WomanOnWheels.ca

Putting aside rivalry for one day ...

  This was the scene yesterday at Ford's headquarters in Michigan on the occasion of GM's 100th anniversary.

Class act, guys.

I Am Curious (Electric)

  I saw the production Chevrolet Volt yesterday, just one of many plug-in electric or hybrid-electric vehicles that are being planned, from automakers including Nissan and Toyota.

The idea, the companies tell us, is that we'll be able to charge these electric vehicles during "off-peak" hours -- presumably in the evening -- when power requirements are low and prices go down.

But if we're all using air conditioning and lights and water heaters and electrical appliances during the day, and we've got several million electric vehicles all plugged in and charging once we go to bed at night ... then exactly when will "off-peak" be?

Chevrolet Volt: And the hits just keep on coming

  I was in Detroit for GM's hundred-year anniversary celebration, where the company rolled out the production version of the Volt. It's Chevrolet's extended-range electric car, which drivers will plug in to get a 40-mile range on battery power; if you need to go beyond that, there's a small gasoline engine that doesn't power the wheels, but runs the electric motor. GM first introduced it as a concept in 2007 and says it'll be built in November 2010.

The moment it rolled out on stage, the bloggers and the chat rooms exploded. And y'know, I'm no fan of corporations, but I have to admit that I feel for GM on this one. It seems that no matter what you do, you just can't make some people happy. Check out a few message boards and you'll see what I mean.

GM was castigated for dropping the EV1 program. People were furious that the company discontinued its electric car program. And now it's back with one, that addresses the EV1's drawback of range, and people still aren't happy.

The company did its research and found that the average American commuter trip is 40 miles. But if you go beyond that, there's a gas engine to get you a few hundred more miles, either to a wall socket or another gas station. And yet I've heard complaints of "but not everybody drives just 40 miles." Hit. Head. Here.

People complained that the Volt concept's styling was too "out there" to be taken seriously. So the company designs a more conventional (and to my eye, attractive) design, and people are complaining that it's too bland.

There are complaints about the price, even though GM hasn't yet said what it will cost. Yes, price will make or break this car. Do these people honestly think that the company doesn't know that?

And already I've heard complaints that it's an "untried technology". What, and the Prius and Insight were just new versions of hybrids that we'd been driving for the last 50 years? Yes, the battery is new, the system is new, the car is new. Perhaps these folks haven't realized that no matter what it is, from computers to refrigerators to ballpoint pens, somebody had to take a chance on the first ones.

What's wrong with the Volt that makes these people immediately hate it, even though it's been rolled out just once? Simple. It doesn't have Toyota on the nameplate.

Corporate-Speak Translation: Jaguar Land Rover

  The U.K. government is proposing an initiative aimed at encouraging and supporting U.K. manufacturing as being central to Britain's future prosperity.

David Smith, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, said this: "Jaguar Land Rover is striving to sustain and grow its manufacturing and R&D operations in the U.K., but clearly global competition continues to intensify and we have faced considerable pressures from rising energy and commodity prices ... We therefore support actions that underpin U.K. manufacturing investment and productivity during this difficult period, including the development of trade opportunities with low cost supply chains and actions to support economic growth and reduce input and financing costs."

Translation: We want to be able to bring in cheap parts from foreign countries.

Corporate-Speak Translation: Chrysler

  In the news today: Chrysler has announced three programs that will offer to 13,800 hourly employees -- basically, every such employee it has in Michigan -- for either early retirement or voluntary termination.

Said a spokesman, "This win-win-win situation will help employees who are separating from Chrysler land on their feet. We appreciate the years of dedication and work that the men and women of Chrysler have put into their careers with our organization. We now provide them a chance to reinvest in and reinvent their next career."

Translation: If we throw money at them, we don't feel nearly as guilty.

Gas prices: Who let the inmates run the asylum?

  In the news today: gasoline in the Toronto area jumped by some 12.9 cents in one night as "oil refiners brace for a possible disruption by Hurricane Ike as it rampages through the Gulf of Mexico", according to the paper.

Read that again. Prices rise because of a possible disruption.

Tell me again why price-fixing is illegal in every industry save for petroleum.

Tell me why oil company executives and the politicians who are kneeling in front of their open trousers aren't in jail.

Tell me why the gasoline that's already in tanks in the ground at the service station, purchased at the going rate when it was pumped in there, suddenly rises by almost 13 cents per litre because the oil companies might have a disruption.

Beyond that, I'd sure like someone to tell me how -- because I can't figure it out for myself -- raising the price of the petroleum already at the station is going to do anything to help the situation in the Gulf of Mexico. What effect does it have on any possible disruption? Perhaps if I pay an extra 25 cents a litre, Ike will shift its pattern and leave the oil rigs alone? Hey, if I spend an extra buck a litre, do you think that'll save any houses in Galveston?

Yes, I know, it's all about speculation and futures and George Bush's friends being able to buy yet another gold-plated bathroom faucet. But when the Farmer's Almanac predicts an unusually dry summer, loaves of bread don't jump fifty cents the day after the magazine hits the newsstands. And even when Gustav started coming towards Florida, I didn't see my local store hiking the price of a bottle of orange juice.

I think what makes me the angriest is that our politicians can stand there and with straight faces, tell us that there's no collusion. I've been in a gas station and watched the attendant take a phone call and then switch the sign to match the newly-raised price of the competitor's station across the street, and yet the oil companies can tell me, with straight faces, that they don't collaborate on the prices. That's the point when I'd love to fill the back of my pickup truck with full gas cans and ram it right through Stephen Harper's front door. Okay, so this is what you're going to charge me for gasoline -- I can live with that. What none of you seem to understand is that it's not just the prices. What the public is truly sick and tired of is the fact that you're all bald-faced liars. We can handle the truth. We just can't handle you.