The Zero Emission Car

1min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Some engineers get themselves a car with an internal combustion motorcycle engine. They drive it 60 miles and then have to recharge it for eight hours. So some of the engineers think, hey, that's a pretty good idea. Let's try that in a car, you know, a real car. It doesn't get anywhere.

Jonathan Rauch, of the Brookings Institution and the Atlantic Monthly, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the evolution of the Chevy Volt, GM's planned electric car. Due to the transparency of GM's effort, Rauch was able to spend a great deal of time on site at GM writing a piece for the Atlantic Monthly on GM's plans and hopes. Rauch discusses the huge risks, GM's past failures, and GM's hopes that the Volt might change the company's culture. The conversation closes with a discussion of competitors and the implications for energy policy.