by Tate Dwinnell
Yesterday, General Electric (GE) announced the largest single purchase of electric vehicles in history - 25,000 to be exact. The vehicles will be purchased beginning next year with an initial purchase of 12K GM made Chevy Volts to achieve its goal of converting about half of its entire fleet to electric. This is a bold and important move from GE and the kind of action that will continue to help drive down the cost of electric cars to make them more affordable for everyone. EV's from other manufacturers will be added as they come available. No announcement has been officially made as to what those vehicles will be, but certainly the Nissan Leaf and the all electric Toyota Prius (2012) would be possibilities.
"Electric vehicle technology is real and ready for deployment and we are embracing the transformation with partners like GM and our fleet customers," said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. "By electrifying our own fleet, we will accelerate the adoption curve, drive scale, and move electric vehicles from anticipation to action.
This purchase offers more than just good PR and long term fuel savings for GE. As the manufacturer of the electric car charging station, the WattStation, anything the company can do to drive widespread adoption of electric cars increases sales of infrastructure components such as the WattStation.
GE also announced that as part of its ecomagination business strategy, it will open two electric vehicle customer experience centers in Michigan and Minnesota to provide customers and employees the opportunity to learn about the latest in EV development. Additional centers will be announced next year.
Reprinted with permission from Green Stocks Central
Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/11/general-electric-purchase-25k-electric.cfm
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