Chevy Volt

[genlock]

Plug-in charge, 1.5 liter engine (gasoline), 50 mpg on gas engine.
$40,000 price tag, $32.500 after fed tax credit.
GM says price will come down.
Could be a huge seller if final price was just under $20,000.
GM claims 200+ mpg in aggregate driving. Something like 5/6 electric.
Gas engine drives generator to drive electric motor , has dynamic breaking.
Just like railroad locomotives.

Could be huge (when cheaper)

[cgarison]

(yawn)

Yesterday's technology.

This is the car of the future.

http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/

[genlock]

I have driven a CNG (compressed Natural Gas) Ford Taurus and it worked fine.
Only problem was you had to fill up in Kanawha City.
Hydrogen would work fine.
Whatever the solution is, It must be cheap enough to get me to buy one.

[fearpeddler]

If i recall correctly the city of pittsburg's fleet (cop cars, ambulances, public transit vehicles) were mostly CNG vehicles 10 years ago.

[CoolBreeze]

OK, let's see how they spun those numbers:

Let's say the car is driven 50 miles in a day. For the first 40 miles, no gas is used and during the last 10 miles, 0.2 gallons are used. That's the equivalent of 250 miles per gallon. But, if the driver continues on to 80 miles, total fuel economy would drop to about 100 mpg. And if the driver goes 300 miles, the fuel economy would be just 62.5 mpg.

The Volt will need to be plugged in at night to recharge. The company said it estimates it will need 8 kilowatt hours for the recharge necessary to travel 40 miles. That should cost a total of about 40 cents at off-peak electricity rates in Detroit, Henderson said. National figures from the Department of Energy suggest most consumers would pay more than that, probably around 88 cents per recharge.

Even at those modest recharging costs, and limited use of gasoline, it will be difficult for the Volt to save money for their owners, according to auto sales service Edmunds.com.

"Even if the Volt's fuel savings could possibly be as dramatic as today's numbers suggest, the expected purchase price will be much higher than that of existing hybrids, and it will take years to pay off its price premium," notes Edmunds.com senior analyst Jessica Caldwell.

Edmunds officials also said they have doubts about the assumptions used to achieve the lofty fuel economy estimate.

"For most people, it is not realistic to expect that kind of mileage in real world driving," said Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst.

[AmpedNow]

Someone with a Hummer or an Escalade would still come out ahead trading in for a Volt. Even if fuel consumption drops to "only" 62 MPG, that's still better than 95% of the stuff on the road now.

I don't care what the alternate energy source is... Electric, natural gas, Hydro, wind fan, whatever... The long-term aggregate of more of these vehicles on the road will be less demand for Dictator energy, which will mean cheaper gasoline.

The only petro-based "dirty" fuel that will likely be with us for a long, long time is diesel, due to trucks. It will be awhile before electric and hydrogen technology is perfected enough to efficiently power vehicles of that size and weight.

If the American car companies were working on this technology in the 90's instead of cranking out Suburbans and thumbing their noses at energy alternatives, then it's quite possible that these bankruptcies would've never happened.

It's clear in hindsight that that time period was their last chance to get things turned around. GM has even admitted this.

I'm just glad that all of the auto companies are now taking this very seriously.

As for me, I'll probably stick with an ol' fashioned gasoline vehicle for a few more years. Repairs will probably be very costly at least until there are a lot of hybrids on the road.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Well stated. I agree.

[Jet Black]

Remember the Impact? Cost GM a billion in development. It was useless garbage too. Like the Volt. What some people can be led to believe...

[genlock]

I do not remember the impact.
I must have hit my head.

[fearpeddler]

chevy did mention an option that for around 9k-ish more, the top of the car would have solar panels added to the roof to allow for charging as well...

[Jet Black]

For another $3k you can get power retractable Fred Flintstone Green Power Assistance ports in the floor.

[Bob Campbell]

And we could have had all this a decade ago when the fifty cents a gallon gas tax was shouted down. It would have driven gas prices to almost 2 dollars a gallon. Remember?
We have a bad habit of not being able to plan past next week.
Like radio.

[genlock]

A problem with Chevy (and GM) is the build quality of their cars.
It has been that way since the late 60's.
That alone will drive people to Honda and Toyota.
Chrysler has not announced their "Electro-Dreck" yet.

[Bob Campbell]

I would find it difficult to buy a GM product if they were the least expensive on the market.
Ditto for Chrysler.

[cgarison]

A problem with Chevy (and GM) is the build quality of their cars.
It has been that way since the late 60's.
That alone will drive people to Honda and Toyota.
Chrysler has not announced their "Electro-Dreck" yet.

What about Ford?

[CoolBreeze]

I'd rather by a product from German-Irish stock (Ford) than a Frenchman (Chevrolet) any day.

[fearpeddler]

chrysler hasnt made a car worth its sticker price since the 80's......

[Jet Black]

Uh, Coolbreeze, Chevrolet is a Swiss name. Louis Chevrolet was ex-Swiss.

Bob, I admire your tenacity in clinging to ideas that are so hopelessly, obviously, incredibly wrong. And by the way, your share of Clunkers for this year is up to $21.7, or, since it 100% financed, about $40 with interest. Also your hero added on a $2.7B grant for battery research, presumeably to hold electricty made available by cap and trade, which adds you about $35 with interest, 100% financed as it is. That brings yours share to $75 for this year in addition to all the other tax you owe. That's what they racked up on you in a mere three strokes of the pen. But, you know, darn well worth it, right?

[Lester]

the top of the car would have solar panels added to the roof to allow for charging as well...

I'd love to know the technology behind this. Last time I checked, you're looking at DAYS to fully recharge something as battery laden as a Volt. "Totally solar powered! Only driven on Sundays."

[CoolBreeze]

Uh, Coolbreeze, Chevrolet is a Swiss name. Louis Chevrolet was ex-Swiss.

No, Chevrolet is a French name. He could have been born in Borneo, but he and all of his family were of French descent. Louis Chevrolet was born on Christmas day 1878 in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland, in the middle of the French-speaking Jura region. He and his younger brother even started Frontenac Motor Corporation. The company was named Frontenac after the 17th century governor of France's North American colonies.