Posted: 2/23/2012 5:29:14 AM EDT
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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 exempt 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. http://gas2.org/2012/02/20/ge-forcing-employees-into-chevy-volts/ |
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If I were one of those employees, I'd make damn sure to expense the cost of having a second power meter installed in the garage just for the car. If their policy says that they'll reimburse home charging costs, then it seems that would be covered under the policy. I'd like a detailed list of all of the palms that had to get greased for such a stupid policy to get put into place. And I'd love for stockholders to start asking serious questions about why they didn't go with other hybrids at roughly half the price, which would result in some very interesting political answers. |
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Quoted: Quoted: If you are being given an employee vehicle - don't be a bitch about it being the wrong model. Seriously - their company, they can give their employees whatever car they want. Doesn't sound like the GE is picking up the cost of the home charging station (or at least from the article it doesn't) and my understanding, those things aren't cheap.....so yeah I think they might have a small reason to complain. |
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If you are being given an employee vehicle - don't be a bitch about it being the wrong model. While I don't like the Volt and think it's ugly, if my company gave me one to drive as a perq I'd do it. That said, they might take it back after I test out its off-road capabilities... 
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Arfcom is against a company mandating the types of company cars they provide as a benefit for their employees? It may be silly, it may be politically motivated, it may be due to business relationships, but it's not 'wrong'. Since none of us live in an innocent world we know that GE was "encouraged" to buy them by Obama to help a brother out. Government influence makes it wrong not the company telling its employees what to do. |
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If you are being given an employee vehicle - don't be a bitch about it being the wrong model. Seriously - their company, they can give their employees whatever car they want. I go along with this line of thinking.. If my "company" wanted to give me a car, I'd take the keys and say thanks.. |
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Quoted: Arfcom is against a company mandating the types of company cars they provide as a benefit for their employees? It may be silly, it may be politically motivated, it may be due to business relationships, but it's not 'wrong'. I'm against them forcing the employee to take the wrong tool for the job, and to incur unusual expenses in the process of doing so, for the purposes of making a political statement. They don't currently have minivans in their fleet just for shits and grins... they have them because they need the room. And soon there will be a few thousand employees having a harder time doing their jobs effectively because they can't fit all of the crap they need into a Volt. And, just like employers cover phone bills and travel expenses for field employees, they should make sure that all home charging expenses are covered. I don't really see how that's possible without a dedicated meter. If the hypothetical employee was 100% satisfied that the charging expenses were taken care of, and that the car didn't make it harder for them to do their job, then they'd have nothing to bitch about. |
| Ge is of course free to make this poor financial decision. Take away the politics volt do not make economic sense. They are base on the chevy cruze, the cruze starts at about $18000 an unit, the volt starts about $44000 an unit and the last time I checked $26000 bought a crap pile of gas even at the inflated price under the Obamanations reign. Not to mention the other cost listed. If I was a share holder I would not be pleased. |
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idea came about internally? who cares
directed by "you know who" (more than likely): fas·cism noun \ˈfa-ˌshi-zəm also ˈfa-ˌsi- Definition of FASCISM 1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition |
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Quoted: Quoted: Arfcom is against a company mandating the types of company cars they provide as a benefit for their employees? It may be silly, it may be politically motivated, it may be due to business relationships, but it's not 'wrong'. I'm against them forcing the employee to take the wrong tool for the job, and to incur unusual expenses in the process of doing so, for the purposes of making a political statement. They don't currently have minivans in their fleet just for shits and grins... they have them because they need the room. And soon there will be a few thousand employees having a harder time doing their jobs effectively because they can't fit all of the crap they need into a Volt. And, just like employers cover phone bills and travel expenses for field employees, they should make sure that all home charging expenses are covered. I don't really see how that's possible without a dedicated meter. If the hypothetical employee was 100% satisfied that the charging expenses were taken care of, and that the car didn't make it harder for them to do their job, then they'd have nothing to bitch about. I don't disagree that there may be some shenanigans or publicity stunting going on... However, keep in mind that this is a benefit that the employee can opt out of, no different than a healthcare plan. When a company changes plans, the employee is 'forced' to change as well or decline, even if this means greater cost. GE could simply eliminate the benefit all together if they wanted. |
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If you are being given an employee vehicle - don't be a bitch about it being the wrong model. No shit. Seriously, I could just as easily imagine a similarly mocking thread if GM didn't buy Volts or provide incentives like this to their employees to drive them - something to the effect of them not trusting their own car they want others to buy. This is a non-issue. Why shouldn't GM be encouraging their own employees to be driving this new car in this manner? They have a huge investment staked in it, and this is Marketing 101. |
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Arfcom is against a company mandating the types of company cars they provide as a benefit for their employees? It may be silly, it may be politically motivated, it may be due to business relationships, but it's not 'wrong'. The Volt makes absolutely no sense economically.When companies do something economically stupid, there's nothing wrong with questioning their motives. http://greenhellblog.com/2009/09/30/boxer-pays-off-ge-in-climate-bill/ |
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If you are being given an employee vehicle - don't be a bitch about it being the wrong model. Seriously - their company, they can give their employees whatever car they want. Doesn't sound like the GE is picking up the cost of the home charging station (or at least from the article it doesn't) and my understanding, those things aren't cheap.....so yeah I think they might have a small reason to complain. Charge them up at work? ETA from article: "Those who do choose to drive the Volt will be reimbursed for public charging and home charging costs, in addition to gas uses. " |
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Quoted: Quoted: If you are being given an employee vehicle - don't be a bitch about it being the wrong model. No shit. Seriously, I could just as easily imagine a similarly mocking thread if GM didn't buy Volts or provide incentives like this to their employees to drive them - something to the effect of them not trusting their own car they want others to buy. This is a non-issue. Why shouldn't GM be encouraging their own employees to be driving this new car in this manner? They have a huge investment staked in it, and this is Marketing 101. RIF. This is General Electric, not General Motors. |
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If you are being given an employee vehicle - don't be a bitch about it being the wrong model. No shit. Seriously, I could just as easily imagine a similarly mocking thread if GM didn't buy Volts or provide incentives like this to their employees to drive them - something to the effect of them not trusting their own car they want others to buy. This is a non-issue. Why shouldn't GM be encouraging their own employees to be driving this new car in this manner? They have a huge investment staked in it, and this is Marketing 101. RIF. This is General Electric, not General Motors. Which makes the wild accusations make even less sense. Gee, why would a company in the electrical generation and equipment business want to promote an electric-based car? |
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GE, GM, BHO....  It was on C-Span. Transparency. No more backroom deals like the evil Boosh regime. Vann Jones and Cass Sustein were there. Don't you remember? I don't either. The GOP stinkers will all keep these deep thinking leftists on board in the next administration. That's what all the libs are saying anyway. lol
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GE, a major manufacturer of power generation equipment, is buying electric cars. Go figure. How dare they make their own decisions! Next stop - FASCISM! 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.
Source: Gas 2.0 (http://s.tt/15LON) |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: If you are being given an employee vehicle - don't be a bitch about it being the wrong model. No shit. Seriously, I could just as easily imagine a similarly mocking thread if GM didn't buy Volts or provide incentives like this to their employees to drive them - something to the effect of them not trusting their own car they want others to buy. This is a non-issue. Why shouldn't GM be encouraging their own employees to be driving this new car in this manner? They have a huge investment staked in it, and this is Marketing 101. RIF. This is General Electric, not General Motors. Which makes the wild accusations make even less sense. Gee, why would a company in the electrical generation and equipment business want to promote an electric-based car? Because GE supports President Obama and wants to give him a success story. Obama has already hitched himself to the Volt as a "Green Jobs" program. |
I guess I am not seeing the problem here 
Company provides cars to those who need them for their jobs. Employees who need company cars for their jobs receive one. There would be a much different argument if the employees required a 1-ton diesel pickup that is being replaced by a Volt...but that does not appear to be the case. Methinks the outcry is that the employees can no longer get the versatility a of a mini-van, from the company, for their personal use - and are now essentially being "forced" to use the car for only business use. Methinks. |
Actually makes sense to me.
Lemme see here.... GE, who is big into this new "electricity" thing, and probably wants to demonstrate, on a large scale, their charging and power systems, is going with an American made plug in hybrid electric car? No shit.... 
The next thing you'll be telling me is that Exxon WON'T be installing any hybrid "plug in" recharge stations in their parking lots. 
Oh the humanity of it all.... 
-ZA |
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If you are being given an employee vehicle - don't be a bitch about it being the wrong model. No shit. Seriously, I could just as easily imagine a similarly mocking thread if GM didn't buy Volts or provide incentives like this to their employees to drive them - something to the effect of them not trusting their own car they want others to buy. This is a non-issue. Why shouldn't GM be encouraging their own employees to be driving this new car in this manner? They have a huge investment staked in it, and this is Marketing 101. RIF. This is General Electric, not General Motors. Which makes the wild accusations make even less sense. Gee, why would a company in the electrical generation and equipment business want to promote an electric-based car? Because GE supports President Obama and wants to give him a success story. Obama has already hitched himself to the Volt as a "Green Jobs" program. I think it was the CIA in the Library with the Candlestick. |
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This is America, private companies can choose to purchase any fleet vehicles they want. so is GM a "private company" really?GM isn't buying the cars - GE is (and is still a private company). While I don't agree with who GE is buying the cars from - its not my decision, and GE can patronize who they choose. You are free to purchase a majority of the GE stock if you'd like to see the company run differently. |
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Quoted: Arfcom is against a company mandating the types of company cars they provide as a benefit for their employees? It may be silly, it may be politically motivated, it may be due to business relationships, but it's not 'wrong'. This. Sounds like a bunch of democraps. Good Grief. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: If you are being given an employee vehicle - don't be a bitch about it being the wrong model. Seriously - their company, they can give their employees whatever car they want. Doesn't sound like the GE is picking up the cost of the home charging station (or at least from the article it doesn't) and my understanding, those things aren't cheap.....so yeah I think they might have a small reason to complain. Charge them up at work? ETA from article: "Those who do choose to drive the Volt will be reimbursed for public charging and home charging costs, in addition to gas uses. " Good bet, they aren't giving cars to the folks who only drive to the home office. These are more likely for field employees (which if that's the case it makes even less sense to use the VOLT because those folks will be driving a shit-ton of miles)
Also says gas use is permitted when the electric option is not available. Also says they'll give "estimates" to employees for installation of charging stations. Normally those stations run about $1500-2000. Most normally it shouldn't be any of my business but in this case I figure
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Actually makes sense to me.
Lemme see here.... GE, who is big into this new "electricity" thing, and probably wants to demonstrate, on a large scale, their charging and power systems, is going with an American made plug in hybrid electric car? No shit....
The next thing you'll be telling me is that Exxon WON'T be installing any hybrid "plug in" recharge stations in their parking lots.
Oh the humanity of it all....
-ZA The funnier thing would be if they did!  Exxon is doing / has done a lot of research on thin films for the Li-on battery technology...used in hybrids. 
The thing to remember about XOM (or other "oil" companies) - is that they aren't oil companies - they are energy companies. They will be at the front of the first viable new energy technology - their success depends on it. |