technology. It promised to convert at least half of its global fleet of 30,000 vehicles to electricity within five years. The remaining EVs that GE plans to buy will be deployed through its Capital Fleet Services business.

“Electric vehicle technology is real and ready for deployment and we are embracing the transformation with partners like GM and our fleet customers,” said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. “By electrifying our own fleet, we will accelerate the adoption curve, drive scale and move electric vehicles from anticipation to action.”

Immelt promised last week to buy “tens of thousands” of EV and today he called GE’s plan the biggest commitment ever to the technology. That overlooks a proposal — by no means a sure thing — by Renault and Silicon Valley startup Better Place to put 100,000 electric cars on the road in Israel and Denmark by 2016. Still, GE’s announcement is a milestone that will help prove the viability of electric vehicles.

“This is groundbreaking,” said Paul Scott, a founder of the advocacy group Plug-In America. “It shows a level of commitment to electric vehicle technology above and beyond anything we’ve ever seen before.”

If electric vehicles are the big winner, General Motors takes second prize.

GE says it will buy 12,000 Chevrolet Volt plug-in vehicles, which General Motors begins producing this month. The Volt, and the Nissan Leaf, are at the vanguard of the coming wave of electric vehicles. Automakers from Audi to Volkswagen promise to roll out electrics by 2015.

General Motors plans to build 10,000 Volts next year, and some of those will be delivered to GE. General Motors will ramp up production to as many as 45,000 in 2012. GE will receive between 2,000 and 3,000 vehicles annually, said GM spokesman Robert Petertson. GM CEO Dan Ackerson said General Electric’s commitment “reflects confidence that electric vehicles are a real-world technology” and is “a vote of confidence in the Chevrolet Volt.”

“We are pleased that the Volt will play a major role in this program, which will spur innovation and benefit our companies, our customers, and society as a whole,” Ackerson said.

The plan makes a lot of sense for General Electric, which builds the equipment that provides one-third of the world’s electricity. The company is moving quickly into the EV space, building charging stations and working with A123 Systems to develop batteries. It’s also got a “technology and financing partnership” with Better Place to develop public charging infrastructure and accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles, especially by corporate fleets.

“We make technology that touches every point of the electric vehicle infrastructure and are leading the transformation to a smarter electrical grid,” Immelt said. “This transformation will be good for our businesses and for our shareowners. Wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles will also drive clean energy innovation, strengthen energy security and deliver economic value.”

As we’ve noted before, fleets are a perfect place for electric vehicles. Fleet vehicles typically follow fixed routes, so range isn’t as big an issue. They’re often parked and maintained in centralized locations, making charging a snap. Although they can have higher purchase prices, they generally have lower operating costs.

By promising to add 25,000 EVs to its own fleets and those of its leasing customers, GE may spur other companies to do the same. FedEx CEO Fred Smith, for example, is a big believer in the technology and a member of the Electrification Coalition. The U.S. Postal Service also hopes to adopt electric vehicles.

“This is the one time when the EV advocates are exactly this right — this is a big deal,” Aaron Bragman, a senior analyst at IHS Automotive, said. “The only way EVs will see widespread adoption without gas prices going through the roof is if corporate fleets start adopting them in large numbers. If we get enough businesses doing this, you will see the economies of scale that will bring prices down and make the technology affordable to typical consumers.”

It remains to be seen where the remaining 13,000 cars GE plans to buy will come from, but we’re still betting a big share of them will come from Renault-Nissan. As we’ve noted before, General Motors has a partnership with Better Place, which has a partnership with Renault, which is the corporate sibling of Nissan.

And of all the automakers planning to roll out cars with cords, only Nissan will have significant production capacity. Nissan plans to build 50,000 Leafs (yes, the plural is Leafs, says Nissan) worldwide next year and 50,000 worldwide in 2012. Production will climb to 200,000 as the factory in Smyrna, Tennessee comes online in 2013. Additional factories are slated for France, England and Portugal in 2014, bringing Nissan’s worldwide EV production capacity to 500,000 vehicles.

Photo: General Motors

See Also:

• Peek Inside the Chevrolet Volt Factory
• GE Buying ‘Tens of Thousands’ of EVs
• EV Days Are Here Again
• 11 Trailblazing Electric Vehicles
• Better Place Promises 100000 EVs by 2016

Authors: Chuck Squatriglia

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