A "brilliant" bit of engineering, but is the Volt really the right solution?

The General has done so many things with a ham-fist and a diverted eye that it’s easy to pick on anything America’s automotive giant does. But the Volt is not one of General Motor’s clumsy enterprises. Repeat; not. (Although press relations surrounding the introduction of the car had some avoidable ackwardness.)

Electric. Ah, the American driving public, one of the most ignorant – well, stupid — when it comes to car matters (except for me and thee, of course), has been lit up by that word, “electric,” as if plugged into a damp socket. That and “hybrid” seem to trigger both the “I-Me” gene and the altruistic love of planet at the same time. Whee! I get to use the Diamond lane. And I’m kind and caring to my environment. Also patriotic about avoiding foreign oil. (Though that really means Canada and Mexico and not the dreaded Mideast they envision.)

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That rising clamor for cars that plug-in and/or are weighted with batteries plus the related eagerness for state and nation to throw money and privileges at the folks who acquire such cars, have overridden some sober business calculations that might – if considered in quiet repose – militate against plunging so forcefully into the act of building electric cars for profit.

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