women in the middle east in our book "excellent daughters". she looks at the choices young arab women are making and how they differ from those of their mothers. >> women are going to university in greater numbers than men all over the region. and especially in the gulf countries. the proportions of women are even greater compared to men and the women will tell you, it's partly because it's a socially acceptable way to delay marriage or to be outside the home in a way, that their families support. >> watch book tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span2, television for serious readers. >> on thursday's "washington journal," we spoke with pamela : fletcher on innovation and the a autock industry. this is about half an hour.

>> and we are back with pamela ? fletcher. she is with gmgm vehicles.he thank you so much for being here to talk about the future of electric cars. where does the technology stand right now? what progress has been made? >> i think the bolt ae that chevrolet introduced in las vegas is the perfect example of where does technology stand. what it represents is the first long range affordable battery 0 vehicle. more than 200er miles of pure x electric range. under $30,000. roomy, functional. the technology and connectivity that people haveve come to love and want in all their cars. >> how does theest: technology ? and how has it improved since ta firstrt introducing electric ca? >> we electric cars, the battery is obviously the part that gets the most attention.

and at general motors, we have the largest battery lab at our engineering facility in warren, michigan. so capability like that, the lab will be available to, to find continue toin test and develop d evolve the technology and an working with suppliers and ant. partners and finding advances in performance and functionality and also in cost which is very important. >> where have the sales been? >> the sales, overwhelmingly california is the biggest smile market. we see that continuing to expand. as you go around, they call it the smile t:states, greater and greater acceptance. >> what are you seeing since the electric cars are introduced? are people bying them? >> we have 800,000 customers with the sfied volt. the 80,000 plus consumers have

shown themselves to be the most satisfied in the industry. get i not as measured by chevrolet but third parties. what we know is that consumers get into advance propulsion vehicles love them and we see them first generation volt owners coming bar for more. >> how are they going to react to this headline in the "usa today," fear spikes as stocks stall.s? chief, below $30 a barrel. gas is chief. are you seeing people moving away from electric cars and going back to the suvs? >> yeah, what i would say is general motors is a full line t manufacturer. we have products for everyone. people want suvs, we have great full size eutilitieutilities. and over nt to 80,000 owners tht

of them, frankly, say they don't want to use gasoline at any e price.ri again, thece. beauty is we have something for everyone.the hea >> what about the role of government in this? here's a headline from green can reports.centives germany to spend billions supporting their electricicgo c expansion. they are incentivizing people to buy electric cars in germany. >> i think wewe all have a rolen advancing transportation. we have great partnerships out there to show how we can work together and changes we all think are important. for example, on the charging front, there's an initiative with thehe department of energy with workplace charging.the we know the place cars spend the second most amount of time is at work. so we'real working with industr to install charging stations. that is is just a great example

of partnerships that really work and help advance things for the benefit of consumers, for the benefit of our environment.halle and, you know, really just resources around the globe. >> that is one challenge, the charging station. how have you seen the growth ofi those -- who isc. taking on the cost of them? >> yeah, charging's a great topic because the realities are -- we have a wonderful thei benefit of the 80,000 plus volt owners and we know their charging behavior. most people drive less than 40 miles a day. cars spend most of their time at home. so we put a lot of emphasis works with electric utilities er arounds the country to establishing protocols and the best practices for home charging. because that's where the cars on are. and again, the place cars spend the second most amount of time is the workplace. just the focus on home and

workplace charging addresses the needs of most people most of the time. >> is it a prohibitive for est: people, when they think about buying an electric car? now i have to pay for cutting a. charging station near my home. >> charging itself, even at the low gas pricing, charging your e electric car costs less. less to fill up your quote tank0 we electricity. and the cost of the charge t you station at home, all of the cars come with the ability to charge off 110 volt. so literally, the same outlet that you plug a lamp into. at that point, it's more ubiquitous at the gas station. >> the auto show this week.re br the president in detroit ? yesterday for the auto show as well. a lot of talk about driverless cars. will there be driverless

electric cars? >> funny you ask. there will be. we will have a fleet of chevy volt, electric car with extended range on the campus by the end of the calendar year.. e provides a great foundation with which to player on additional technologies. whether it's connectivity. >> why is that? why does it provide that base? >> a lot of reasons, it provides a great base. and you can put them in motion having out to address any tail pipe emissions, without having to address any noise issues. really just provides a great platform for which to build them. >> let's get to calls. patsy is first in greenville, tennessee. good morning. we are talking about the futureh the electric car. >> yes? >> good morning. with th

what is your question or comment? >> caller: thank you for having me on c-span. but i dis agree with the electrc car system. the batteries today cost almostt $200 for regular cars. the battery costs $2,000. and the thing blows up on the side of the road coming home. they are dangerous cars. >> we are very proud to say that the batteries in all of our electric vehicles at chevrolet l and generally motors are warrantied just like a power oy train. 88au years and 100,000 miles. we really stand behind it. we have the largest lab of any battery maker in the country.loa and it allows us to test

multiple use how c cases. whether you live in tennessee, arizona, florida, really understanding howow customers u and it ensuring that you end up with the performance and re reliability you expect? >> how much are batteries to replace? >> great question. i talk about the 80,000 volt ba owners, we have not yet replaced a battery. question that we frankly have want had to address based on a lot of good background work to make it reliable. >> so the volt costs how much compared to the bolt? $27,0 >> the volt, the federal tax credits is in about $26,000. the bolt, as $30,000. g >> with taxet a credits. >> that's right. >> you get a tax credit if you buy an electric car?

>> do you. you get a $7500 tax credit. >> roger, good morning. >> theou comp volt they say is pollution. but when you compare the pollution created by the gas when the car's actually running versus the pollution created toa create the electricity that is used to run the volt, has thereh been a comparison to see quh ch, one is less pollution? >> yeah, great question. a couple 3 3 points i would like to make. first of all with the generation one volt, when launched it had 35,000 mile range on the label. more than 80% of the trip people take in a volt. more than 80% of the time they get and the wheel, it's an all electric trip. the volt, the perhaps that we ag made, the electric car, people

drive it electrically all a the time and extended change. if you want to go further no problem. and people told us they love electric driving, a lot of reasons. fun to try, being the first. they have come to love it.nmenta in addition, i will tell you that the question that you ask a about the environmental impact i of making electricity versus running the gasoline engine that is answered by different forms and the edison institute based here in washington, d.c. has answered that quite well, and i encourage to you go look at thef response. but theel summary of that is in the end, the benefits of electric driving outweigh what it takes to produce the electricity. >> here is a call from michigans kent, what is the name of your h town? >> tanagin.

>> go ahead. >> i was just wondering, general noters is dabbling with the tesla magnetic engine. do we have the technology to perfect that thing? just wondering. >> i assume you are talking about the electric motors. soic mot general motors, we hav tremendous team of engineers that decide the electric motorso addition, we have the decis manufacturingio capability. so ever car we produce, we go through the make/buy decision.re are we going to design it or nv have it police officered in house? in addition, the great engineers team gives us the ability to ppo research andur invent all typesf motor technology. r i'm reallyay is proud of the m capability we have. >> ray is watching out in

california. good morning to you. >> caller: >> good morning.the po we not putting aur eggs all in one basket? the material in use, batteries andwe are et cetera are still in development stage.er in the meantime, we have seemingly losing sight of the other potential energy sources. thank you. >> yeah, great question. so what i will tell you is that through general motors project drivewayma activity, we have mo miles on a fleet of fuel cell vehicles than any other manufacturer. we have been researching and nts developing for fuel cellt, for many, many years and in the not too distant past, we announced a

collaboration with honda. and combining efforts to try to advance the technology. on wewe agree there are a multitud of solutions that need to come h forward. i happenhy to be working on the electrifi e electrified. >> terry is next in pittsburgh, kansas. hi. >> caller: hello. i'm a 40 year experienced mechanic. have one of the most technology expanses we electric coming. here are the two things they are not told about electric ery co vehicles. i can prove it. it's a new battery will cost you 5,000 to $7,000 every five years and working for an electric 0 company, it costs you $45 to

charge the cars at your house.nw charge my car 22,000 miles a year for the cost of running an electric car. >> okay, we will get a response. >> those are a couple great points. the firstroad t thingly talk ab. every five years. the chevrolet volt on the road today. an easy example. more than 80,000 cars visible. it was launched in 2010 and it's 2016. we have yet to replace a battery for wear out. we keep improving that and we as continue investment t to improv the technology. we have worked with a lot of utilities to get things fixed rates for charging. apy to month, tt $45e that i think there are a lot of

people that could be really happy to have a gas bill for their car that was only $45 a month. so we continue to work with e utilities to find ways to benefit consumers and make the cars really affordable. >> you said thehe voltlt has nod to have a battery replaced for wear out.ra what has it had to have the rea batteryce replaced for? >> it's a great story. rarely do you see a complete battery replacement. we strive for great quality. we have more than 20,000 cells in the fuel. we had the small occasional fastener loose or a connection b notout tight. but in general the people woiry

about is wear out. that battery is not going to continue to drive me down the road. >> what is the life span of a battery then?ed it >> we warrant it for 8 years an- some states it's 10 years. so obviously test for well beyond that. >> we will hear from stephanie . text in california. good morning. >> good morning. i have a volt. i bought it in 2011. it's a 2012. and i work about 15 miles away fromm my house and i never, eve buy gas. i have a charger at my house and i really do wish i had a charger at work. it's just -- you know, you don'r have to think about it. it's like driving a regular carg except that you neveroi really have to buy gas unless you go way, way out of your neighborhood. if i buy gas when guy to the desert or go to the mountains. my daughter bought one at the a

same time and she also lives within a close radius and never has to buy gas. we don't want to contribute to the fossil fuel industry and the problems in the world that orni, connected to w fossil fuels. so -- not to mention in california, we can get into the car pool lanes. so that's a definite bonus for all of us. >> electric cars -- >> caller: my question is, are they going to make a small truck? because that could be incredibly versatile. i don't think there are -- plan for that. >> first, i want to thank you . your daughter for being volt owners. our belief in the technology is what we value the most. c because i couldn't have said it better. your explanation i will of the day operation of your car and how it meets your needs. i won't repeat. i could haven't said it better myself't too fa thank you for that.

as far as future programs, we continue to evolve. we don't announce those things too far i advance. we are highlights the second generation chevy volt. the malibu hybrid a sedan with 47 miles per gallon and a bolt howplus mile affordable vehicle.nd thanks again foring to being a owner. >> how is general motors and long time auto makers responding to competition like apple and other technology companies?gues: here is a headline. apple is making an electric car. tesla is calling it an open secret. >> we are continuing to develop on my fronts. it's a competitive environment. we like the challenge. we move forward. >> snow is on the mind of a lot of people here in the district. and a tweet, how well do

electricwe cars work in a snowstorm and how do they use the heat to melt the snow on a windshield? >> that eas a great question foe here in d.c. we test all the vehicles to the same standards. just because it's an electric r car, it doesn't get tested to a different standard. just as so we do all of our snow traction, ice traction testing just as we would any other vehicle. you bring up a question about not only how do you clear your e windshield but the next question might be how do you keep yourself warm. a great question. if you are plugged in, you have an option of the car will condition itself, clear the windshield, warm up the interior off the wall energy. you preserve all that is in the battery for your driving give convenience. but the beauty is you don't have to be plugged in for those to happen. having a large battery on board

gives you the energy to -- whether it's defrost your windshield or warm yourself or your passengers. >> gorden in st. louis, th elect missouri, you're up, good morning. >> caller: good morning. miss fletcher, i appreciate youa with the e trek tick industry. and your involvement in the st.n louis tarea. thank you for that.untry -- my question, is there ever a case where is there will be men battery replacement stations across the country for driving. >> great question. and thank you for your comment about the st. louis area. that such an important work th force area for us. the chevy colorado and the gmc honyon, terrific products, they are flying off of the show room lots. that is great news.y

and your question was -- >> about having -- long driving, do you imagine battery stationsi all over the country for long distance driving? >> yeah, so that is a terrific question. the bolt aefv, t youhe b see th you would see how the battery ie really in the floor of the car. part of the lower structure.ctuc so when you integrate those nov components, the significant structural components in the vehicle, the idea of swapping e them in tak and out isn't very efficie efficient. so we're reallythe f taking a po making them integral to the car. the floor is completely flat, really contributing to the spaciousness that i talked about and the easy getting in and getting out of the car. is that that's the path we're going down. >> the n and how is that relate his question about long distance driving? >> the notion of swapping had t.

been a proposal a number of years ago as a way to basically recharge your battery. so we work with frankly our oam competitors to collaborate on charges. there are places we need to compete and places where we need collaborate. and charges is where we collaborate. benefits everyone. so technologies like d.c. fast e charging, which provides the 50 plus kilowatts of energy to the vehicle and 90 miles of charge in 30 minutes that is our focus on how to recharge thancht is a question from one of the viewer on twitter. it takes longer to charge an ev than to charge to gas tank. >> yeah, we just talked about replacen't batteries a second

ago. but let's talk about charging hab habits. a lot of times it's charging from weempty. if you think about the bolt ae in 200 plus miles, we know 80,000 plus volt owners, they are driving less than 35 miles home,rip.you so i if you -- the charging capability at your home that iss less than 20 a hours to top offr refill. so the practicalities are there. although the talk right now is : how you get a full charge. , >> mt.glor iafort, wisconsin, g good morning to you. >> caller: yeah, i want to say that i love -- we had an electric car for three years and we just loved it. it was just a dream. i'm so glad c-span is having you on and i'm able to listen to you. it's just awesome. but i want to tell you that i guess that we -- we leased it

for three years because we . figured there would be a more technology out there. with our vehicle, we had a 100 mile radius. so 100 mile radius, we needed '' have more, you know, and then -- i'm from wisconsin, it's coldere so it took a little bit longer to heat up the vehicle for the battery. that was kind of one visit that was a disadvantage. but when you're talking about ek the technologyin coming out and going more miles and just having the heat right from -- we never went over the 110. we never went to the 220. we need got a charging station. we had that wonderful car for three years and it was awesome. so i think what you're talking about is more technology. like you can see maybe a bigger

vehicle. with the electric car. d more technology, havingng it go further. but your speaker is just awesome. and i just can't say enough about -- and then i want to say. that our electric bill hardly -. another thing, we have solar panels. so we're getting sun that comes in to our car. so i mean, that is just -- it's a win-win situation. >> gloria, i got to leave it there so pamela fletcher can respond. >> thanks forpeople l sharing ys experience. frankly, it's people like you sharing your experiences that help needs. many others understt electric driving can do for the. and how it meets your needs. noo thank you for that. you mentioned a number of things. first the notion of warmup.he c one of the other callers talkedl about a bit ago. so in the case of the bolt, 200 plus miles, certainly plenty of

energy there to not only warm you up but propel you for many, many miles down the road. again f you are plugged in, i love you are able to go, needs off 110 charging. wall an if you're plugged into the wall the energy condition of the car comes from the wall. so preserves what's in the battery to drive you down the e road. in the case of the chevrolet nbg volt, the beauty is it's an electric car but it has an onboard generator so you never have toho worry about how far you're going to go or how warm you're going to be.ith that generator can help you with whatever you ultimately need. >> new jersey, clyde, good morning. >> caller: good morning. have a question. instead of an electric car why don't you go with solar panels? i remember back in '72, we had an oil embargo. >> pamela fletcher? >> great question.n. so thee reality is efficiency.

and so range is important to people, so we need to be able to put energy onboard the car in a form factor that fits on the car. and so solar is great. our previous caller talked about using that to help charge her car, so great uses for solar. we support the solar challenge, which is a huge program that's t many universities acrosshe c th country participate in to advance that technology. so we're super supportive of solar. in fact, we have the largest installations of solar m in the country atan some of our manufacturing sites. so huge supporters. haven't made it to the car yet,n largely just due erto, you know the efficiency of the energy conversion. >> our electric cars popular in? other countries? >> yeah, great question.th so, yes, the answer is yes. and, in fact, the volt ev was announced in the global market. that's coming here -- just in ai the nexts co few weeks. but absolutely. and we work on charging to be b.

as you go around the world, you know, can electric infrastructure changes. so we want to be able to meet the needs of those interested consumers around the globe. >> one last call for you.jack, jack, ft. worth, texas. good morning. >> caller: good morning. ms. fletcher, i also am a volt owner, 2013 bolt, which runs completely off of my solar powered system, 6.7 kilowatt solar ray. my question is what are the plans for vehicle to grid, thath is to hook the car up to the house to supply the house and the gridid with electricity? >> yeah, great, great question. again, thank you for being a wep volt reowner. we certainly appreciate that above all else. so vehicle to grid. a lot of work going on there with the utilities, with some of the big elect strict equipment suppliers. the first thing is we want it to

be safe. frankly that's been the focus. we have energy onboard the car.n putting on the grid needs to be safe, so we have a lot of advanced engineering projects. looking at that, again, i think that that's an area where we asy need good collaboration and common standards to benefit consumers ultimately so where we have investments and work going on it can benefit all. >> pamela fletcher is general motors chief engineer for electric vehicles. we appreciate the conversation and you joining us this morning. >> great. thanks for inviting me. glad to be here. >> january 22nd, marks the 43rd anniversary of the supreme court anniversary of roe vs. wade. on the next washington journal donna crane of naral pro-choice america talks about the supreme court's decision to hear two case related to women's reproductive rights. and david daleiden will talk about his organization's primary role in the secretly recorded

videotapes of planned parenthood staff. washington journal is live every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. you can join the conversation with your calls and comments on facebook and twitter. with the latest polls showing the donald trump and senator cruz leading a week and a half before the february 1st iowa caucuses, where does this lead come of the other contender shs often said there are three tickets out of iowa. joining us from des moines, chief political correspondent jennifer jacobs, thank you very much for being with us. >> great to be with you. >> your story focusing on senator rubio, ben carson, where are their campaigns today? >> of course in iowa the big question is can anyone else rise up to beat ted cruz or donald trump in iowa? those guys just have sky high numbers in the horse race right now. so we asked some of our iowa poll respondents who say they

have favorable feelings about both of them, what they're thinking, what would it take to get those two to become their number one choice. because both carson and rubio have the potential to win the iowa caucuses. they're very, very popular here with your likely gop caucus goers. we're trying to figure out what it would take and as i called around to a couple of dozen poll respondents they all said yes, you really like both of them for various reasons. but they had two words for them, not ready. >> and we learned four years ago when senator santorum was in the single digits and then narrowly winning the iowa caucuses on caucus night, a lot really can happen over the next ten days. >> yeah. that exactly it. it's always the dream of the non-front runners. the trailing candidates that suddenly they will hit this hatch and jackpot in iowa and they're going to leap frog up to the top of the polls and get all the favorable press that's going to give them the momentum in new hampshire and south carolina. we have seen it before.

mike huckabee a month out from the caucuses in 2008 had that big leap. rick santorum days before the caucus vote in 2012, our polling picked up like three days before the vote that rick santorum was surging and indeed finished 34 votes ahead of mitt romney in that near tie. you will see the candidates in iowa at the last minute saying, oh, we know that voters only decide at the very last minute. i can still win. they're all thinking that. even the people at the very bottom are still thinking that somehow they will surge and we did have a 21 point leap this cycle. ted cruz in our october poll was, you know, around 10 or 11 and he made a 21-point leap into the front in our early january -- excuse me, early december poll. 21-point leap. amazing. so it can happen. so everybody in the field is thinking that they're going to be the next person that has that

happen to. >> we should point out this weekend the demoins register endorsement for the all important endorsement just leading up to the iowa caucuses. but if you look at senator rubio and ben carson and you get the words not ready in this year where there's so much antiestablishment anger or frustration within the republican party, what do you sense we'll see from these campaigns and from the other candidates? >> right. they're going to have to show that they can appeal to that particular segment. you're exactly right. our polling shows that majority of likely caucus goers want a disrupter, they want somebody who is going to really shake up government and washington, d.c. and so far they think trump is the best at doing that and cruz is the second best. but right now in iowa you will see marco rubio as running a tv ad in which he case many of the same things that ted cruz is saying, that he would finish building a wall, that he opposes amnesty, various things like that, buzzwords that are popular that