mind body planet

This week we got a big mix of what seems to be extremely troubling news about the financial state of the country and the world at large. Some pretty big actions have been taken by some of the biggest investment banks and the government to try and salvage the economy and the structure of our society at this point. I have been trying my best to simply ignore the things that I have been hearing because there is nothing I can do about it. All that the people down here on the bottom can really do is hope that everything works out in the end and try to keep going without the comfort we held before.

One of the way that I am doing this is by looking at a lesser known story from earlier in the week. This week GM unveiled their new electric car called the Volt. They held their little press conference and showed off the vehicle. I am sure that everyone who left that day with their corporate gifts in hand was happy to see the newest model, but sharing a question that I am also having around this story. What is the price for such a car?

GM showed off their new car as the latest in a long line of electric designs that has put this one at the fore. In terms of the marketability of this vehicle I think that they surely kept that in mind when designing it. We all have see the Toyota Prius, I love it, out there on the road and thought about how funny the design of the body is. It doesn’t look to me to be that aerodynamic and for many the fact that it is not what could be called stylish would shoot it right out of the pool of new cars they’d buy. The Volt ont the other hand is designed to be the most aerodynamic car GM has ever built thus making it look and handle like a sportscar of old. This sort of contradicts what we would think of when we imagine a hybrid or fully electric car but they have pulled it off here.  GM has also managed to create a product that those who car about environmental initiative can feel happy about. The battery life on this one is around forty miles and then the gasoline engine kicks in to keep the battery charged for hundreds more. It is also only about four cents a mile on avaerage to drive and charge this little baby up for around eight hours a night.

All in all I think that GM has made a winner here. I just hope that they don’t stop here and they move all the way in to the future with this design and they don’t kill it with the price.