[MTP Reggie]

GE “Forcing” Employees Into Chevy Volts
FEBRUARY 20, 2012 BY CHRISTOPHER DEMORRO
gas2.org

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General Motors and General Electric are two companies that have been in the political crosshairs lately. GM stands accused of “crony capitalism,” while GE is under fire for paying no Federal income taxes in 2010. The two companies share more than that though, with GE placing an order for 12,000 Chevy Volts and other hybrid vehicles.
A memo leaked to Green Car Reports lays out GE’s plans for their new fleet of Volts, and as expected, it has some people crying foul.

The memo, sent to employees of GE Healthcare Americas team explains that all sedan, crossover, and minivan purchases in 2012 will be replaced by the Chevy Volt. Only field engineers are excepted from having to drive a company Volt.

GE will offer estimates for installation Level 2 Charging Stations, though all-gas use will be allowed when there is no electric option. Any employees who opt out of the Volt program will not be compensated for their expenses. Those who do choose to drive the Volt will be reimbursed for public charging and home charging costs, in addition to gas uses.

While some people are probably put off by having to drive a Volt, GE claims to have crunched the numbers and believes that in the long term, this will save the multi-national company big bucks. More than that though, GE is positioning itself as a big player in the EV charging market. Getting employees into Volts also means getting charging stations into homes.

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[natural_selection]

This is how I see it...GE has a PR problem for being smart enough to legally avoid taxes. GM has a Volt problem due to nobody buying them. Somebody thought that this deal would be mutually beneficial...and poof! Now GE is a "green" company, hopefully pacifying the liberals who are mad that they didn't pay their "fair share". And GM is now "selling" Volts, which will help them recover the R&D costs.

[USNRETWIFE]

There is no surprise here, they are both Obama companies in one form or another. I am proud to say the major and small appliances I've bought lately have been other companies' products. I will not spend a cent on GE. And, although I do drive a Chevy Trailblazer, it is pre-Government Motors. When it's time for a new car, it will not be GM.

[Weaseljd]

No coincidence here that the government just upped the tax incentive (if I recall properly) on purcahses of the Chevy Volt. GE gets to go green, helps Obama by making the Volt look feasible, and gets to write off in tax rebates/deductions under the Chevy Volt tax rebate some 41,200,000,000 (12,000 cars times the $10,000 tax incentive) in government/tax payer funds.

Damn - makes a hell of a lot of sense to me.

Also - I note something about EV stations in the article - Obama has put in the tax code rebates/incentives for installing these also. basically, the tax payer may end up footing a large part of the bill for GE's new fleet of cars, while Obama and Chevy score political points by being able to say "look how many units we have sold - see - people do want them".

[opus313]

Weaseljd, on 23 February 2012 - 11:25 AM, said:

No coincidence here that the government just upped the tax incentive (if I recall properly) on purcahses of the Chevy Volt. GE gets to go green, helps Obama by making the Volt look feasible, and gets to write off in tax rebates/deductions under the Chevy Volt tax rebate some 41,200,000,000 (12,000 cars times the $10,000 tax incentive) in government/tax payer funds.

Damn - makes a hell of a lot of sense to me.

Also - I note something about EV stations in the article - Obama has put in the tax code rebates/incentives for installing these also. basically, the tax payer may end up footing a large part of the bill for GE's new fleet of cars, while Obama and Chevy score political points by being able to say "look how many units we have sold - see - people do want them".

Bingo!

[BlondInfidel]

What will also be interesting is how many home fires will result as a consequence of people being forced to drive these pieces of refuse.

[natural_selection]

One little known fact about electric cars is that you can't let a low battery sit around for too long. If you do, the battery becomes permanantly unusable and must be replaced.

Here is an article describing the problem with a Tesla electric car.

I hope GE read the fine print in the Volt owners manual...

This post has been edited by natural_selection: 23 February 2012 - 12:16 PM

[MADGestic]

I "fail" to "see" the "problem" here. A company car is a great perk! Who's going to bitz about a free car?! Evil greedy people, that's who!

[Brah]

natural_selection, on 23 February 2012 - 10:47 AM, said:

This is how I see it...GE has a PR problem for being smart enough to legally avoid taxes. GM has a Volt problem due to nobody buying them. Somebody thought that this deal would be mutually beneficial...and poof! Now GE is a "green" company, hopefully pacifying the liberals who are mad that they didn't pay their "fair share". And GM is now "selling" Volts, which will help them recover the R&D costs.

It's All Part Of The Plan..