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from the whats-better-than-twenty-electric-eels dept.
General Motors is the latest car company to unveil plans for an emissions-free future. On Monday morning, the US' largest automaker announced that the next 18 months will see two new electric vehicles join the Bolt EV in showrooms, and 18 more are due by 2023. "GM believes in an all-electric future and a world free of automotive emissions," said Mark Reuss, GM's executive VP for product development, purchasing, and supply chain. "When the Bolt EV was announced at CES it was described as a platform, and this is the next step."
[...] Many of these cars will be built on an evolution of the Bolt's architecture using a second-generation battery pack. But they won't just be battery EVs—GM's electric future will involve hydrogen fuel cells. "We need to meet customer needs, whether that's the school run, a fun summer drive, or towing 1,000s of lbs. It can't be a one-size-fits-all approach," Reuss said.
GM and Honda have been collaborating on hydrogen fuel cell technology since 2013, and more recently the US Army has been testing a hydrogen-powered Chevrolet Colorado truck. "Now we're taking the technology to launch," said Charlie Freese, GM's executive director of fuel cell business, citing commercial and military applications as the initial goal. The fuel cells will be built at its Brownstown plant, which also makes the batteries in the Bolt and Volt.
Time to unload that gas car before it loses all trade-in value?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Scrutinizer on Tuesday October 03 2017, @07:29AM (1 child)
I enjoy buying used ICE vehicles that are in good mechanical condition. The amount of money saved on not buying new cars, not paying comprehensive insurance, and not being an unpaid tester of new car models allows me to sit on my arse and post on SN all day.
Not that I'm against electric vehicles out of principle, but if I'm going to drop ~$30,000 on a vehicle, it'd better be able to take me from New York to Cali-forn-i-a at the drop of a hat, without requiring extra days to charge up along the journey. They should probably also do something about the issue of needing the EV's battery "gas tank" replaced every ten years or so at great expense.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday October 03 2017, @06:34PM
I do the same. Last car I bought was a 2004 Jeep Liberty from a friend after the front driveshaft u-joint failed. She bought a new car and sold me that one for $750 and the repairs cost me $450. So $1200 got me a good running car that lasted me four years until last week when the final straw happened, failed ball joint (among other issues that were adding up). I put 50k/miles on it in those four years which works out to about $0.024 per mile. Compare that to a new basic car at $20k and even at 200k miles you are still paying $0.1/mile. Most people sell around 100-150k miles so you can get good deals.