[Number 3]

Ok, tax credits or rebates or illegal taxation aside, I didn't see anyone on here bitching about the $2,500 Toyota Priussss got in tax incentives. Your U.S. tax dollars incentivized a foriegn national companies product. I didn't see one peep on the $1.5 Billion (with a B) DOE loan Nissan got for the Leaf, again, paying for a foreign national company's R&D.

So please make sure that you separate your dislike of the use of government funds from the technological masterpiece the Volt is.

Look there are two ways to "motivate" the populis to do what is right. A) reward the behaviour you want or B) penalize the behaviour you don't want.

If you talk about raising gas taxes such that gas is $5 or $6 per gallon whch would make the Volt an immediate financial winner, you will hear all about how this disadvantages the less well off. So you won't ever get to plan B.

Now if you wait until the price of gas naturally gets that high to make it economically viable for any automaker to put EVs or EREVs into production, it's too late.

This is the governemnt supporting technology development.

As I understand it, in Japan for example, the government pays for all technology development. The companies only have to pay it back if the technology goes into production. So the OEM really has no downside risk. So you may not like it, but this at least gives GM a shot at making the car economically viable for them and for the customer.

So the question is do you think this technology needs to be developed? What should the first step be? and does the government have any role that process? Especially when at $3 or less per gallon full size trucks and SUVs remain very popular.

It's a chicken and egg question. Will batteries get cheap enough if no one develops and produces them and if there is no viable economic need for the batteries then why would anyone bother to produce them.