The latest drive: http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/30/2...lt-quick-spin/.
I really like this concept. I think it is far superior to an all electric car, at least with out current technology. Kudos to GM and I hope the car sells well.
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The latest drive: http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/30/2...lt-quick-spin/.
I really like this concept. I think it is far superior to an all electric car, at least with out current technology. Kudos to GM and I hope the car sells well.
Meh... Not real interested in anything currently being offered by Government Motors.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_84ijlM83vu...ent_motors.jpg
;)
+1 to pos racing's comment. Looks like a prius now...
The Volt is DOA (dead of arrival)! Who care about the price of gas or MPG if he/she can afford a car cost more than $40K and use an extension cord! It is definitely not a commuter car! If the Government Motor's survival is counting on this car, GOOD LUCK!
Pricey, yes... but it sure looks a lot nicer and more innovative than a Prius or any other hybrid I can think of. If it sells well, the technology will (should) trickle down through the line and get cheaper.
Of course, I'll reserve final judgement until I see an actual road test in an actual car magazine...
Can you clarify?Quote:
Originally Posted by gabkwong
Are you aware that the Volt can run indefinately using it's on-board gas-powered generator? It is an electric car with an on-board generator in case it exceeds the charge of the batteries. The wheels are solely driven by electric motors. So, I am not sure why you think it needs an extension cord.Quote:
Originally Posted by gabkwong
Outside of the price, which is the cost of the technology, what makes it any less of a commuter car than a Prius or any other car? Do you know that with my 30-mile round-trip to work that I would not use the on-board generator if I plugged it in each night? My bigger worry would be the gas in the tank going bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by gabkwong
I doubt that they are since they will loose money on each car.Quote:
Originally Posted by gabkwong
Business 101 - Don't sell something for less than it costs to make.Quote:
Originally Posted by jrj512
I'm glad that bail out money went to good use. ::Whatev::
The following makes ya wonder if that is going to be the case.Quote:
Originally Posted by jrj512
Quote:
When we arrived for our drive session, the car was plugged in to get some juice back in the battery. Vehicle chief engineer Andrew Farah rode shot gun with us as we set out with the battery gauge indicating six miles of electric range.
It worked for Toyota - by some estimates, they lost money on every Prius they sold for the first eight years, or almost a million vehicles. Now they’ve refined the technology to the point where they’re making money not only on the sale of vehicles, but the wholesale licensing of technology, and they’ve positioned themselves as the worldwide leader in hybrids. However, they had the luxury of taking a long view, knowing the technology would take years (decades, by their initial estimates) to pay back.Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
As Jim Press, former Toyota Motor USA president once said, “In our company, there are two planning processes, short-term and long-term. Short-term means in our lifetime.” Unfortunately, publicly-owned American companies have a very hard time taking the long view thanks to an unhealthy shareholder obsession with the next quarterly earnings report.
I think the Volt is an interesting idea, and I think it points the way to the near future evolution of hybrid vehicles. I’m interested to see how the battery only range of the Volt varies with time and how it is affected by climate (i.e., in very cold climates where batteries are less efficient and in very hot climates where accessory drag increases electrical consumption). What I’d really like to see is companies expending more money on diesel research, even combining diesel engines into hybrids, but that’s a different story.
Still, I applaud GM for trying something different. If you’re not pushing the envelope, you’re losing ground (and market share) to the companies that are.
When I was a boy my granduncle Emory lived in an old farm house that did not originally have electricity. When radios became available for the home they were battery powered and you took the batteries in to town to have them recharged or swapped out for charged ones. An alternative was a windmill driven generator that would recharge the battery and later would recharge car/tractor starter batteries. He still had a couple of old tractors that had electric start but no charging system and the windmill was still in use 40 years later.
It seems to me you could get the modern equivalent going if you lived in the proper place and get your transportation fuel cost and carbon footprint to zero.
One of the exercises of the event was to let journalists drive with batteries and then see it switch over to the generator. If the last journalist had already experienced this, then they had to charge the batteries in order to prepare the experience for the next journalist. I do not see how this negates what I have previously stated.Quote:
Originally Posted by POS Racing
I am very happy to see my money go to innovations such as this.Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
Quote:
Originally Posted by altiain
The key difference here is Toyota is/was a profitable company, making money on other models and sales. Can the same be said about GM?
Gm isn't ever going to be profitable again unless they take some risks. This is one of them.
Exactly. GM needs innovation like this to succeed. No one else can touch this right now. It really is good stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by altiain
Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
I'm sure they're hoping to make up for it with a high sales volume :-)
I would like to see a CNG hybrid for commuting to work. This would work in this part of the world since we have an abundance of natural gas. Plug in the batteries and refill the CNG at home. No need to go to the gas station! I believe Honda had a CNG hybrid for CA only, but the program killed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jrj512
Would either of you buy one if they cost $40K? $30K?Quote:
Originally Posted by altiain
That's the bottom line...innovation is a wonderful thing if you can find buyers.
Nope. No stick. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
I'd at least go look at it for $30k... my daily commute is right at their proposed limit of all battery driving, so it might work out for me. If the final product was nice and was on-par with the build quality of other $30k vehicles on the market, I'd consider it. $40k and I wouldn't even go look.Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
I like the idea that they are going with an all electric drive train. It gives them a platform to work on and they can swap out the electric generation method pretty easy... gas, diesel, fuel cell, whatever.