14 DAY TRIAL // The financial crisis, apart from driving up gas prices and bringing about more foreclosures, also affected the development and release times for electric or hybrid cars. Namely, Chevrolet's new Volt model, an all-electric car, with a range of 40 miles per battery charge, is said to face numerous problems in respecting the announced 2010 deadline for its release.
General Motors is now the third largest constructor, after Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, to announce its desire to receive a part of the $25 billion that the automotive industry has requested from the federal government. The management of the company says that the future of automobiles lies with electric and hybrid cars, fuel-efficient vehicles that will basically put oil refineries and gas stations out of business.
Even environmentalist groups support GM's plea to federal funding, and GM-Volt website owner, Lyle Dennis, says that "It just seems to me this could easily be the end of the Volt. There are certainly no guarantees. I’m no fan of bailouts in general. But I don’t see another way." His opinion is apparently shared by countless others, though most of them are not particularly fond of bailouts either.
However, considering that the long-term benefits could outweigh a single handout, the federal government says that Congress will be reviewing the request of the manufacturer. All-electric cars could diminish the necessity of more imported oil, would also suppress the demand that drives the construction of new off-shore drills, and would offer a significant number of commuters a means of getting to their work place without stopping for gas.
"GM has pretty much bet the farm on the Chevy Volt and plug-in hybrids and certainly any major economic disruption to the company – any kind of bankruptcy filing or anything like that – for even the most high priority launch as this is would clearly be, would push it back a couple of years," concluded Lux Research analyst, Jacob Grose.