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.
Printable View
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.
One of the great things about this system is that the on-board generator can be any technology -- gas, diesel, CNG, Hydrogen, and so on. They had to go with gas in the beginning because of costs. I would expect to see a diesel version down the road.Quote:
Originally Posted by motorollow
For $30-35k I'd give it a good, serious look. Even if the electric only range is 75% of advertised in a typical Texas summer, Melissa and I could carpool together and reduce our weekday fuel consumption to basically zero. That has a lot of appeal.Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
So far the range of this thing has steadily decreased from when they first said they were going to build it.Quote:
Originally Posted by jrj512
Wasn't it originally going to have a 400 mile range? What is it now??
Wonder if the Parent Company is going to offer lucrative Tax Breaks to help make it more affordable to the average Joe 6 pack.
While some of the first media reports were confused by the info and may have mis-reported it, I think Chevy's original 400 mile claim was for combined electric and gas... I.E. you would go 50 miles on electric and then another 350 on gas. As they went from theory to prototype to production testing, the numbers have gone done a little. The latest claims I have heard are 40 miles electric followed by 300 miles gas, for a total range of 340 miles.Quote:
Originally Posted by POS Racing
And the best thing is, you can just fill it with gas, again -- you do not have to wait hours for it to charge.Quote:
Originally Posted by Titus
ummmmmmmmm....that's what I have now. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by jrj512
LOL! :clap:Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
Yep, but if you plug it in at home each night, you get zero-emission (from the car) usage for most of the trips you are likely to take in a day. Can what you have now do that? You get the best of both worlds -- electric use for most people's daily usage and an on-board generator for those longer trips that you occasionally take.Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
I appreciate your opinion on your money, but they did not ask the rest of us. If you like your money to be used for this type of innovation, please donate more of your tax money on April 15. There is a spot for this and you can write it off as a tax deduction.Quote:
Originally Posted by jrj512
The Government Bailout money did NOT go for this innovation. This technology has been in the works for several years prior to GM management running it into the ground. It went for Union workers. If General Motors would have filed for bankruptcy before the bailout, the contracts with the unions would have been significantly changed. However, the money came before the bankruptcy and when the new contracts were negotiated, it had little reductions in benefits for union workers. Therefore, OUR money went to protect voters for the current administration.
Private sector would/should spend the money for this kind of innovation. The current government spending crisis is bankrupting our present and future generations. How come when you and I run out of money, we cut back on many things, but the government grows with less money to pay for these things.
Sorry for my rant, but many of us already pay and exorbitant amount of taxes every year, along with my choice to give as much to different charities and causes throughout the year.
My rant off!!!::Censor::
Wow $41,000 for a VOLT now that's a shocker!!
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/27/2...-3-year-lease/
If Jimmy would give up chicken and waffles out of state, he would probably buy one!Quote:
Originally Posted by POS Racing
Just for comparison purposes - The Toyota Prius starts at $22,800... Ford Fusion Hybrid's base price is $28,100... A Malibu LTZ lists at $29,500 with a V6.... Cadillac CTS's base price is $35,165.00... Lexus ES350's base price is $35,175.00...
$33,500 after the federal tax rebate, which isn't much more than a typical loaded Accord or Camry or other mid-size sedan.
$350/month lease for 3 years seems pretty attractive, though. That's the same that Nissan is charging for the Leaf, and since the Leaf is a true EV (no IC range extender), it has zero long trip capability. Also, the Volt can be charged from a standard 110-volt outlet (8-10 hours for full charge), wehreas the Leaf requires a special 220V charger, which is not included with the base price of the car.
Melissa and I have been seriously thinking about a Volt for her, since 99% of her daily driving is less than 40 miles total. Depending on what the real world range is (in 105 degree weather with the a/c on full), it could be a real winner for us.
http://content.usatoday.com/communit...e-tax-rebate/1
I'd rather not be the first on my street to try something new from Chevrolet....
Here are some example of why! ;-)
http://chevrolet-parts.uneedapart.co...vair-parts.jpg
http://www.automotoportal.com/media/...0818005.10.jpg
http://www.sporksforall.com/wp-conte...t_citation.jpg
Is the 41K after the government cheese?
No....Quote:
Originally Posted by gabkwong
Quote:
Originally Posted by altiain
If they would throw in a $4,500 cash-for-clunker rebate in with the deal I just might buy one!
You may be saving on gas, but electricity isn't free... If a good percentage of people actually start using hybrid/electric vehicles wouldn't the energy companies take advantage of the situation... I believe they would, it is America after all... It would over the next generation or so just be tranferring the strong hand in fueling the nation's automobiles from the oil industry to the energy companies, maybe forming monopolies... And honestly maybe 1 and of 10 Americans sincerely care about the environment, honestly.. And while I definitely believe that alternative resources such as hydrogen-power and eletric motors are the future, the transition from gasoline is not gonna be all rainbows and butterflies...
If the all-electic cars are successful, which they are bound to be, prices should drop somewhat in a few years, right now you are just paying for the breaking technology.. I would hold off for a price drop for at least two years if anything and most importantly let the manufacturers work out all the kinks that I would bet good money on the cars having...
Yep, Priuses used to be more $$ and now they are cheaper.
Personally, I think moving the emissions from millions of autos to a handful (relatively) of power plants is significantly better for the environment. Also here in TX we have pretty cheap electric compared to other places so the hurt to your electric bill won't be too terrible IMO.