I would have thought the main thing would be to provide workplace charging infrastructure.

The problem is should it be proactive or reactive - i.e. do we wait till someone buys a Volt to install a charger, or do we install them in the hope the Volts will come.

I would suggest a mixture of the two, whereby employers pledge that they will install charging stations (within N weeks) if someone actually buys a car and shows up with it.

Large companies, government and universities could sign up for this.

Otherwise, there will be dozens of charging stations with nothing to charge.

The government could assist with the cost of installing the first hundred or so till people got a feeling for how it would work.

[ I am assuming a Volt would include a home charging station ].

Then you have the problem of compatibility - can I charge my 2010 Prius at a Volt station - you had better be able to - or no federal money.

Gm is a very dangerous state compagny proposing and mandating petrol use since long time. They made patents with hydrogen and batteries subsidized by goverment to bury them thereafter and prevent with patents suing anyone to enter this market. They even make fuel with useful products like wood chips and corn and are helping third world contries to cut the rain forests to make bio-fuel from palm and sugarcane. They are just communists working for corrupts goverments, especially u.s.a. They are the one causing the pollution all over the world with regulation mandating polluting petrol in every f*cking moving devises and electrical plants. I said to power everything with water electrolisers for no fuel cost nor pollutions nor 8 hours recharge time for batteries.

A 220 volt outlet in the parking lot OUTSIDE In the RAIN with water dripping from the plug and little ponds collecting near the tires.

Good luck I'll be standing.........over there!!!

The easiest way to pay would be with coins - like an old fashioned gas meter or parking meter.

The amounts are very small - if power is 25c / KwH, then $2 would get 8Kwh which should be plenty for a daily commute.

You could make it more expensive from 5-7 pm (or whatever) if U liked.

You might want a meter in the car to tell you how much power the battery can take.

You could negociate all this with protocols, but that would slow the whole thing up - better to let people deal with it themselves.

If they knew the power cost $1 / KWh from 5-7, they would use very little.

The trick is to keep the charging stations as simple as possible, just 220V, weatherproof, with some kind of payment facility, perhaps with a timer or delay.

The ultimate aim must be to get one global charging standard, or at least 1 / major trading block ( US, EU, China, India).

JosephT: Don't worry about that. Allow each nitwit that tries to plug in in the rain be fried. That reduces energy use and GHG in the long run and will eventually bring us to the point of only having people who know not to do that.
(That's a joke for those who can't recognize one.)

To the people who question the ability to charge the car in the rain, sorry, but you're idiots. What are you envisioning here, just holding an electrically hot copper wire to the body of the car until it starts to smoke enough to know it's full?

It takes very little enginuity to solve the rain problem. I.E. a waterproof door over the charging port, a plug on the charging cord that latches onto the charging port (sealing with an o-ring to keep the connection dry) with prongs that extend automatically when the connection is made, a delay on the actual flow of current until the user has had time to not be holding onto the cord any more?

To put it into perspective, where I live it rains just about all the time, and when a welding job needs to be done, welding rigs pull right in at my plant and seriously high voltage/current work gets done just fine. With the right equipment, this is not a big deal.

As for GM and the Volt, they're asking a bit much. Not that I wouldn't like to see it, but just don't hold your breath. Besides, after watching the expected cost of these vehicles climb and climb above the original promise as the project developed, I started leaning more towards the idea of a pure EV anyway.

GM, cut a thousand pounds off that car and then we'll talk at that price.

Yes there are power plugs for use in the rain... They also do in fact tend to kill people from time to time that use em stupidly. Never underestimate the stupidity of a human.

Electrical fears in weather?? 99% electric transmission happens via exposed wiring and transformers on phone poles and high tension towers throughout the world. Non-issue.

Forgot to add in the plan's proposed elimination of registration and license fees for PEVs. Dependent on State these can come to $1k+. So our $30k MSRP Volt is now down to $14k cash outlay for a brand new car. With GMAC financing at 2-3% - this brand new PHEV with 40 mile AER is accessible to everyone buying a new car.

But we still hate em for the darn EV1 episode! Lousy %$#&^ astards!

Danm,

Actually PARC allowed Jobs to steal the ideas behind GUI. Many (too many) years later they tried to sue for infringement but the courts said the statute ran out.

OTOH, GM is well on their way to fully exploiting the failure and knowledge gained from the EV1 with a growing line of Voltec? powered hybrids. Unlike PARC, looks as though GM will use their EV1 experience to build a new business sector.

Of course we here at GCC, still hate the mo$#%fos!

“…you could put the two live wires on your tongue if you wanted to.”

Do not do it at home, Mark. GFCI do not interrupt short circuit. Only phase grounding.

Seems to me the cart here is way ahead of the horse. Until we see Volts, plumbing electricity is YEARS old technology. GET TO WORK EVERYONE!!!!