GE Plans to Order “Tens of Thousands” of EVs
29 October 2010
Bloomberg. In a speech in London, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt said that the company will order “tens of thousands” of electric vehicles in about a week. Immelt did not specify a total or identify suppliers.
Immelt said half of GE’s sales force of about 45,000 will drive electric vehicles. The Fairfield, Connecticut-based company also has a vehicle-leasing division through its GE Capital finance unit. Financial terms and other details about the order aren’t yet being disclosed, GE said.
GE is investing $10 billion over the next five years in clean energy across its business lines, including power-transmission software and so-called smart-grid technologies. Its products include lithium-ion batteries for cars and trucks via a venture with A123 Systems Inc. and sodium-based batteries for use in large vehicles such as locomotives.
This is excellent news. Others will hopefully follow soon.
Postal services (in most if not all countries) should be enlisted and persuaded to get on board.
Posted by: HarveyD | 29 October 2010 at 08:21 AM
Excellent news and a smart corporate move.
Posted by: kelly | 29 October 2010 at 10:36 AM
Would GE buy one of these http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35789 and does anyone know more about ' Hummingbird alpha polymer technology' batteries?
Posted by: kelly | 29 October 2010 at 11:19 AM
Excellent news indeed. And precisely the move needed to build word of mouth about electric efficiency. Next should be every major electric utility in the country. Starting with Consolidated Edison in NY and PGE in Cali.
These corporate giants can be enlisted to carry the message. It looks like Jeff Immelt has the exact right idea and is putting it to action.
Congratulations GE.
Posted by: Reel$$ | 29 October 2010 at 11:34 AM
The sodium batteries may have the best chance to get very low cost high capacity batteries. They were tested in cars over ten years ago. GE seems to have bought the people who developed it. The Zebra Battery. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 29 October 2010 at 08:11 PM
I hope Henry Gibson is happy about this. Because his dream for the Zebra battery may well come true!
Posted by: Reel$$ | 29 October 2010 at 10:43 PM
That's all the Volt production for next year then and lots of Leafs on top.
Posted by: clett | 30 October 2010 at 04:45 AM
Kelly:
The DBM battery has done one thing: driven a long distance on a large battery. The good here is the weight of the 110kWh battery at 600lbs+. If Tesla was t.o build a 110KWh battery right now, it would likely be heavier. But the Tesla gets 220 mile AER from a 53kWh battery.
So Tesla's battery weighs more but in converting energy to miles (in the Roadster anyway) it already has beaten DBM's breakthrough.
Posted by: Reel$$ | 31 October 2010 at 05:06 PM