What GE's 25,000 EV Car Purchase Means to You

GE's announcement today that it will buy 25,000 electric vehicles by 2015 -- including an initial purchase of 12,000 plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt cars -- is clearly a coup for General Motors, and a smart play by a company that's synonymous with electrification. But the purchase also will have an impact on the driving public at large, in the form of faster introduction of electric cars, the possiblity of lower prices and better vehicles, quicker build up of charger infrastructure and more formal and informal consumer education on EVs.
John O'Dell, senior editor of Edmunds' Green Car Advisor, points out that GE's decision is not an altruistic one. GE is a major player in the electric vehicle components market. It makes and markets its own line of EV chargers and recently announced a partnership with California-based Better Place to offer financing for battery purchases for Better Place's battery exchange stations.
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