GM has taken the risk of hearing directly from the public on its blog since 2005. Its posting about the Chevy Volt is at http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/­archives/­2007/­01/­chevy_volt_conc_1.html. Following Vice President for Environment and Energy Beth Lowery's introduction are dozens of compelling comments. This blog is moderated, and we were pleased that they accepted our submission, which includes a pointer to http://www.calcars.org/­gm-phevs-faq.html.

On that page it's worth watching the 18-minute streaming video of yesterday's launch announcement, featuring an effective thematic introduction, then comments by Rick Wagoner, CEO and Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman, Product Development, and Chairman, GM North America.

At
http://media.gm.com/­us/­gm/­en/­news/­events/­autoshows/­07naias/­brands/­chevrolet/­volt/­volt%20environment.htm
are Volt press releases on Design,
Specifications, E-Flex, Environment and GE Ecomagination Technology.

Also stop by the Chevy website for http://www.chevrolet.com/­electriccar/­ -- headlined "WHAT IF YOU COULD COMMUTE TO WORK ALL WEEK WITHOUT USING A DROP OF GASOLINE?". This is a great one-page presentation of the benefits of the Volt, plus four pop-up windows about the system and the MPG results for 40/60 miles and for long trips.

Notably, this page also backs up the statement, "Seventy-eight percent of commuters drive 40 miles or less to and from work." with a source: Vol. 3, Issue 4, Oct., 2003 Omnistats - U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics. This is helpful because most citations have depended on very old 1991 data. (Of course, the most significant statistic is not individual commuting distance but rather "vehicle miles travelled" (VMT), which includes errands, etc.