As I wrote previously, even in the midst of the financial crisis, it was critical to not pull back on the investments that were positioning us for the future. At the top of that list was the development of electric vehicles.
Many people have said that we made a big bet on electric vehicles, but in reality, it was the result of research and deep analysis. There were a few forces accelerating our development of electric vehicle technology. For one, prices of crude oil were skyrocketing, and electric vehicles would allow us to move away from a dependence on oil. There was also growing concern about the environment, and an industry responsibility to reduce carbon emissions. Meanwhile, environmental regulations in the U.S. and Europe were becoming ever-stricter; all reasons to move away from fossil fuels and toward zero-emissions power.
