Slashdot Mirror
Chevy Volt Meets High Resistance, GM Suspends Sales
Hugh Pickens writes "The Hill reports that GM has announced to employees at one of its facilities that it is suspending production of the Chevy Volt for five weeks and temporarily laying off 1,300 employees. Back when GM launched the beleaguered electric car, it boldly targeted sales of 10,000 in 2011 and 60,000 in 2012 but GM only sold 7,671 Volts in 2011 and just 1,626 so far this year. 'We needed to maintain proper inventory and make sure that we continued to meet market demand,' says GM spokesman Chris Lee. 'We see positive trends, but we needed to make this market adjustment.' Although President Obama promised he would buy a Volt 'five years from now, when I'm not president anymore,' the Volt has come under criticism from Republicans in Congress because of reports of its batteries catching on fire during testing. Ironically, the shutdown comes as gas prices are soaring, exactly the time when an electric car should be an easy sell." If it's still true that GM was taking a loss on every Volt sold, perhaps this is a blessing in disguise.
From what I've seen, I'd just say that American car models are a thing of the past. Asian countries have largely taken that position, while European countries like Italy maintain the status of luxury car models. There's just no market for American cars. I am European myself and I've never heard any reason of having an US made car. A lot of people wanted Japanese cars, especially Subaru .. Then there's Ferrari and european luxul models. What does US have?
Thank you,
Agent Smitz
Suspending production != Suspending sales. The two mean quite different things.
Anyway, 7671 volts is more than they used in an electric chair.
The lawyers saw this number and stopped production: a customer might get hurt and sue...
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Less economical than a Prius
Not as good as a Prius
Costs more than a Prius
Buy a Prius.
To use a reverse car analogy, it's Motorola Xoom to iPad2.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
It's kind of a do-nothing-well car for $40,000USD
1626 / 8 * 52 = 10569
- Tweaking the ears of the grammatically challenged since 2002.
Where are all the EV1 lovers? Claim was that people wanted electric cars...
Without significant subsidies GM would have sold even fewer cars. The subsidy is a just transfer payment to the well off. High efficiency diesel engines are probably the most cost effective option for the masses and our stupid EPA requirements keep best ones out of the USA.
I can buy TWO Ford Focus 40mpg cars for the same price as a Volt.
Unlike other districts, there are no subsidies for the Volt in Saskatchewan.
$20,000 buys a HELL of a lot of gasoline.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
"If it's still true that GM was taking a loss on every Volt sold, perhaps this is a blessing in disguise."
It isn't GM that takes the loss ... its every tax payer that has money taken from them to subsidize this vehicle just because some poll-itician thinks they know what is best for the market.
GM should of never received the bailout ... they should have been allowed to go bankrupt to gives companies like Tesla Motors a chance to do something better with those resources.
With some things you can afford a loss on the first N units if you later sell M and get more than your setup costs back.
So yes, a lot of things that are low volume but expected to sell later at a high volume can initially be sold at a loss without it being a total stuffup. Then of course you can have total stuffups where things are sold for less than the cost of the materials but that's rare.
The Volt costs $40,000 before tax rebates and only gets you 35 miles on an electric charge. Then 35 MPG city/40 hwy (gas) for 375 miles.
The Toyota Prius starts at $24,000 and goes to $30,000 for their top end. Mileage is 51 MPG city/48 hwy for approximately 600 miles.
So Chevrolet's market was people who have lots of money, are willing to spend it with abandon, want a car, but don't really need to drive much. In short, semi-rich idiot hipsters.
I think they probably just saturated their customer base.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
When you make a product for political reasons, not because there's a market, and then subject it to the market, it tends not to do well. Huh.
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
Cannot get 4 adults plus dog plus ancillaries in a Yaris. But that, or. Fiat 500 twinair, will be our next town car.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
They have not suspended sales, duh. They're trying like hell to sell them.
They've suspended PRODUCTION while they try to reduce the backlog of inventory.
Are we living in a world full of illiterates or something?
Volt meets Resistance. I couldn't resist.
On a serious note, GM does not have a good record with respect to embracing effective change. Its management is still intellectually corrupt, except it is no longer led by executives who came up through sales/marketing and now has had government surrogates put in their places.
GM has never had a working grip on the obvious, and I'm old enough to remember when GM-made cars were more than half of the world's output. They no longer have a monopoly, nor the world's biggest dealer network, and only, apparently, one profitable brand of auto -- Cadillac.
So, as I told a friend who had inherited money in 2001 -- "Sell GM short. They're going down."
It's true again, How long must GM wait before it can return to the courts for relief?.
Slashdot banned my origianal IP but hasn't stopped me from trolling you bastards
How much resistance was there exactly to cause no current to flow?
Set your phasers on "funky"!
Should have been "Chevy Volt meets high resistance, GM suspending current production".
if they had continue with the EV1 they would have been the world leader in electric cars by now.
stupid americans.
the only reason the Tesla got any attention at all was because it looked like a sporty Lotus!,
had it looked like the current crop of retarded looking square boxes and it wouldn't of batted an eyelid.
Make it look pretty and most wont really care about drivetrain or price too much for that matter. (See Appleâ for details)
try customizing a Prius/ClarityFCX/Volt eg. rims/lowering/shaved/paint
its physical proof that you cant polish poo,
car designers should hang their heads in shame,
1950s they went nuts with pretty design for the masses,
since then the trend has been create non-personable uninspiring rectangular boxes and style be dammed
you think in 50 years many people will be wanting to restore a Prius to Concours, see it on the stand at Baratt Jackson and marvell at its square lines and impeccable design choices ?
make it look desirable, make it hackable and it will be sought after.
I can buy TWO Ford Focus 40mpg cars for the same price as a Volt.
Wow, I haven't heard anybody else suggest that simple technique for getting 80 mpg.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
the Volt has come under criticism from Republicans in Congress because of reports of its batteries catching on fire during testing.
If only there was a group of people whose job it was to regulate things like this...
...low current ensues.
I recall the initial launch of the Volt had it only available for sale in a short list of select states.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Until a huge breakthrough is made in battery technology, electric cars are doomed to fail, no matter how high the price of gasoline.
Electric cars are too expensive -- it's cheaper to just pay the high gasoline prices.
Electric cars have an extremely limited range and take too to charge -- people will pay for gasoline as a "convenience fee" to be able to go farther, faster.
And even if those two problems are somehow fixed, the elephant in the room, that everyone is desperately trying to ignore, is the enormous cost of replacing the batteries. A conventional gasoline engine, which proper maintenance can last a very long time. And if you do have problems, you can replace/rebuild/replace parts as needed. Worst case -- you can go to a local junk yard and buy a used engine for a few hundred dollars.
With batteries, there is no repair or rebuild or get a used one from a junk yard. Once the batteries reach the end of their life they have to be replaced at a very high cost. As a result, the re-sale value of an electric car is going to be pretty close to zero -- who would want to buy a used electric car knowing that they are guaranteed to get hit with a bill for several thousand dollars in the near future.
Chevy Volt meets high resistance... Makes reductions in Chevy Ampere.
Try lowering the price.
The dealer I went to had a $4000 markup over MSRP on it. I would have been interested at invoice (around $2000 off of MSRP). Despite the Volts flaws I wanted the all electric range that it provided. The bad dealer experience soured me enough to GM to give them less consideration when I bought my new vehicle. I am sure the dealers looked at the Volt as way to make a quick buck when they saw the Prius selling over list price but the Volt just is not good enough. The expected MPG was near Prius levels but in end it was 15% less. The expected price after the federal credit was $30k, but in the end it was closer to $35k. The range was expected at 40 miles but ended up being less then 35.
It's the same with Solyndra!! It's free money so GM took it!! Unions happy for three years!! GM executives happy for three years!! Obama got kickbacks and more votes from unions!! Everybody happy!! Nice ending!!
Would you get back under the bridge, troll? You lurch into a discussion of AUTOMOBILES to sputter "your wrong my androids teh awesome it is not so inferior lol" ?
Tablet toy != automobile. At least have the sense of context to plug your awesome Yugo instead, okay?
Barry needs to give GM more money...OR ELSE. There aren't enough sane (?) people to buy those government subsidized golf carts to justify mass producing them. Barack Obama is a millionaire, so he can afford to have some expensive hobbies just as long as he pays for them instead of my children. As it is, since GM has returned to profitability, they need to give back more of the money that the federal government lent them.
I'm waiting for the Secretary of Energy to say that by using more electric cars, we'll cool the planet which will make the flow of electricity more efficient which will in turn make running the car more cost-effective which will encourage more people to buy more electric cars, etc. etc.
You can convert your gas car to CNG, though this may be expensive depending on the regulations and install a home filling compressor which can fill the car over night from the domestic NG supply.
The if you want to be green you persuade your local sewage treatment plant to produce biogas for domestic consumers and you use that.
Deleted
I see one or two Nissan Leafs everyday in San Diego.
But I've only seen like two Volts in the last six months.
After how GM completely mishandled SAAB, and continue to mishandle SAAB in my hometown, I have no sympathy for them (but of course sympathy for the workers).
If it's still true that GM was taking a loss on every Volt sold, perhaps this is a blessing in disguise.
This is because the beancounters have set too short a time for the RoI. Large-scale long-term investments like tooling up a car need a long-term RoI. A realistic term would be 15-20 years, given that the immediate product (the Volt) is likely going to have to go through numerous mutations before it settles on a money-making model. Expecting to make back the setup cost in a year or two means that the beancounters or VCs have lost all grasp on reality, if they even had it to start with.
This cannot be 'current' news.
> Chevy Volt Meets High Resistance, GM Suspends Sales
gasoline packs a lot of energy per pund and per cubic whatever. batteries do not. plus though alkl fuels have production transmission and storeage loss electricity is the worst one of all...for first it must be generated by another energy source. and the sun is in space. space based beamed solar - which does not exist, not yet - and high charge quick charging small and low weight batteries - which do not exist, and probably never will - MIGHT may an e;ectric car worth researcxh and development. Otherwise it's just welfare for the ego's of greenies. Yes I hate greenies BUT EVEN MORE I HATE WASTE OF MONEY ON PEOPLE'S FEELINGS!
There are a lot of hybrids that look like normal cars (toyota camray, ford escape....).
I like hatchbacks, but the prius shape now screams I like the environment. It makes a statement which probably shouldn't be discounted as a reason people buy them.
Plus that shape is areodynamic, thus the honda insight looking almost the same
Simple as that. I would never consider driving a car that looked hideous.
There is a documentary out there about the EV1 the last attempt at an electric car. Its sad the way it ended. The vehicles were all leased and one day GM collected all of them and destroyed all but one that was put in a museum with it's engine de-activated. There were a lot of people, many celebrities that loved this car. Many were angry after it's passing. The question is what is wrong with the Volt? The Volt is leaps ahead of the EV1 in every way. I personally think it's the lack of charging stations. If there were as many charging stations as gas stations it would be a different story.
Tesla Motors
Telsa is planning on an ~$30,000 model in the next few years. If they achieve this price point and maintain the quality of their current models, I think that they will have an all electric car that many people will want
It's ridiculous to see all the Volt bashing here. The Volt is the ultimate nerd car, and you guys seem to be buying into the Fox news "it explodes and also stops working in the Lincoln Tunnel" bullshit. You'd think Microsoft built it. And yes, I am a Volt fanboy, but I don't think that changes the facts.
Facts:
- The Volt costs $32500 after tax rebates, which is quite reasonable for a car that costs so little to operate and drives so well. You can lease it for $350/month. It's definitely a toss up in efficiency between the Volt and the (admittedly cheaper) Prius, but if you drive less than 75 miles a day the Volt wins hands down. The Volt is only about $2000 more than the new Plug In Prius with rebates factored in, which only gets 6 miles of full electric range.
- It's pretty easy to get 40 MPG on the highway in the Volt. Since the battery takes care of short trips, you almost never run the generator during city driving, where it gets about 35 MPG.
- The battery will probably never need replacement, just like most Prius batteries never need replacement. GM is babying the shit out of these batteries, only using about 12 kWh of it's 16 kWh battery pack. GM estimates that after 100k miles the battery will still be able to give you 12 kWh of power.
- No Volt has caught fire in a real world situation, and no Volt will, especially with the side-impact reinforcement upgrade GM is making.
Granted, if all you do is drive on long road trips, a Prius makes more sense. But for ANY OTHER SITUATION, a Volt is a great choice, and an incredible driving experience. I challenge anyone running their mouth off about a Volt to go to a Chevy dealer and take a test drive. All I know is if they end up having a fire sale (heh) I'm picking up another before they go to the crusher like the EV1s.
Cars with limited ranges are practical, IF (yes, this is a huge if) you are willing to own multiple cars. That means more expense up front (buy two cars instead of one), plus greater time-based expenses (e.g. insurance, registration -- these aren't the largest expenses but should nevertheless be taken into account). If you get over those hurdles, though, I can see how a non-hybrid plug-in could be reasonably good tech for daily commutes (assuming your commute isn't insanely long-range). Then your longer-range car is for when you need to go further (at reduced efficiency).
I'm not sure the hurdles are easily get-overable, though. The insurance one simply can't be solved, IMHO; I don't know any insurance company who insures by the mile rather than the month/half-year.
The solution is to own things in groups: families. Two adults who work near each other could often share the commuter car, and yet there are also somewhat routine situations where they each need to have their own car for a day, so it's not crazy for the family to own two. Suddenly the math works out. Limited range vehicles may become viable there.
If I woke up tomorrow morning and my old Prizm had magically turned into a 30-mile-range plug-in car at no expense to me (that's the big catch: $40k for a car? fuck no!), I could easily make the best of the situation, and that plug-in would probably become our most-often-driven vehicle.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
I did the cost comparison between muscle car and the Volt, and if you got a Volt, with the $7500 rebate of 2011, and drove it on battery only (except when it forces you to use gas) you would have to drive it 16 years to recoup the cost difference of the Volt over the Camaro (V6 RS, Automatic).
A $45K car at the Chevy level of comfort? No thanks. Though I do have to say the Volt drove REALLY nice. Very impressive, and it does not have the Prius hesitation at stop signs. The Volt is a well thought out vehicle, having the gas backup is awesome. Better than the Leaf and it's once the charge is used you are stranded model.
I picked up a Buick Verano instead. Cheaper than the Volt or the Camaro, really comfortable and very quiet.
You can lose something that is loose, so tighten the loose item so you don't lose it.
The volt is a completely new class of car. It's a trailblazer. The first year is always a challenge.
You can't compare a Volt to a Prius or Leaf any more than you can compare a Corvette to a dump truck. Yes, they both have wheels, electric battery packs, and doors, but they are entirely different classes of vehicles.
The Prius is still largely a gasoline-only vehicle. Yes, the plug-in version is out this year, but it only gets you 8-11 miles, vs. the Volt's 30-40 miles. .
The Leaf is electric-only. For the vast majority of Americans, it's stuck as a second car because you can't practically road-trip in it with the current American infrastructure.
The Volt seeks to address these shortfalls.
It is the first production extended range electric vehicle. You cannot compare it to a Prius or Leaf, which are two different classes of vehicles altogether. The Prius's battery pack and electric range are only a fraction of the Volt's. The Leaf is just an electric car that requires charging stations. The Volt is actually engineered for the current infrastructure reality of the US - you can get gas everywhere, and you can only charge your car in so many locations, so it's a "crossover" vehicle that can let a broader class of folks adopt to a MOSTLY electric style of living.
GM knew full well going into the project that it was risky and it caters to a VERY specific audience of "Green Early Adopters" - folks that are willing to pay a premium for cutting their petroleum footprint.
If you don't like the Volt, you are obviously outside the target demographic. The Volt serves a lot of purposes outside of selling a EREV (Extended Range Electric Vehicle) - it also helps get actual production units to start building the battery production capabilities and infrastructure needed to sustain an electric vehicle fleet. Yes, the Prius has laid some inroads here, and the Volt is another push by another manufacturer.
If you study history at all, the Insight and the Prius were in very similar positions when they came out. Both were sold at low-to-no margins and had relatively crappy first-year sales.
The First Generation Honda Insight (the first mass-produced hybrid) only sold 17,000 units over several years.
The First Generation Prius was initially sold at low-to-no margins by
There is unanimous consensus among the engineering an scientific community that we need to reduce our petroleum usage. There is also a general consensus that an electric vehicle fleet is the most practical way of achieving this goal (and this includes fuel cells which are nothing more than expensive batteries).
Let the technology bake. The battery cost is rapidly falling. Get a few model years out. You may be pleasantly surprised. If it's outside of your budget, don't buy it. It's not for you anyway. You will still benefit from the technological advances of the vehicle. You can't afford a space shuttle but you still benefit from the fringe developments of that program. These types of projects are critical to the development of our electric vehicle infrastructure. You can't convert the American fleet to electric overnight anyway, the grid would have some major problems anyway with a million vehicles charging on it suddenly; they need a few years to get that upgraded. The Volt is the first step of many.
I believe the GM Volt is really a public beta test of electric vehicle technology. They could have black boxes in the vehicles, and interview the owners to find out what real world conditions it was exposed to. Vehicles in accidents can be purchased, and stripped down to determine exact wear. It cost $500 million to develop the GM Volt, and they wisely anticipated production of 10,000 in the first year.
Considering the decision was made in early 2007, to start the long journey to get a vehicle with 10 years of real world experience by the year 2022, I think GM was smart. If fuel cells take off, GM will be ready. If nations around the world require electric cars, GM will be ready. If oil goes to $300/barrel, GM will be ready.
Nissan spent over $1.5 billion to become the leader in electric cars. I think they are the dumb ones.
If you're going to be running on gas often enough that the Volt compares to the Prius in miles-per-gallon, the Volt isn't for you.
I'd consider one ..
If it had a larger battery pack and a diesel rather than a gas motor...
It's not an EV, it's a hybrid... And I really have no interest in a gas-powered hybrid..
If I had the cash for a Tesla, I'd rather get a Tesla..
... if less than one ohm
Dealership memo to "sales associates": "How many Volts have you delivered to reluctant customers today?"
I'm not sure I undestand the lack of demand, to be honest... unless it's purely about price.
With the Prius selling like hotcakes, why wouldn't the Volt sell? It's a superior product, made in USA, and only a bit more expensive...
I'm fully intending to buy one as my next car in fact. I'm due to buy in a couple of years, so I sure hope things pick up for the Volt.
- Spryguy
There are three kinds of people in this world: those that can count and those that can't
Rather, it's about achieving the sales numbers you forecast. GM projected that they would sell 10,000 Volts in 2011. At 7,671 actual sales, they were off by almost 25%. That's a fairly big miss, and the sort of thing that forces you to make some adjustments.
Contrast this to the Nissan Leaf, with projected sales of 10,000 and actual sales of 9,674.
your tax dollars at work for the labor unions and an elitist collectivist President
I'd never heard of this car before. So I checked out its wikipedia entry... and noted that absolutely none of any of the controversy about it is listed there. There is a great deal of information about the car -- marketing information, that is. I can find out how many awards it has won (like that really matters), I can find out how good it is at so many things.
What I can't find, is any objective truth there. Admittedly, no surprise, since I've never seen any wikipedia car entry that isn't so-obviously written by a fan, or the marketing dept of the manufacturer. The Volt's page was clearly written by someone with connections to GM. Just like so many other wikipedia pages. It's a complete waste of time using wikipedia for anything that has a fanbase, commercial interests, or political implications.
My confidence in the ability of the average american to perform simple math on return on investment is restored.
Got Code?
The problem is the $40K price. We're still in a major recession.
I can't believe this politically motivated pile of crap made it through to slashdot. This isn't news for nerds. This is over reactions for haters. It's a fine car and will continue to sell at an acceptable pace. Even if GM originally set their sights a little too high. And for the folks that complain about the high sticker price, use your brains a little bit. It's more than the sticker price. Leasing is a very affordable option for folks with a limited budget that want the car. I've seen zero down $349 a month leases. If you drive 1000 a month with a 25mpg vehicle, you'd save over $100 a month by using electricity rather than gasoline. Plus insurance is cheaper for the volt than nearly any other vehicle. I don't think low 200s per month is unaffordable. If it is, you shouldn't be worried about what any new vehicle costs. You have other things to worry about.
Foreign oil is a reliable, dependable source of energy for years to come. Don't worry about a few short-term issues like the price of the car, or electric-charging station networks. And look at the romantic, efficient cities - teeming with cosmopolitan artists, designers and technologists - they've built with those profits. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qom As a Slashdotter, you can be sure your money - capitalism dictates it - to the best investment choice for those hard-nosed businessmullahs who get our dough. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_program_of_Iran ...and promoting the needs of their youth...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatif_rape_case
I agree with the GOP, the long-term solution to this great nation's energy will not change, ever. Why... There's a lifetime's supply of it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenic_petroleum_origin
We will always use oil and the longer we use, the better off our children will be, Oil was good enough for us. I don't want my oil costs going up a penny. Don't change it.
At my university, one of the science buildings has a large Foucault pendulum surrounded by a ceramic base. They kept having problems with people messing around with the pendulum (somebody tried to use it as a swing and got injured, and some other idiots managed to steal the pendulum and plop it in a nearby pond). So they put signs on the ceramic base saying
CAUTION: >10,000 OHMS
DO NOT TOUCH.
They have had considerably fewer problems since, and people with at least half a clue get a good chuckle.
I'd buy a Volt if it wasn't fuck-ugly. The problem is it went from elegant concept to kludge somewhere after the marketing idiots got a hold of it.
Having been able to confer with many knowledgeable educated people in the energy field has really confused the issue. There are many different perspectives taken on the electric car and alternative fuels. Remember that GM once had an electric which they decided to scrap, sending about 9 or 10 new models to be destroyed. No reason was given and no auto maker pursued the manufacture or design of a alternative fuel or electric car for many years. Yet there are engine designs that can get more mileage than we will ever imagine but they are not being used. Automakers wait for the government to have them raise mileage standards before making changes. If increased mileage were not possible cars would still be gas guzzlers. It's all a big game and the speculators and oil companies seem to be running the show.
Now we have companies desperately trying to catch up on years of neglect that could have already had us advanced to a point where the technology was advanced and cost was no longer an issue. Automakers are trying to make an affordable electric car that works. i don't expect to see everyone running out to mortgage their home to buy a Chevy volt. Cars have continuously risen in cost and are now a capital expense item that cuts deeply into a families disposable income. Most engineers, inventors and other people I converse with have not looked favorably upon the Chevy Volt due to cost and efficiency. They feel that the technology needs more development,cost needs to be reduced and of course the batteries life is a concern as is the mileage on a charge.
If American greed were not part of the formula engines getting amazing gas mileage would have been in use years ago but the patents and plans are probably locked away in a filing cabinet to keep crude oil profits flowing.
For those engines, BMW simply used two copies of all the equipment used by their contempory 2.5L inline-6s. This means you have two seperate systems which need to be kept in perfect sync to run the engine... a tuning nightmare.
Beautiful cars, but not easy to own.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
The most noticeable aspect of these cars is how space inefficient they are. They car is huge, yet the front seat doesn't actually have that much room.
This is a direct result of the fact they are running on the same basic 1970's platform.
Also, the Crown Vic is no longer sold to consumers in the US, only fleet buyers.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
They have the same corporate parent... and are about as well differentiated as Buick and Oldsmobile were.. not at all.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
Exon-Mobile pays a 2.2% dividend. That's a paltry $440/yr assuming they maintain it and don't BP themselves and go bankrupt.
Nevermind that though. You can plow the $20k into any other investment you like with a better return and potentially less risk. If you have income from other sources you can even let the $20k compound at rates of 4% on something relatively low risk like utility stocks. Yes, you'll be subject to ups-and-downs of the market. You can hedge it with options though, blah, blah.
Bottom line, $20k depreciating on an expensive vehicle vs. the opportunity to invest in something that will outperform the price of gas and perhaps even blow it away. Gold, silver, a diversified portfolio. The choice is yours. You don't have to just spend the $20k on gas as it gets more and more expensive.
He seriously looked at a Volt. 90% of the time he's not driving more than about 15 miles from his house to go the store, get something to eat, or go to the doctor's. He does drive down to the farm 4 - 5 times a year (400 mile round trip) as well as 2 driving trips/vacations. It's the trips and farms that puts the miles on the car though.
He ended up buying a Buick LaCrosse with e-assist. Why? First off he's not an early adopter. Secondly he thought the Buick had a better overall ride. Lastly, the Buick was $14,000 cheaper. He chose the Buick over another Impala because of the E-essist. The way he drives he's getting 28MPG in town and 40MPG out on the road.
Something we both feel is that GM is the one on the right track. The thing is, this isn't going to help the Volt. Where it's going to help is when the technology gets implemented in such away where you can buy Extended Range Electric versions of the Malibu, Impala, Terrain, and on down the line.
As someone mentions, the basic design concept allows most to benefit from having the all electric capability, but without the limits. If you need to go further than 35 miles you still have the gas option which the current infrastructure supports.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
Chevy Volt Meets High Resistance, GM Suspends Sales 401 ...
from the get-it-resistance-ha-ha dept.
I hope Timothy is currently strapped into a live electric chair for that one.
Your calculations include the cost of the lease/payment.
But when you buy, after 3-4 years, you're paid off, you own the vehicle and your costs are gas, maintenance and repairs.
*the sweet spot for any car is years 4-10* they cost very little to own and drive during this time and they're extremely reliable.
Comparing lease costs to car payment costs is something dealers do to convince rubes to lease instead of buy.
When you do an actual comparison, the ROI on the volt is so low that its not worth discussing.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
Not Obama's fault they built a junk car. Go buy one of these! http://wheego.net/more/
Most people don't realize just how important the dealer is for a car company. When I bought my Chevy S10 in 2000, I did the negotiation online. Back then, GM had a program where you selected a car from the inventory your local dealer had, and they emailed you a quote. My quote was the invoice price and included all of the rebates and discounts. No pressure at all. When I went to the dealer to buy the S10, they offered financing at a lower interest rate than what I already had so I accepted it. I took a test drive and signed the forms at the exact price that I had been offered online. The entire process including the test drive took 1/2 hour.
Three years later I was having problems with brake pads. I took it to Midas and they said there was a problem with the calipers. I had 2 weeks left on my warranty. Midas said it was possible the dealer might still partially cover it, so I took it back. Not only did they cover it 100% with no questions, but the paid for a rental car too. Absolutely nothing but positive experiences with my local Chevy dealers
About the same time, my father purchased a new Toyota Corolla, which developed engine oil sludge at 15,000 miles. The following quote from the article pretty much summed up his experience with the Toyota dealer:
Charles in Arkansas said: "At 36,000 miles the engine gummed up and quit running. My wife had the oil changed at Wal-Mart and did not keep receipts for the oil changes. The North Little Rock dealer and the Toyota representative told us such problems were rare and that we had caused the problem but for $2,500 they could fix it. They inferred that my wife was a liar," he wrote.
"Be grateful for what you have. You may never know when you may lose it."
First, it's not the same setup as a prius. It has clutches to engage and things. I'm assuming (sorry) that those are hydraulic clutches since most of the trans is carry-over from the 2-mode which. Hydraulic clutches suck because the fluid need pressure and has some flow rate - i.e. the hydraulics require ENERGY. A prius/fusion/etc use the motion of the parts to splash oil around for lubrication, but have no significant hydraulic loads. This means a Volt expends energy in the transmission that is not used to propel the vehicle and is less efficient - It's only a 30-35mpg hybrid, which is not that great. In all-electric mode, they would have been better off as a plain series-hybrid with a little bigger motor and generator and no clutches or brakes. There would also be no question what type of car it is.
This is contingent on my *assumption* of hydraulic clutches.
This is easy math. If a car gets 25mpg (average) and you drive it for 100K miles, that's 4000 gallons of gas. At $4 per gallon you'll be spending $16K on gas over that distance. If you drive the car for 150K miles that will be $24K in gas. If gas prices vary, you can do the math for that too. But you WILL spend $15-20K for gas over the life of a car. So the question becomes how much will the electricity save (about 75% in some places) and for the time you run a volt on gas, how much will the 30-35mpg save? I'd agree that it looks like a wash for many people, but if the volumes go up the price will come down and then it will be an easy choice. But then it seems demand is weak....
The Problem with U.S Automakers is they have forgotton how to make cars.
What I mean by that is they have forgotten to make a car that I want to drive. Seriously I have the exciting choice of a Camaro, Mustang or a Dodge?
And what enticing U.S. automobile is there?
Here is the enticing lineup of Japanese cars I have to pick from
Nissan Altima or Maxima
Infinity G35 or M35
Toyota Camary
Honda Accord or Civic
Subaru WRX or Legacy
Oh and if I want to spend past 45k
Audi or BMW
So while U.S. automakers where complaining about the Japanese changing body styles every 3 years and this was back in the late 80's. Other car manufactures came in right under all thier Blah Blah chatter and stole the other segement. The Luxuary segement.
The japanese make far more exciting cars and the sales figures prove it.
The U.S. is 10 years behind and will never catch up.
Most U.S. car body styles look like someone made a wooden mold and then Vacuformed plastic over it. Cadallac decided to go with a facet desgin and think thats futuristic?
They can still make trucks but soon that will disapear.
The U.S. auto industry is what is wrong with American manufacuring, and as the Auto industry goes so does the rest of the country.
I've seen some numbers thrown around,and they are incorrect. The Volt National Lease deal (USBank - Ally sucks) is as follows: $349/mo, 36mos, 12Kmi/year, $2500 out-of-pocket (due at signing). USBank tosses the $7500 tax credit on the back-end to the residual, and kicks in a $2375 cap reduction, along with your $1520 cap reduction (from your $2500 due at signing). This is on a base model $39995 MSRP. Mine, is a 2012, $369/mo, $3400 out-of-pocket, loaded with every available option. Of course, I negotiated the price of my car, and got it for abotu $3K under MSRP, which resulted in a $370pmt, and not a $459pmt ($45,908 MSRP). As to comparing the Prius to a Volt, I can tell you, Volt shoppers are NOT cross-shopping with a freaking Prius, even a plug-in. I can drive to work, and back home (40mi) on a single charge, which costs me about $0.90. I was paying $45/wk in gas in a 2003 Susuzki Aerio SX doing the same commute. My Volt averages about 1.6cents/mi on electricity, and the Suzuki was about 16cents/mi. You cannot take the posted averages, and calculate your forecasted expenses, because internal combustion engines are dynamic, and I guarantee you, that NOONE on this planet drives the way they do on the test-loop for EPA mpg estimates.Well, maybe grandma. And although the Plug-In Prius at $33k (someone forgot the destination of like $80) can go like 11mi (13mi realistic) on battery, it cannot go above 62mph on battery-only. As for tax credits, it's only worth $2500 on the prius, making it's cost $30500, against the Volt's $39995 - $7500 = $32,495. For 2 grand, dang straight I'm driving a Volt - no WAY I'd be caught dead in those ugly things, moping along at 62mph hoping to keep the engine off... As to Focus and Leaf, as mentioned, when their battery dies, you're on the side of the road, period. Call a flatbed. It's great as a "CityCar," but I;'d be worried... And those that CONTINUE to compare the Volt against the Prius, Focus EV, and Leaf, it is a stupid assumption. You might as well compare the Cadillac CTS against a Camry, or an Acura TL against a Malibu. Different segments, WAY better appointments and standard options on the Volt, and the two are like apples and oranges. As to the Tesla, no way I'm getting a car from them. EVs are an unknown variable as it is, but toss in an unknown company? Who's electronics can't even prevent battery-bricking, and then charge you $40K for a replacement? No thanks - Chevy thought of that, already. Volt has a 16kWhr pack, but you only really use about 12.6kWhr - the rest is buffer, emergency, and to increase longevity. It also has a gas engine, and when I have run on fuel, which has been for 6mi out of 177mi on most recent trip-meter, it was getting 46mpg on cruise @ 71mph in a 70 zone. I'd be MORE than happy to answer questions, as I am by NO MEANS a rich person (own a 3/2, wife has a Subaru Forester, work 9x5) and I made the choice to get a Volt. As to those criticizing the tax credits, why don't you instead complain to GE, oil companies, trump, hell even Apple, who take billions upon billions of ta breaks - matter of fact, last time I checked, hasn't it been a few years since GE even PAID taxes? And you're complaining about say 8K cars x $7500 = $60M max? Being that no everyone will qualify, as it is a tax CREDIT not a tax REBATE, meaning it is above the line, not below. You don't automatically get $7500 just because you got a Volt.
i'm not going $40k into debt just so i can make myself feel better about being a human in this day and age.
Electric cars will turn out to be one of the most damaging manufacturing processes from beginning to end, including components, that we have ever seen in the automotive industry.
Rare earth minerals required to build electric cars and their components will become even more rare and expensive as time goes on.
Strip mining of the earth for these minerals seems to be quite damaging to the planet.
Anyone remember when environmentalists made people cry over using a renewable resource like wood and paper? Their goal was to use plastic bags made from oil instead of paper bags. Now we're stuck with countless tons of bags that will never decompose.
This is simply one example out of many that our desires to be "environmentally conscious" that turn out to be more damaging to the environment than intended. Electric cars are another.
the sequel... ;)
By punting existing inventory on to subsidiaries (dealerships) GM counts them as revenue, even though its not actually sold to the public. This has gone on for so long they are drowning in them and have to stop productioin and lay off 1300 people.
Just another bailed out industry playing Enron games for the shareholders benefit and screwing the customer/taxpayer
GM didn't suspend sales of the car... they only suspended manufacturing, which I might add is quite common for a company that has a larger than desired inventory. Sales are continuing.
Bill
It's my Sig and you can't have it. Mine! All Mine!
The Volt is a hyper-complicated car, I wouldn't buy one for that reason alone, it's a lifetime of expensive breakdowns waiting to happen. They shouldn't have put so much effort into trying to appease the range anxiety crowd. Couple that with the better new EVs that those who don't have "range anxiety" see as a much better deal, and the poor thing never stood a chance.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I'm sorry, I just don't have any love for GM! They bought out Saturn and KILLED it, then they take a technology that could and should be a great leap forward and proceed to KILL it too! I think this company has no wish to succeed. They stick with OLD IDEAS and OLD TECHNIQUES in management, no wonder they can't get their market share back.
If you've seen the documentary: Who Killed The Electric
http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/
You'd think it was a bunch of smoke and mirrors, too.
Yes, they should be selling the crap out of these cars, but not because there isn't huge demand.
And how it figures into the mileage and payback equations. I don't know of a single rechargeable battery type that delivers 100% of it's performance for 2 years much less 5. Where's the predicted cost for the falloff in efficiency? And one other niggle. You have to lease a car like this for it to even make it compete financially. And only works short term. After 4-5 years I own my Focus, Cruz or other car outright. As long as I do maintenance on it it should deliver years of service beyond the 4-5 year payment window. How do these 2 fact skew the payback/affordability curve? And bear in mind we still haven't address the big "what if" out there. What IF the technology does mature sooner, rather than later. What IF they can make the affordable without subsidies and comparable to a gas car in true cost. What happens to the electric grid in all the urban places where there are likely to be large concentrations of these kinds of cars, all plugged in, all charging on a grid that is already stressed?
the differences between ICE's, hybrids, and all-electrics is the day a mass-produced electric car will have a chance in the US.
That day is not today.
Huge battery-packs for a truly mass-produced electric car are hardly even possible with the current supply-chain. And even if it were, how much more are the batteries (and the other complex high-tech) going to increase in cost of manufacture vs. increase in sales volume; we aren't talking about inexpensive materials, and whenever energy prices jump, so do production costs.
The Volt was never really mass-produced. I seriously doubt it ever COULD have been mass-produced. It certainly never could have been mass-produced for a price that the average Joe could afford, with or without subsidization.
There's the real world and the fantasy-ideal, in the real world that is America the Volt was never a great option for anyone but a tiny fraction of the population. Live in a cold area ? Forget it, the Volt is a losing proposition. Live in a rural or in most suburban areas, and have to drive a near average distance to work ? It's a losing proposition.
The Volt was always a feel-good PR move, it was never really an ICE or hybrid replacement for the average consumer.
It's funny reading the comments here, how many people even test drove and seriously considered the Volt ? How many people here actually own one of these dogs ?
And no, I'm not some conservative nutbag, I WANT an electric car. I'm just not going to spend a down-payment on a freakin' HOUSE on a car that isn't even mass-produced sufficiently to guarantee service and parts for the thing for it's (short) estimated lifespan. And neither are the rest of the American public.
The Republicans will say ANYTHING to cause this President and America to fail.
I will let someone else spend that $40,000 to save the world. And no one ever says how much a new battery for these cars will cost you to replace - $10,000 or more. Talk about the cost to recycle that battery also!
Problems :
1) In a world where people who buy $40,000 cars, they buy smooth/professional looking Japanese or German cars. They made this thing look like some crap old man sports cars. Even if the thing came with a super model under the dashboard willing to make the driver happy however possible, no one who has any self respect and a credit limit able to handle $40,000 would be cost dead in this car. I don't have statistics on it, but I'd imagine that this car is being purchased mainly by companies who actually do received tax credits for carbon reduction. The technology of this car targets a middle cTheylass 28-35 year primarily stylish female demographic or a male in the similar age group who want something stylish and practical, and yet, the physical design is most similar to cars purchased by men from 40-50 years old trying to but something is a balance between a mustang and a practical car. In short... what the hell were they thinking? If they did nothing more to the 2013 model than to replace the nose of the car with something that didn't look like a poor mans muscle car, it would improve sales dramatically. Take a page from Toyota or Audi for a design idea on that.
2) They bragged about a great new revolutionary design, but the people most likely to purchase a car like this need to have a feel for reliability and dependability. That's the type of person that buys hybrids and electric cars. Toyota pulled it off because they have a long standing reputation for just being reliable as hell. GM/Chevy has a reputation of cars up on bricks that need an engine rebuild. When Toyota released a new hybrid design, it caught on quick because when Toyota says they made a fancy new type of car... you know that if anything goes wrong, they'll fix it. Yeh... there was that thing which got blown out of proportion in the press with the gas peddle, but I'm not joking when I say that as a used Prius owner, Toyota actually tracked me down to tell me to come in to get parts replaced because they found a possible problem. They proactively deal with problems... even on 6 year old out of warranty cars with nearly 100,000 miles on them. Chevy... umm... yeh right. So, if a company like Chevy claims they made a whole new design, people go "I think I'll wait until it's not so revolutionary and they have the kinks worked out".
3) Chevy bragged for years about how the brand new awesome design they're making would get insanely high gas mileage. Then as they got closer and closer to releasing it, the mileage dropped and dropped. Hell, just look at all the people claiming Microsoft/Intel will never make a Windows machine with better battery life. In the mean time, from Windows 7 to Windows 8 developer preview to Windows 8 consumer preview, my Series 7 Slate went from 3 hours on battery (Watching video) to 3.5 hours on battery to 4.8 hours on battery. Not sure how much better they'll do when it's released, but I'm expecting a comparable Ivy Bridge with LP-DDR3 on the same design otherwise will get 8 hours or more especially since the new graphics controller will offload even more processing and spend its time in sleep. But yet, people will say "Intel and Microsoft SUCK at battery life" and no matter what technology Intel and Microsoft add, people will always be like "ARM and Android or ARM and iOS will always be better" yet a comparable ARM and Android or iOS will consume just as much power. It won't matter. It's built into our minds that Intel processors with Windows are made to heat homes.
Chevy should have never made the promises about efficiency they made. But of course they would never have been allowed to design the car if they didn't. So now, while the Volt sucks (though not as bad as people make it out to), GM has an initial design to build on. The Volt is their version 1 and probably not a bad attempt for a version 1, but it's years late and more than a few dollars short. If they get version 2 right, people might actually consider the value in buying one. But for now, $40,000 for what effectively i
"Ironically, the shutdown comes as gas prices are soaring, exactly the time when an electric car should be an easy sell."
This is not irony, because the soaring gas prices are not what is causing the difficulty to sell. Soaring gas prices normally would make electric vehicles an easy sell. It is ironic if, somehow, the very thing which would make the sale easy were instead to make it hard.
Now the batteries in the car, that are catching on fire. *THOSE* are ironic as shit.
There is no such thing as a muscle car with a V6. Try again.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"