including electric-powered cars and trucks that can drive hundreds of miles without a charge and deliver handling and brawn on par with traditional gasoline engines. Engineers will need to safely integrate smart technology for drivers and 'infotainment" for passengers.'"

Read more at: http://www.heavy.com/news/2013/12/mary-barra-gm-first-female-ceo-bio/

We shall see....
 
I sure hope she does a great job and moves GM forward into the future. A good ad campaign for the Volt would be nice to see.

Hahaha. No, a good ad would be for an EV that goes over 150 miles is a start. She should not be thinking hybrids are the future. Is everyone going to let Tesla beat them in tgis game? Sheesh
 
Totally agree. I would love to see GM make a serious EV (not a compliance one like the Spark).

They will. But not before it's too late. I'm fairly certain that Tesla will be the leader in EV's into the future. I don't see a seriously competitive EV until 2020 or later. There will be few okay ones by the big manufacturers before then but Tesla will have solidified their position before anyone else steps up.

I'm not against GM's EREVs. They get to allow someone curious about EVs to dip their toe in the water while maintaining the safety of the technology they know. Most Volt owners drive it as an EV 90% of the time. This allows them to learn the strengths of an EV. Those same people will then buy an EV in their future since they won't be afraid of what it can do. Probably a Model E unless GM has something that competes by then.

Think of EREV's as EV's with training wheels. :)
 
I'm not against GM's EREVs. They get to allow someone curious about EVs to dip their toe in the water while maintaining the safety of the technology they know. Most Volt owners drive it as an EV 90% of the time. This allows them to learn the strengths of an EV. Those same people will then buy an EV in their future since they won't be afraid of what it can do.

As a Volt driver who has talked to alot of other Volt drivers, I can say that this really is not the case. Virtually every Volt driver I talk to (myself included) would rather be driving a pure EV. We purchased our Volt's for 1 of two reasons :

1. The Leaf does not have enough range for us to have 100% confidence that we will be able to meet our daily driving needs year round. For example, I drive 60 miles round trip to and from work. On most days, the leaf would probably be able to do this, but on a cold winter day, I would be in trouble. Since it cant do it year round, the Leaf was simply not an option for me. I think I am pretty typical of a Volt owner, as my electric/gas ratio is within 1% of the national average of Volt drivers.

2. We cant afford a Model S. Every Volt owner I have talked to, without exception, would rather be driving a Model S.

I cant think of a single Volt owner who bought or leased one because they were not 100% sure about EV technology. From my experience, most of us are completely sold on EV's, and the Volt was the only option available to us that we could afford and that would not leave us stuck on the side of the road.

I have said it over and over again, but the first company to put a 40+ kWh battery in a decent looking mid sized sedan, make it available nationwide, and price it under 40k will dominate the market. Tesla is going to do this and better with Gen III, but honestly, this is doable today, with current battery tech. All it would take is a car company deciding that they actually want to do it. Of course, luckily for Tesla, none of the other car companies seem to want to do it, and when the accidentally make something like the Rav4EV that actually has a lot of potential, they do everything in their power to sell as few as possible. I am afraid that we are not going to see a good EV option for the middle class until Gen III hits.
 
As a Volt driver who has talked to alot of other Volt drivers, I can say that this really is not the case. Virtually every Volt driver I talk to (myself included) would rather be driving a pure EV. We purchased our Volt's for 1 of two reasons :

1. The Leaf does not have enough range for us to have 100% confidence that we will be able to meet our daily driving needs year round. For example, I drive 60 miles round trip to and from work. On most days, the leaf would probably be able to do this, but on a cold winter day, I would be in trouble. Since it cant do it year round, the Leaf was simply not an option for me. I think I am pretty typical of a Volt owner, as my electric/gas ratio is within 1% of the national average of Volt drivers.

2. We cant afford a Model S. Every Volt owner I have talked to, without exception, would rather be driving a Model S.

I cant think of a single Volt owner who bought or leased one because they were not 100% sure about EV technology. From my experience, most of us are completely sold on EV's, and the Volt was the only option available to us that we could afford and that would not leave us stuck on the side of the road.

I have said it over and over again, but the first company to put a 40+ kWh battery in a decent looking mid sized sedan, make it available nationwide, and price it under 40k will dominate the market. Tesla is going to do this and better with Gen III, but honestly, this is doable today, with current battery tech. All it would take is a car company deciding that they actually want to do it. Of course, luckily for Tesla, none of the other car companies seem to want to do it, and when the accidentally make something like the Rav4EV that actually has a lot of potential, they do everything in their power to sell as few as possible. I am afraid that we are not going to see a good EV option for the middle class until Gen III hits.

Glad to hear this. Im in the same boat, my round trip is 63 miles, but I still have an ICE because of these issues. I hope either the Gen III or the new leaf will be in both price range and battery range people like me need.