This is the second round of 6 finalists. Please vote for your favorite from the 6 entries below, the top 5 will win test drives in NY:
1. Video
2. When I pull back the curtains in the morning, the first thing I see are the windmills. The sun plays gently between the blades, greeting a new day, as it has every day for the last two years. As I go through my normal morning routine I glance out the window and see the sun now bouncing off the hood of my car, picking out metallic flecks buried deep beneath the black surface. I notice on my energy monitor that the car has started warming itself up, it’s time for me to go.
As I pull out of the driveway, I wave to my neighbor Ted, who I see is on his way to work. He looks a lot healthier, since he started walking the two miles each way. His wife is leaving as well, she’s headed in the other direction. She thought she’d miss her SUV at first, but after finding just how versatile modern hatchbacks are, she rarely thinks of it. Ted finally sees me and he waves back, but I see the sadness in his eyes, where it has been since his son died in Helmand.
I’m half way to work, and I pass the gas station. I last went there a month ago, and I’m glad. It’s a depressing place to be. Every day I see parents watching every drop of gas they pump, knowing they are balancing in their mind the need to get to work, against the need to feed their family. Things are starting to get better now, prices have dropped back to $9 a gallon after Iran finally quit the war. They say the latest Alaskan wells will come online soon, so it might go back to $7. I am still thinking of the young mans’ face we all saw so many times on the news, they’re still not sure who opened fire on the protesters.
After a long day at work I’m glad to relax in the car on the way home. My wife calls me halfway, her hunch was right – I’m going to be a father. As I drive back under the windmills a tear rolls down my cheek, I wish I could have done more to bring my child into a better world. I hope I can teach the next generation something.
We all have to start somewhere.
I started with the Volt.
3. Death of Cynicism by Electric Shock
Over the past eight years, I have studied the integral role that General Motors played in shaping the landscape of our current American transportation system. It has been a sour lesson in the relationship of American politics with business, and I have since developed a highly critical outlook on the actions of General Motors. The cynical man inside my heart blames General Motors for a pervasive culture and philosophy in American motor cars that sacrificed blue collar values of dependability, shared sacrifice, and innovation, for profit. This cynical man blames General Motors for dismantling working rail system of public transportation in cities throughout the United stated, by purchasing them through subsidiaries, negatively restructuring them and systematically breaking transit lines in favor of “automized” bus systems. The sickly cynical man also blames General Motors for developing, patenting and building revolutionary battery technologies, only to see the patents sold to oil companies with competing interest, and those same technologies buried as soon as manufactures begin to use them. I truly hate that cynical man.
That man has spent these past eight years waging a quiet information campaign, spreading everything he has learned among friends, family and in conversations with strangers. However, that man is sick, weak and tired. In his place, a new man wants to be born, to be nurtured and to grow. The new man wants desperately to believe in the ability of an American Motor Company to confront, challenge, and break with its own cultural past in order to rebuild, not only its own future, but the domestic and cultural future of an entire nation. I want the new man to sit in the very driver’s seat of the new Chevy Volt, as it now sits poised on the precipice of just such a historic change. The electrified controls will come to life in the hands of that new creature, and fed by the hum of an electric motor, that new man will cast off the cynical one. An honorable thing will be done, as that old man breaths his last, and the new man looks towards a bright electrified future, with an old enemy, now his new friend, sitting in the passenger’s seat.
4. Volt Nation
I have been an active member of Volt Nation, following the Volt from the beginning, even donating my time to do graphic design work. I tell people everywhere I go about the benefits of the electrification of the automobile and why the Volt is going to be a winner. These are all similar reasons that anyone at GM-Volt.com can cite as justification, so what makes me different?
I have deployed several times in support of US operations around the globe and am very proud of the service I have done for my country. That pride is tempered by the knowledge that war, while at times necessary, is exceptionally wasteful. We are wasting lives, resources and time on propping up a system that is harmful to the environment and potentially devastating to a peaceful, verdant future.
Imagine if we as a nation had vehicles that demanded less or required no gasoline. Imagine how that would affect our foreign policy, putting fewer of our troops, my brothers and sisters, in harms way. Fewer dollars would be spent to use the military to protect oil assets in far away lands and more dollars would be spent on the renewable infrastructure and smart electrical grid that is so desperately needed here.
National defense can be secured in many ways. I believe that the electrification of the automobile is one of the most potent weapons we can develop. Promoting renewable energy use and the electrification of transportation with vehicles like the Volt will take value away from oil. The less that oil is worth, the less influence oil rich countries in the Middle East will have on our foreign policy. When that happens, perhaps we really can achieve the dream of peace in our time.
5. I am 60 years old. I have lived through flower power, the Vietnam War and the protest, the gas rationing, Watergate, rescissions, the Gulf Wars and a half century of change, discontent and turmoil. But I have been waiting. I have been waiting all this time for America to lead again. To make me feel proud again. I considered myself a hippie once – and for all the good reasons. Forty years ago I cried for the environment, for our precious and irreplaceable life as it was being destroyed by the toxins from automobiles. I watched and watched. Nothing changed. Not really. And the worst criminals were us, the United States.
I have never stopped being a hippie – a closet hippie maybe. Kids have come and gone – I am proud of their success. I am proud to have grandchildren to share my life with. I am very grateful and thankful for my own success. Life has changed so much, but day in and day out it was always the same. Cars pollute. But I have kept dreaming and kept the faith that America would make a difference and would someday produce a car that really mattered. A car that I could be proud to drive. A car that when I sat in the driver’s seat would make me smile. A car that made me proud to be American again. A car that would inspire. A car that brought back a dream – a dream of fresh, clean air. A car an old hippie could drive.
Thank you GM.
6. I love Nature, I love hiking in the woods and just being away from all the technology we use in our daily lives. I’m also a technologist, I work in IT and get to try out new techno-gadgets long before most people, I was emailing over my cell phone in the mid 90’s when it weighed as much as a brick. I love this country, but I fear for what we are doing with it, every day more and more land gets gobbled up for development, or is strip mined for limited resources, every day are lungs are filled with the toxic by products of our industrial society, while our capital is shipped over seas to countries that in many cases would rather export war against us. We cant keep going like this, something has to change, we need to become self sufficient, we need to protect the resources and the wilderness we have left, electric driving with energy generated from renewable resources is the answer and I want to help us get there.Over the last year I’ve been blogging about
my experiences driving the MINI E electric car at http://mini-e.blogspot.com Its been a wonderful experience but I’ve come to the realization that I’m not right for a pure electric car. During the weekdays I rarely drive over 60 miles, most days I only drive 40, for which the MINI E is a great commuting car. But on the Weekends I’m either driving to my Fiancee’s (80 miles away) or we are off to the mountains to go hiking on some back trail, or mountain biking somewhere new, we like to explore and get away from civilization, and technology. Unfortunately this means the MINI E usually spends the weekend sitting at one of our homes. I cant have one car for weekday commuting and another for weekend exploring, with the Chevy Volt I’ve got two cars in one, it will give me an almost all electric daily commute (All electric if I can convince my company to put chargers in at work), and it gives my fiancee and I the range and cargo room we need to explore the
great outdoors, what could be better?
+4
Mar 14th, 2010 (8:28 am)Lol. A Pie on Pi day.
3.141593
+2
Mar 14th, 2010 (8:31 am)WOW, Lyle! These 6 entries are just as thoughtful, well-written (or acted) and as entertaining as the previous ones! It’s going to be a very tough decision again today, but it’ll be a labor of love —as I’m sure it was for you & the rest of the judging panel working behind the scenes!
+5
Mar 14th, 2010 (8:47 am)Is it wrong for me to vote for myself?
Mar 14th, 2010 (8:58 am)Wow
#2
+1
Mar 14th, 2010 (9:13 am)Good entries, but have to admit my disappointment over them not inc. one who converted his
ICV to an electric vehicle almost 20 years ago. I designed my own charger to power it also.
page 4 of: http://www.fveaa.org/docs/newsletters/1994/FVEAA-newsletter-1994-08.pdf
Best of luck to the winners; will be looking fwd to testimonials. Charge ‘er up! bk
Mar 14th, 2010 (9:20 am)Another hard decision. They are all very good.
Mar 14th, 2010 (9:25 am)You are right Nasaman it is a tough decision. And an all important one. We want the one who will report back to us as Lyle has done to let us know just how it is to drive the Volt that we all want so much. I wish I could have been the one to be chosen but alas I could not get away from work to be the spokesman for the group so it is my reposnsibility to choose carefully. I take this responsibility with graat honor. I hope I have chosen wisely.
Take Care,
TED
Mar 14th, 2010 (9:41 am)Well written all, very tough to vote.
+2
Mar 14th, 2010 (9:53 am)There’s been a lot of discussion lately about ‘how strong the demand will be’ for the VOLT, and electric cars in general. Today’s video highlights what I’ve been saying all along.
I think Americans (and just about all citizens of the world) are sick of giving their money to oil sheiks, Texas Barons, and crazy Venezualan and Iranian dictators. We need personal autos, and we all know we’ve “made a deal with the devil” to keep them fueled, but now we want a better way.
I also think the demand has been underestimated. Lots of people CAN and WILL buy a $40,000 auto, and believe the same as we do here about Middle East Oil. They will snap them all up quick!
Eventually there will be a $27,000 Voltec vehicle for the masses. Oh, and BEV’s too. Maybe in another 10 years we will see the OPEC guys “sobbing like little girls”. That would be more fun to watch than a pie in the face.
+1
Mar 14th, 2010 (10:58 am)I almost voted for #1 before I even read the others… But alas…
And congrats, Nasaman. If I couldn’t win, I’m glad you did, or maybe Tag, or …
=D~~~
Mar 14th, 2010 (11:07 am)2014 Volt SS?
http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/imrscher-bumblebee-cruze/
+5
Mar 14th, 2010 (11:09 am)Gang, the end of Middle-East oil is the goal. End terrorism, stop subsidizing the world with our defense dollars. Go Volt!
Whoever makes the trip, please tell us about your driving experience. This really looks to be the beginning of the end of wasteful energy in the form of liquids, firing pistons and exhaust. The estimate is only 14% of the energy is used to actually propel a car this old, outdated way.
Chevrolet Volt: AMERICAN-MADE, AMERICAN-FUELED.
+1
Mar 14th, 2010 (11:11 am)#2, ditto. #3 shame on you for bragging, but congratulations! (I am jealous). And to alll winners enjoy and take good notes.
Mar 14th, 2010 (11:11 am)Great essays and video very tough decision. I don’t think he wrote it but was number 3 written for statik?
Mar 14th, 2010 (12:04 pm)VERY tough choice. I’ve gone through them twice and will continue to until I can decide. Good work by all.
Be well,
Tagamet
No ER, No Sale!
Mar 14th, 2010 (12:27 pm)Still have not voted yet, there is a certain amount of negativity in all of them. Wanting to stick it to somebody or we are evil. There was positivism in some the last 6 that made voting easier. Yes we are ready for the Volt, It will bring good things. No need to dell on the negative, I do not vote for negativism. Think I will pass on this one for now. I think the overall winner is known. Oh and congratulations to all that get to drive the Volt. You are truly part of history.
Mar 14th, 2010 (12:35 pm)This round is starting to look like a real horse race. Considering the pool the contestants are from, I’m sure we’ll get good reports from all winners. After the Opel video and the test drive report from Austin, I’m ready to pull out my American Express Platinum card and order a Volt over the internet. But alas, I haven’t had an American Express Platinum for several years and there’s no place to order a Volt anyway. Sigh.
Mar 14th, 2010 (1:25 pm)Well all these just put my entry to shame.
+4
Mar 14th, 2010 (1:34 pm)Although I am bummed out not to have been picked, I can’t wait to read the reviews of the test drives!
Should the rest of us post our non-winning entries here for the rest of us to read???
What do you think?
NPNS
Mar 14th, 2010 (1:41 pm)Interesting article EVdevotee, alot of us talk the talk but you’ve walked the walk and are a
pioneer in this field;what made you decide to convert your car to electric over a decade ago?
Post your entry anyway, and all the others too that didn’t make the finals.
Mar 14th, 2010 (1:43 pm)Once again, I liked them all.
Well done everyone.
I didn’t do one. Mine would have been a real downer as it would have started on 9-11.
Mar 14th, 2010 (1:45 pm)I wonder if number one is our LauraM. Does anyone have a clue?
-12
Mar 14th, 2010 (2:04 pm)(click to show comment)
Mar 14th, 2010 (2:17 pm)Everyone please neg out the troll at #23
+1
Mar 14th, 2010 (2:24 pm)The Volt will help with the balance of trade. The Volt will help reduce our dependence on oil. The Volt will be a better driving experience. If you are so minded the Volt will help save the Polar Bear! There are so many good things about the Volt that I can not begin to list them all. All I have to say is we are ready for the Volt, made by Chevy.
Cheers
Mar 14th, 2010 (2:35 pm)I actually kind of enjoy that stuff, I also enjoy the shifting of gears, and having an engine come on cam. Fuel has, and will serve us well. I also enjoy efficiency and the silence of electric drive. I enjoy driving the Prius through town in electric mode. I also believe in economic responsibility, and balance. Maybe I am a Buddhist.
+4
Mar 14th, 2010 (2:36 pm)Here’s my entry, the whole family had fun composing it-the rules didn’t say it couldn’t be verse:
I was ‘green’ before green was in,
back in ‘92 my own EV conversion let me spin;
Our charger which was self (&buddy) designed,
did not once give out an audible whine;
The winner needs to possess more than basic electrical knowledge,
that should come from EV experience, and not just from college;
I’ll ask the Volt team questions that prod and probe,
for their car should be used ’round the globe;
The GM Volt’s sleek design will turn the eye,
It’s silent drive will be a high;
The earth remains unspoiled,
for the car uses little oil;
Volt’s drivers will receive flattery
cuz it’s powered mainly by battery.
Now it’s counting down the days until
I can get a jolt from my very own Volt.
(creative post above may not be reproduced or copied without consent of owner)
+1
Mar 14th, 2010 (2:38 pm)I think she said she did not enter…
Mar 14th, 2010 (2:53 pm)EVdevotee,
I think that’s a great entry, I especially like the family participation part. Personally, I’d like to hear more details about your conversion. It may be the only way to get an affordable US built electric car for a while. A two mode won’t do.
Mar 14th, 2010 (2:55 pm)I like it! Just a wee bit of self promotion, and innuendo. Otherwise very positive.
+2
Mar 14th, 2010 (3:20 pm)My reaction was like yours at first. I was so sure mine would be picked! But then I went back and reread what I had written, and compared it with the ones that were posted. I could see there were reasons for not selecting mine. Most important, mine was too personal, with too many details about my family.
So, my heartfelt congratulations to the winners, and I wait with high anticipation for their reports on the test drives. Even more than that, I can hardly wait for the day when I can slip behind the wheel of a Volt and drive … and drive … and drive.
Mar 14th, 2010 (3:22 pm)Wow, this one is tough, they are all so good, how to choose?
Mar 14th, 2010 (3:25 pm)EVdevotee, your entry had a unique flair, my take from it was that he wanted to establish
that he’s not a ‘johnny-come-lately’ jumping on the bandwagon as it gains momentum,
like myself who just stumbled across this site.
Mar 14th, 2010 (3:42 pm)Agreed. I decided #6 was the most positive in this set of six, and therefore got my vote. The video was OK, but I have never been the slap-stick humor kind of guy. I’m more of the dry humor type and I’m not even British.
Mar 14th, 2010 (4:09 pm)Well, I’ve whittled it down to 3 and 5. I wish I could vote for both.
Mar 14th, 2010 (4:13 pm)Agreed, some folks do like that sort of stuff. I do not mind some innuendo, but drive a Volt or die is a bit much for me. I know they did not quite say that but it was alluded to. The story’s really were good and did have a lot of positives. I do not know why they had to add if you do not drive a Volt you will fill your longs with toxicity, be a criminal, promote war and cynicism, or to through a pie in the face. I thought #4 was the most positive, but it was still half about war, and why we need the Volt. Yes my essay was dull, and I thought I had a slim chance to be picked. There are some really smart folks here. My only real thought on the results are they want to have a critical audience. Me? I would probably love the Volt no matter what.
Mar 14th, 2010 (4:35 pm)Haha! I have the #1 reason to get a volt and not a basic ev… My electricity just went out on my house in Colorado springs. I would be cold and stuck right now if I had a leaf. Irony
Mar 14th, 2010 (4:57 pm)Absolutely Jim!
and I’m sure I’m not alone in wanting to hear the other contribution. These are great!
Mar 14th, 2010 (5:18 pm)Not to mention, with a 17 KW or so generator onboard, it shouldn’t be too difficult for Chevrolet to make Volts usable to provide power to your house in situations like that.
+1
Mar 14th, 2010 (5:36 pm)I think that #4 presents the most cogent argument. Who doesn’t want world peace?
+1
Mar 14th, 2010 (6:08 pm)#3
Nope.
Mar 14th, 2010 (6:16 pm)I am not voting because I don’t presume to choose among all of these excellent and obviously heart felt efforts. As I have said so many times, you guys are the greatest.
LJGTVWOTR!! NMST!
Mar 14th, 2010 (6:34 pm)This was tough….they were all VERY, VERY GOOD.
If I had any musical talent, I would like to have submitted an updated version of the old 1960’s Chevy jingle, “See the USA, in your Chevrolet”….with new words for a new age. It would go something like this:
See the USA, in your Chevrolet
The Chevy Volt is now the way to go…..
It’s a happy day, we can drive away
Knowing we’re not funding all our foes…
Save the Earth today, in your Chevrolet…
The Electric Volt is better all around….
Forty miles to play, with no gas, Hooray!!!!
I’m so happy as I drive and cover ground………….
I SO used to love that jingle when I was a kid. It would be so cool to see and hear an updated version that reflects the new cutting edge technology being used in the Volt….and in some of the other Chevy’s of late too.
The closer we get to VOLT DAY….the more excited I am getting….
GO GM! GO VOLT!
+1
Mar 14th, 2010 (11:15 pm)Here was my entry:
Why I want a Chevy Volt By Jim Isabella (Jim I at gm-volt.com)
I could give all the standard reasons about how it will help lessen the impact on our environment, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and just be a cool car to drive. But when I really started to think about it, I began to wonder how much different the world would be with the Chevy Volt available to people everywhere.
Why just imagine how much different some of our most famous speeches would have been, had there been a Chevy Volt to talk about:
What if Abraham Lincoln was here to see the Volt?
Four score and seventeen years ago, Thomas Edison built an electric car. He couldn’t get it to
work, but the Chevy Volt Team did!!! Woo-Hoo!!!!!!
Or Franklin D. Roosevelt:
The only thing we have to fear, is not building enough Volts!!!
Or John F. Kennedy:
We choose to build and drive the Volt and do the other things, not because it is easy, but because it is hard……….
Or Ronald Reagan:
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall, so you can test drive and then buy a Chevy Volt!!
And last but not least, this humble message from Jim Isabella:
Thank you Chevrolet, and the Chevy Volt Team, for building the car I have been dreaming about for the last thirty years. You have brought GM back to the standard of excellence it was founded upon, and revived the belief that if put to the test, there is no problem we can’t solve!!!!!!!
I can’t wait to be the proud owner of one of these vehicles.
Mar 15th, 2010 (6:54 am)Entry above (#44): Clever and well-conceived —you’re a winner in my book, Jim!!!
(And I really LIKE your idea for a revival of the 60’s Chevy jingle in #43 Dave!!!)
Mar 15th, 2010 (10:20 am)The voting window sure was short, didnt even get a chance to vote for myself. But that was some tough competition, and everyone here is a winner in my book.
Mar 15th, 2010 (1:10 pm)nasaman:
Thanks, but still not enough for a test drive……………
HAHAHAHA!! Maybe next time!
I just would like to see a Volt up close. They have yet to bring one to either the Cleveland or Pittsburgh Auto Shows.