On August 8th, CNET senior editor Wayne Cunningham wrote an article with the amusing title, Chevy Volt Runs on Hype.
His argument of course it that here we are talking about and getting psyched about a car that actually doesn’t exist (still a concept for the moment), although the parts are coming together very rapidly.
Mentioned in the article is our site GM-Volt.com. We are seen as an independent publisher (true) who is seen to be keeping the hype going. GM is described as a bit more passive as though they’re not responsible for this phenomenon.
Wayne then goes on to quote my interview with Bart Riley of A123, acknowledging the fact that Bart was quite confident about the battery pack. Isn’t that ironic? To me this illustrates the value of the work we are doing here.
My take on this hype phenomenon is that this car has struck a resonant chord in the heart of millions, not just here but worldwide, and it is our insatiable interest and thirst for knowledge, and desire for seeing this car produced that is fueling the media blitz.
I believe GM is thriving on our collective energy and indeed it is this energy that will drive the car to production. They know they’ve got a hit on their hands, so let’s keep telling them.
Chevy Volt Runs on Electricity. It’s development runs on us!
This entry was posted on Monday, August 13th, 2007 at 7:03 pm and is filed under Public Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Aug 13th, 2007 (8:33 pm)I agree 100% – the Volt is the right car at the right time. GM will be printing money if they play their cards right. There are just _so many_ reasons to bring this technology to fruition. I have a few listed here: http://www.thecaseforpluginhybrids.com
I am sure there are many more.
Aug 13th, 2007 (9:12 pm)My conclusion after reading Cunningham’s article is that it was written to satisfy a deadline. You’d think that a journalist would understand the difference between
hype, which is protraying something in an unrealistically positive light, and public enthusiam, which is exactly what the
VOLT is generating. His further complaint that the VOLT doesn’t merit this enthusiasm because it doesn’t exist is sheer nonsense – the concept certainly does exist – it even comes with a full set of photographs, diagrams, etc. Humans happen to be conceptual animals Mr Cunningham, and we can appreciate the VOLT concept very well without any need for the solid physical object in front of us.
Aug 14th, 2007 (12:59 am)The author doesn’t seem to be paying attention, despite all the “hype” he’s talking about. He thinks the batteries “don’t exist yet” even though a working prototype of the battery pack will be available within a matter of weeks and a working prototype of the entire car will be zipping around Milford within a matter of months.
Aug 14th, 2007 (9:39 am)I just found this site and I\’m so glad I did because of the very notion that the Volt is all hype. I haven\’t heard anything about it for a while so I was starting to worry that it was all hype, but reading several of your latest posts, it sounds like the Volt project is alive and well.
Aug 14th, 2007 (11:21 am)I think that the ‘hype’ that’s driving the Volt right now will rapidly turn into ‘hype’ that will be buying the Volt in 2010 and onward. I think that what the plug-in advocates have been saying for years (that if the big automakers see a market for the cars, that they’ll make them as fast as possible) is proving true. Without out the hype/public enthusiasm for this car and this technology, then GM’s leadership may have decided to drag their feet or abandon the development of the Volt all together by now. That’s what happened with the EV1 and it’s the reason GM fell behind in electric propulsion technology. In short, I think that the persistent interest and hype about the Volt is driving GM to building the market solution we’ve all been begging for.