GM wants your help in producing alternative powertrains

Click image above for live shots of the Cadillac Converj Concept

What's it going to take to get electric vehicles proliferating our roadways in America? According to Larry Burns, GM Vice President of Research & Development, it's going to require the close cooperation of the government, automakers and suppliers, energy companies and you, the American public. Right now, there are quite a few competing technologies and the lawmakers could sway the development of one or two with the right set of subsidies or investments and automakers could then focus their R&D budgets on those technologies. Energy companies would therefore focus their attention on getting a proper infrastructure in place, which would leave the actual buying of the resulting ready-to-run vehicles to the population at large. Easy, right?

Actually, its going to be an extremely difficult challenge to make a major shift away from petroleum-powered internal combustion engines to whatever the next technology is going to be. Of course, General Motors has bet big on extended-range electric vehicles, with its Chevy Volt scheduled to hit the market's waiting arms sometime in 2010. Next question: Are you ready to buy?

[Source: GM Fastlane]