Why Not the Chevrolet "Copout"?

Why not name the Chevrolet Volt the "Copout", the "Blend", the "Gaselectrick" or any other name more akin to what is under its skin. The Chevrolet website states that the new Volt will have a range of 40 miles on 8kw hours of electricity before it kicks into the 300 mile reserve gas mode. I remember a couple of years ago, going to a Nationals Baseball game at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, seeing the Volt prototype parked out front of RFK Stadium for baseball enthusiasts to see for the first time. The general public had the opportunity to look at its absolutely beautiful simple lines and details, and to be told that it is/will be electric! How exciting this was due to the fact that few electric cars even today exist and that General Motors was back in the perverbial saddle. The Volt they presented that day had a clever plug in port, and NO fuel filler door.

Yes, General Motors had already been there, had done that, with the EV1. The EV1 had followers and devoted owners alike. Having debuted in 1990, the EV1 had a range of 150 miles (NiMH batteries), and there was infrastructure in place in California to make it more than viable. It was the cutting edge of electric vehicles and possibly to date, with the exception of only a handful of electric vehicles like the Tesla, boasted a modern car feel with A/C, stereo, all the creature comforts, that could be driven to more than just the neighborhood grocery and back.

So why did General Motors switch gears this second time around? Why is the Volt not the EV2, or second generation electric vehicle from GM? It seems to me that the space that is taken up by the generator and fuel tank of the Volt, if replaced by a battery bank, might house the needed juice for the Volt to reach that 150-250 mile range? It could easily be fully electric, so why did they choose not to? If General Motors went fully electric with the Volt, is this too soon for the lobbyists, for the stockholders of the oil industry? Is the public not ready? They were ready for the EV1.

Simply put, I believe that if the major automobile manufacturers stepped up, designed EV's from the ground up, mass produced them like Tesla is planning to do, it would change the face of electric vehicles and the nation's, if not the global perspective, as well as change the availability of electric vehicles, bringing them from concept status to common place status today.

In giving General Motors credit, if the Volt sells well, they will have succeeded in extending the viability of the electric vehicle to the masses, albeit whilst undercutting the pure and simple form of the same, kowtowing to the American public's need and ability to drive to the end of the Earth. Let's hope a plug-in charging infrastructure quickly follows either way!