GM Chevy Volt

[Lloyd]

The volt saves you a gallon of gas every time you plug it in. If you are paying premium rates like California it costs about $1.50 to $2.50 to charge it.

 

[JRP3]

I don't think anyone can characterize Volt stock as really ample, but at the same time it's not non-existent either (as with the Leaf, only 33 available within 30 miles of Manhattan; only two cars lower are the Titan and 370Z).

I'm not sure all those listings are for actual cars on the lots. For a while cars.com was showing 3 LEAF's at the local dealer but they didn't actually have any on the lot.

 

[EVNow]

I'm not sure all those listings are for actual cars on the lots. For a while cars.com was showing 3 LEAF's at the local dealer but they didn't actually have any on the lot.

Yes - we have to be careful with cars.com numbers.

Dealers have a std procedure where they will automatically upload to cars.com all the vehicles they recieve. Even those that have already been sold - as with leaf (and a lot of Volts). This caused a lot of drama in MNL in the early days - when members found their cars (i.e. VINs) advertised for sale.

 

[TEG]

The volt saves you a gallon of gas every time you plug it in. If you are paying premium rates like California it costs about $1.50 to $2.50 to charge it.

You might want to qualify that better. Every time you plug it in when the battery pack is empty and leave it long enough to let it fully charge?
With all the L2's going into public places, people may not realize how long they need to stay parked to get a meaningful charge in the pack.

 

[Robert.Boston]

With all the L2's going into public places, people may not realize how long they need to stay parked to get a meaningful charge in the pack.

LOL - I read the last three words with a Bahston accent: "I'll get a chahge while I pahk in Hahvuhd Yahd."

 

[stopcrazypp]

I'm not sure all those listings are for actual cars on the lots. For a while cars.com was showing 3 LEAF's at the local dealer but they didn't actually have any on the lot.

I certainly know not to take the cars.com numbers at face value, but I'm guessing that with a large enough sample (30 mile radius in this case, rather than looking at a single dealer) probably at least half the posted number is actually in stock (judging by the Ward's auto's report of GM saying 3,596 Volts in stock nationwide vs the cars.com inventory number of 4,307 for 3/2/2012).

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/1622-GM-Chevy-Volt?p=118521&viewfull=1#post118521

 

[Nvbob]

GM halts production on it's Volt.

Washington Post Story

 

[vfx]

GM owner videos.

http://www.chevroletvoltage.com/index.php/videos.html

Our are better!

 

[TEG]

More fish/foul marketingspeak:
2012 Chevy Volt | Electric Car | Chevrolet

"The first electric car that runs on more than electricity"

 

[doug]

GM plans to relaunch marketing for electric Volt in a month or so -- Cleantech News and Analysis

 

[Todd Burch]

The bit that caught my eye was casualties associated with vehicle fires:

If these numbers carry over to US stats, with about 250,000 vehicle fires per year we have:

• 225 deaths per year due to vehicle fires
• 17,500 non-fatal casualties per year due to vehicle fires

Considering that no one has ever been hurt or killed in an EV fire, to the best of my knowledge, the EV community should actively go on the offensive on this issue.

That's what I was thinking.

Annual deaths from fire in gas vehicles? 225
Deaths from EVs due to fire since the beginning of time? 0 (or thereabouts).

This tells me that GM is either incompetent, or they don't care much more about the Volt than they did about the EV1.

A single television commericial could present these facts above and almost overnight silence most skeptics. Yet they don't. Again...why not? Why does this feel like the 90s again?

Maybe another movie is required: "Who Killed The Hybrid, but claimed to be Electric Car...Again?"

 

[Steph]

That's what I was thinking.

Annual deaths from fire in gas vehicles? 225
Deaths from EVs due to fire since the beginning of time? 0 (or thereabouts).

This tells me that GM is either incompetent, or they don't care much more about the Volt than they did about the EV1.

A single television commericial could present these facts above and almost overnight silence most skeptics. Yet they don't. Again...why not? Why does this feel like the 90s again?

Maybe another movie is required: "Who Killed The Hybrid, but claimed to be Electric Car...Again?"

IMO, GM is being prudent. They ran 10k vehicles in the assembly line, now they're shutting down for retooling (fix bugs they saw so far)

I believe this is the cue, after the shutdown, production will go full steam ahead and they will start an aggressive marketing campaign.

Not easy to mass produce new technology, it takes some patience.

 

[EVNow]

Look at this comment by Statik on gm-volt. Best explanation for the "pause" with some insider info.

The Chevy Volt Adoption Curve

Essentially for MY12 GM projected much bigger sales than is "possible", producing at the rate of 1,000 per week or about 50k per year. In order to do that, they hired a lot of workers. That is the reason they made nearly 4,000 Volts in Feb. Ofcourse, the demand is nowhere near that much (I guess the sales potential is around 2K per month).

So, the reason for the shutdown is clear. BAD forecast by Chevy managers.

 

[Robert.Boston]

That's what I was thinking.

Annual deaths from fire in gas vehicles? 225
Deaths from EVs due to fire since the beginning of time? 0 (or thereabouts).

This tells me that GM is either incompetent, or they don't care much more about the Volt than they did about the EV1.

A single television commericial could present these facts above and almost overnight silence most skeptics. Yet they don't. Again...why not? Why does this feel like the 90s again?

I think you know the answer: GM can't run a commercial to defend its PHEV by pointing out how dangerous ICE vehicles are. First, the Volt is probably as likely as any other gasoline-lugging car to have dangerous fires. Second, they don't want to paint 100% of their products as unsafe to prove that 0.1% of the product (the Volt) isn't unsafe in the particular way being alleged.

Here's a prime example of why the ICE-men of Detroit and Bavaria will never be the ones in the forefront of EVs.

 

[qwk]

I think you know the answer: GM can't run a commercial to defend its PHEV by pointing out how dangerous ICE vehicles are. First, the Volt is probably as likely as any other gasoline-lugging car to have dangerous fires. Second, they don't want to paint 100% of their products as unsafe to prove that 0.1% of the product (the Volt) isn't unsafe in the particular way being alleged.

Here's a prime example of why the ICE-men of Detroit and Bavaria will never be the ones in the forefront of EVs.

Exactly. This is why when EV's become the car of choice, it's going to take a lot of finagling to transition fast enough to survive.

 

[VolkerP]

IMO a risky strategy for Tesla to focus on the US market. A country where one party that runs for president can stall the entire EV market with FUD, along with main stream 'journalism' media, talk shows and columnists. Bah!
Tesla, speed up EU homologation and have a sure 20k sales over here.

 

[JRP3]

California alone is a huge market likely to remain friendly to EV's no matter what.

 

[Doug_G]

GM: We're Not Pulling the Plug on Chevy Volt

Design News - Captain Hybrid - GM: We're Not Pulling the Plug on Chevy Volt

The temporary halt in the production of the Chevy Volt isn't a sign that the Volt is dead or that electric cars are disappearing, but rather that General Motors executives must now separate the Volt's hype from its real value in the marketplace.

The five-week shutdown, announced on Friday, occurred after the giant automaker saw that it wouldn't meet its earlier forecasts of 45,000 annual sales for the Volt, and that its inventory levels were rising too fast. "We made the move to keep the proper inventory levels and to match production to demand," GM spokesman Randy Fox told Design News. "But we have no intention -- none whatsoever -- to pull the plug."

Auto industry experts said they believe GM is committed to the Volt, but added that the company's executives succumbed to the huge hype surrounding the vehicle and began forecasting sales numbers that simply weren't realistic. "There was never the potential for the Volt to be this high-volume, this soon," David Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research, told us. "The economics of this just didn't make sense."

Cole said that battery costs are coming down, albeit slowly. He said he has talked to high-level engineers at Ford and GM who expect costs to dip below $300/kWh within 10 years. He added that the Volt's cost is also dropping fast. "In the first year, they've already taken $4,000 out of the price of the Volt," he said. "Now, they have another $15,000 to go."

When the Volt returns, however, it will still face stiff competition. The Chevy Cruze Eco, built on the same platform as the Volt, offers more than 40 mpg and costs half of what the Volt does. Moreover, start-stop "micro-hybrids" and mild hybrids are now hitting the marketplace, and will provide a less costly alternative to the Volt or to the all-electric Nissan Leaf, Sathawane said. All of these alternatives will contribute to the lower expectations for the Volt and other electrified vehicles over the near future.

 

[dpeilow]

Of Hybrids and Electrics: 2012 Chevy Volt | The Truth About Cars

 

[AnOutsider]

Didn't see this posted, and I'm having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to share Google+ videos but, let's see if this works:

Marcus Frasier - Google+ - Ian, perfect complement to your post

Chevy Volt Parody