The Chevrolet Volt

[Gabriel]

Do you think or believe that this product will be successful? If not why?

I have read in normal urban driving arrangements the thing will get as much as 230 miles to the gallon. The tank is 6 gallon so some simple math.. using these particular best case numbers a person can get nearly 1400 miles on a full tank. Talk about the death of "range anxiety". It drives on battery power for the first 40 miles which allows many people to get to work and come home without using any fuel at all. In normal situations where the car is not recharged and the battery is used straight and then the fuel it gets 50mpg.. Thats an incredibly efficient gas engine even after the electric charge that is good for 40 miles is gone. I don't see why this car won't go gangbusters.

Chevrolet Volt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fuel economy
For trips less than about 40 miles (64 km), a fully charged Chevy Volt may travel using just stored electricity and not require any on-board gasoline. This is referred to as Charge Depletion (CD) mode and the Volt is expected to use approximately 25 kW·h/100 mi on the city cycle of the EPA's test while operating in this mode.

Once the Volt's battery has discharged to the estimated 30% lower State of Charge (SoC) limit, the engine starts and supplies power to the electric motor to continue driving the car and maintains the battery charge at 30%.[54] The Volt's range-extending gasoline engine is expected to get approximately 50 mpg-US (4.7 L/100 km; 60 mpg-imp) on the city cycle of the EPA's test while operating in this Charge Sustaining (CS) mode.[citation needed]

On August 2009, GM released their estimated city fuel economy rating for the Volt of 230 mpg-US (1.0 L/100 km; 280 mpg-imp) of gasoline plus 25 kW·h/100 mi (560 kJ/km) of electricity using the EPA's proposed method for evaluating plug-in hybrids.[20][81][82] The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a statement clarifying that the "EPA has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM."[20] On July 2010 General Motors recognized that their estimate was based on a formula that never got official approval, and are awaiting EPA's decision on how the equivalent fuel economy of plug-in hybrids will be estimated.[83]

The Volt, however, can use both gasoline and grid electricity; thus, assigning a fuel economy value that only refers to on-board gasoline would only be appropriate for evaluating the efficiency of the ICE. The EPA is working on an updated methodology for determining and then reporting the equivalent fuel economy of PHEVs. An EPA presentation to the Society of Automotive Engineers in February, 2009 discussed a method based on SAE J1711 to combine the gasoline fuel economy with the electrical fuel economy using the petroleum equivalency factor of 33.7 kW·h⁄gallonUS (the lower heating value of gasoline and the value used by the DOE[84]) which would combine GM's estimated city fuel economies for the Volt into an overall 85 mpgge[notes 1] for reporting.[85][86]

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

.....

For me, I'm not interested in an electric car, until they can get to ranges of around 100 miles per charge and have a quick recharge capability.

Not to mention that sticker price is a bit high.
It's going to take some more innovation before I get interested.

 

[Gabriel]

For me, I'm not interested in an electric car, until they can get to ranges of around 100 miles per charge and have a quick recharge capability.

Not to mention that sticker price is a bit high.
It's going to take some more innovation before I get interested.

As I stated the car can get roughly 230 mpg in normal city driving which is about 1400 miles on a 6 gallon tank. 0.o

 

[Gabriel]

For me, I'm not interested in an electric car, until they can get to ranges of around 100 miles per charge and have a quick recharge capability.

Not to mention that sticker price is a bit high.
It's going to take some more innovation before I get interested.

Why the insistance on the 100 miles pure electric charge?

 

[tacomancer]

I don't see the economic benefit. That car is about 40,000 and while it uses less fuel, it will raise my home energy bill by some unknown amount. I don't see where I would save money over a $15,000 kia thing.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

Why the insistance on the 100 miles pure electric charge?

If I'm going electric I'd rather stay 100% electric, if possible.
Just a personal preference.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

I don't see the economic benefit. That car is about 40,000 and while it uses less fuel, it will raise my home energy bill by some unknown amount. I don't see where I would say much money over a $15,000 kia thing.

True, so true.

$40k for a car, is insanity, in my opinion.

 

[earthworm]

I don't see the economic benefit. That car is about 40,000 and while it uses less fuel, it will raise my home energy bill by some unknown amount. I don't see where I would save money over a $15,000 kia thing.

Then, something is seriously wrong here. A Presidential level investigation as to why this is so.
I do suspect that the GM leadership may not be very bright, or so it seems.
They, along with Ford and Chrysler should be working hand-in-hand with our government to determine the best strategy.
This may be a first, and a huge change from when the car companies were battling the feds (emissions, economy, safety) 50 years ago.

 

[Jucon]

For me, I'm not interested in an electric car, until they can get to ranges of around 100 miles per charge and have a quick recharge capability.

Not to mention that sticker price is a bit high.
It's going to take some more innovation before I get interested.

The battery life is not what natters to me. The Volt still uses gasoline. What I care about is the MPG and the range... and this is a giant leap compared to the cars we see today.

I'm not very experienced in the car market, but I always assumed the average cost for a decent car was between $20k and $40k. And from what I've heard the price of the Volt would get dropped to $33-35k after a tax return from the government. That seems pretty dang reasonable for a new inovative piece of technology such as this. But this is only a stepping stone. From here the technology can only get better.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

The battery life is not what natters to me. The Volt still uses gasoline. What I care about is the MPG and the range... and this is a giant leap compared to the cars we see today.

I'm not very experienced in the car market, but I always assumed the average cost for a decent car was between $20k and $40k. And from what I've heard the price of the Volt would get dropped to $33-35k after a tax return from the government. That seems pretty dang reasonable for a new inovative piece of technology such as this. But this is only a stepping stone. From here the technology can only get better.

I prefer to just hook it to a charger and call it a day.
I don't want the extra trips for gas and having to change the oil.

If you buy a car new, you're getting screwed.
I bought my car used, financed it at an incredibly high interest rate and the total cost, with financing, never got to $20k.
I think it was $16k total.

 

[Jucon]

I prefer to just hook it to a charger and call it a day.
I don't want the extra trips for gas and having to change the oil.

If you buy a car new, you're getting screwed.
I bought my car used, financed it at an incredibly high interest rate and the total cost, with financing, never got to $20k.
I think it was $16k total.

Your wish will soon be granted.

Electric Vehicle Equipment from GE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO7lKaAB5Dg&feature=related


I'd probably buy a car used as well. Or lease the car out... at least until I can afford to buy a car.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

Your wish will soon be granted.

Electric Vehicle Equipment from GE

YouTube - GE WattStation


I'd probably buy a car used as well. Or lease the car out... at least until I can afford to buy a car.

I've seen those, very cool.
Just need the battery life now.

I'm not sure how old you are but some strong advice about cars is, there is almost never a good reason to lease and almost never a good reason to buy new.

The caveat being that, you have plenty of money to afford the luxury of buying new or leasing.

 

[Jucon]

I've seen those, very cool.
Just need the battery life now.

I'm not sure how old you are but some strong advice about cars is, there is almost never a good reason to lease and almost never a good reason to buy new.

The caveat being that, you have plenty of money to afford the luxury of buying new or leasing.

Well depending on the technology, things gets out dated pretty quick (within a 1-4 year period). If I did want to get one of these battery powered cars, I'd probably lease one out so I can get a better version in the future. If it's a normal car, I'd most likely buy a used one. My interest in a Volt type of vehicle will depend on the direction the technology takes and how quickly the technology improves.

 

[Ockham]

Maybe the Volt will be interesting for early adopters who have the cash... but even when cars get to 100 miles per charge and charging stations are at least sparsely available, I'll still probably wait. I'll let all the suckers find and complain about the problems and when it seems stable and the cost comes down a bit, I might try one out. I'm thinking the Tesla cars (the newer one is coming out with a 100-300 mile range on a charge) would be technologically advanced. The leaf is interesting but you need to get an electrician to install a recharging station at your house... so that'll flop.

 

[molten_dragon]

Do you think or believe that this product will be successful? If not why?

I have read in normal urban driving arrangements the thing will get as much as 230 miles to the gallon. The tank is 6 gallon so some simple math.. using these particular best case numbers a person can get nearly 1400 miles on a full tank.

You're way off here. The battery can get you 40 miles before it runs out of juice. After that, you're on gasoline power, at which point you get about 50 MPG in the city (less on the highway). So that 6 gallons can get you maybe 300 more miles, for a total of 340. Which is fairly comparable to a lot of other cars.

I suspect the volt will be a modest success, but nothing game-changing.

 

[American]

For me, I'm not interested in an electric car, until they can get to ranges of around 100 miles per charge and have a quick recharge capability.

Not to mention that sticker price is a bit high.
It's going to take some more innovation before I get interested.

I hope you're not planning on any long trips on 100 miles.

 

[MKULTRABOY]

I voted no, but Im not informed enough to vote or anything. :lol:

 

[rathi]

From a technical perspective, the series hybrid is very important. It is a good testbed for getting rid of normal transmissions and hooking up the electric motors directly to the wheels. However, even a theoretically good concept can be screwed up in practice and turn out badly. The volt doesn't have any strong indicators one way or another as to its overall quality yet.

 

[Hoplite]

I wouldn't be inclined to buy one. First problem is the sticker price, 40k is just way too much even with financing.

Second issue, it's a complete unknown. I've been partial to foreign cars since I got my first car, a Honda, and most people I know who've had domestic cars either tend to have good results or REALLY bad results. The Volt is a completely new design that I'm not willing to bet 40k on.

Third, their formula has been done before and longer by companies like Toyota and Honda. Why should I go with a newcomer to the market when I can get a car that I know is pretty reliable from people who've been making this kind of car for longer?

Hopefully the Volt will work out, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[theangryamerican]

$40k for a car, is insanity, in my opinion.

$40k is too much for THAT car. There are plenty of cars I would willingly shell out far more than $40k to own.

 

[theangryamerican]

$40k is too much for THAT car. There are plenty of cars I would willingly shell out far more than $40k to own.

Btw, here's an all-electric car for you... and it'll go 0-60 in about 4 seconds.

 

[ptif219]

How long will the battery last before it needs replacing and what will the cost be? Me I will continue to buy ethanol free gas.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

Btw, here's an all-electric car for you... and it'll go 0-60 in about 4 seconds.

The battery lasts about 5 seconds. :2razz:

 

[American]

How long will the battery last before it needs replacing and what will the cost be? Me I will continue to buy ethanol free gas.

The batteries are hazardous materials too.

 

[PeteEU]

Too expensive, and has more hype that substance.