WHY ARE DEMONSTRATION FLEETS SO CRITICAL?
They will help refine PHEVs and show America and the world what’s possible now. They will position the industry for the kind of accelerated deployment that could at any moment become necessary if we encounter supply chain disruptions and skyrocketing oil prices or a world waking up to the dangers of greenhouse gases. (Remember what happened after Pearl Harbor — after saying it was impossible, the industry switched from cars and trucks to planes and tanks in one year.) And they’ll ensure high volume sales later. Here’s why: while tens of thousands of early adopters and fleet buyers will want first- and second-generation PHEVs, millions of retail PHEV customers will wait for the third or fourth versions. Here are two examples of such customer behavior: We conceive of GM’s 1997 EV1 as version 1.0 of a great electric roadster. This car with lead-acid batteries was soon followed by version 2.0, with greater range nickel-metal batteries, then in 2003 by AC Propulsion’s TZero, a 0-60 screame
