GM Joins in Launch of New Consumer Website for Electric Vehicles

[JeremyK]

GM Joins in Launch of New Consumer Website for Electric Vehicles
GM announced that it has joined the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) in launching GoElectricDrive.com, a first of its kind information hub to provide consumers with everything they need to know about buying, owning and driving plug-in electric vehicles.

On GoElectricDrive.com,consumers can calculate savings, find incentives, learn about topics ranging from batteries and vehicle charging to environmental benefits, watch informational videos and view some of the new plug-in electric vehicles available or coming soon to auto showrooms in the U.S.

EDTA developed GoElectricDrive.com with the support of 62 members, representing auto, battery, charging and utility companies as well as industry and government organizations.

“This unprecedented collaboration allows us to provide consumers reliable, complete and timely information about plug-in electric vehicles,” said Tony Posawatz, Chevrolet Volt vehicle line director and co-chair of the EDTA. “GoElectricDrive.com is a unique and comprehensive resource for consumers who want to learn more about plug-in electric vehicles, incentives for purchasing vehicles and driving and ownership benefits.”

[Texas]

This is a great start!

However, GM needs a dedicated set of applications (web, mobile web, in-store kiosk, etc.) for potential customers to be able to learn about the different electric vehicles GM has for sale and allow each person to be able to input their specific driving situation like what routes they use the most (work route, regular weekend route, etc.), how often they use the different inputted routes, etc. so that a very accurate estimation of the expected costs and carbon footprint can be calculated.

If they did this, they may lose a few customers that drive a lot of highway miles but they will gain an army of converts that will be convinced that the savings they will likely see are absolutely amazing.

Just look how Lyle's log is shaping up! If Lyle was able to map out his route using this proposed application, we would have all been amazed by what he was expected to see. Now that real data is available, people will feel more confident with these estimates. People laughed when GM said the Volt can get 230 mpg. If you look at Lyle's log, you can now see how that is going to be reality for a large percentage of Volt owners.

This should be marketed at the the highest level.

Dear Mr. Akerson, please drop by marketing and have them find a great web company to get this up and running. Come to think about it, GM should have a dedicated web app team to service Car 2.0. We already can see how the software development team is going to be increased along with the greater number of EEs. Maybe it's time to think about a dedicated Electrification R&D center. Don't forget future battery R&D.

When the next oil price shock hits (coming soon), GM should be ready with this web tool and be ready to pump out these Volts by the cargo-ship load. Countries all over the world are going to be willing to change their import regulations just to get as many of these as possible.

The Volt may not be THE silver bullet but it is a real, solid bullet that can be distributed to troops starting today.

[ChrisC]

Here's the driving log that Texas is referring to:

http://gm-volt.com/chevrolet-volt-driving-log/