There are several points that
There are several points that I agree with in your article, but we fundamentally disagree with GM's choice to kill off the Volt. You partially concede that killing the Volt was a bad idea because they didn't have any EV to replace the Volt with. I agree that was ONE of the reasons why it was a poor decision, but there were many others as well. Maybe I will respond to those points later, but I am wondering where you got your data about the Volt and RAV4 Prime's power output. I contend that the Volt's powertrain would be more than adequate to handle normal driving in a small SUV/CUV, and even in a pickup truck like the Colorado. Sure the Volt's drivetrain would not be a good substitute for a full sized truck's turbocharged V8 diesel engine for hauling and towing, but most people just use their vehicles for commuting, and it would work quite well for that use. As a comparison, the Chevy Colorado's base 2.5L 4 cylinder engine makes 200HP/191TQ, the drivetrain in the 2016 Cadillac ELR made 233HP and a whopping 372TQ in Sport mode. 233HP translates to 173kW, which I only see the power usage gauge hit briefly under max acceleration (like getting on the freeway), whereas regular cruising only uses around 20-25kW at 70MPH on level ground, (which is only 35HP) with steeper grades sometimes doubling that kW use. The ELR's combined power got the car to 60MPH in 6.4 sec. Just running off of batteries alone the ELR produced 135kW(181HP) which is more than enough. And the Gen II Volt improved on the GEN I's capability and efficiency providing 149kW and 245TQ which were both up from the Gen 1 Volt. Certainly the drag coefficient and frontal area is greater on a crossover or truck, but seeing that the base gas engines handle those same loads without problems, the electric motors would do at least as well. The Chevy Blazer's base gas engine makes 193HP/188TQ, and a EREV Blazer would have been comparable to the RAV4 Prime's 176HP(131kW) 2.5L gas engine. Even if they used the Gen II Volt's drivetrain unaltered, it's 2 electric engines combined to make 181HP (135kW) which is more than enough for normal driving, and they could have bumped up the generator to say a 2.0/2.5L to compensate for the extra drag and weight of the larger CUV or truck body. If I was on the Chevy EV design team I would have used half of the Bolt's 60/66kW battery, combined with DC fast charging, and Chevy could have offered an EREV Blazer and Colorado with around 120mi EV-only range that probably also got at least 40MPG when running on the gas generator. And if Chevy similarly updated the Volt, and added the EREV Blazer and Colorado, they would have been seen as true leaders in EV vehicles even before they eventually released full BEV models in a few years. I believe that the upcoming RAV4 Prime will outsell the Chevy Bolt, and capture that growing market of buyers who are not ready to move to a full BEV, but who want the many advantages of EV driving, just with a gas backup. As I regularly mention, hybrid and PHEV models are not so much in competition against BEV models, they are expanding the overall sales of all EVs, and converting many of the 97% of fossil fuel vehicle owners over to the EV side.