GM’s decision on battery technology

General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Rick Wagoner says his company has started development of a so-called plug-in hybrid power system and plans to roll it out as soon as battery technology permits (“Taking hybrids to next level,” Nov. 30).

Funny how just a few years ago battery technology permitted GM to build pure electrics such as the EV1 with a 100-mile range. Yet now it seems battery technology is not good enough for plug-in-hybrids, which may go only 30 miles in electric mode.

Does GM want to build advanced-technology vehicles that reduce our dependence on oil? Sadly, I think the company would rather just continue to sell high-profit-margin sport utility vehicles.

Does GM want to reap the benefits of announcing advanced-technology vehicles? Well, talking is easier than building.

Richard Kelly

Huntington Beach

*

Rick Wagoner said the production date of the Saturn Vue sport utility hybrid depended on the time it would take to develop the required lightweight batteries with the necessary range.

Does that differ from the 100-year-old problem that made the internal-combustion engine victorious over the battery since 1910 and the rejection of GM’s EV1 in 2002?

For the GM plug-in to succeed, there first must be progress in battery science.

R. Stephen White

Santa Barbara