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General Motors has announced a 60 day money back guarantee policy for all new Chevy models, including the Chevy Volt. The move sets up a scenario where purchasers can buy a Volt, claim the $7,500 federal tax credit (and most likely state credits) and return the vehicle for a refund within 60 days. Did GM really not consider this glitch, or is this just another way for Government Motors to prop up politically important Volt sales leading up to November elections? IRS tax form 8936 , for plug-in motor vehicle credit, does not have any minimum time requirement for buyers...

The 1.4L Four Cylinder Engine Currently Found in the Chevrolet Volt All we had known for sure about the future of the Chevrolet Volt was that it will be undergoing a powertrain upgrade in about a year’s time. That is until now. A source inside the company (who did not wish to be identified) confirmed to InsideEVs that the 83 hp, 1.4L engine that is currently in use as an extended range generator for the Volt will “definitely not” be in the 2014 model year that begins production in the summer of 2013. It is thought that the 1.4L...

Enthusiasts can’t overcome their amazement at the innovation of electric cars – technology that is 100-plus years old. In Friday’s edition of the Vancouver Sun, writer Andrew McCredie – who is tooling around in a modern, all-electricNissan Leaf and blogging about it – marveled at the 1912 electric car produced by the Anderson Car Company, which was on public display at the local “Electrafest” over the weekend. McCredie, seemingly blinded by the nostalgia surrounding the car, ignored the obvious: that its cost, range, and efficiency illustrate that there has been no significant technological advancement, in practical terms for American...

On June 28, 1969, gays, lesbians, and their transgendered friends took to the streets of New York, protesting the harassment they'd experienced at the hands of the city's police force. The violence -- now known as the Stonewall Riots -- lasted for several days and altered the way that Americans viewed their LGBT neighbors. Forty-three years down the road, things have changed dramatically. We have an array of LGBT characters on TV and in movies. We have a president who's come out in favor of marriage equality. And with only a couple of exceptions, most of America's major corporations --...

CBC News reports that an Ontario General Motors' plant where Chevy Impalas and Equinoxes were built will be closed down, costing Canadians around 2,000 jobs. GM reportedly plans to partially move production of the Impala to its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in Michigan. You may remember the Hamtramck site from the Chevy Volt commercial which trumpeted the building of Volts there. It now seems that low demand for the Volt has led to the plant having enough time to build other, conventionally-powered vehicles. While the Volt may have been the car GM "had to build," it appears that consumers would...

General Motors reported that Chevy Volt sales for May came in at a paltry 1,680. To put this in perspective, GM sold 29,579 Chevy Malibus during the month. The funny thing is, I do not recall seeing as many TV ads for the Malibu as I have for the Volt. While GM's ad strategy (which has seen the company discontinuing advertising on Facebook and the Super Bowl) has received much attention, auto journalists and analysts do not seem to want to question the reason why GM is spending such a disproportionate amount of money advertising a vehicle that is losing...

The Department of Transportation and NHTSA have announced that a "technical symposium" will be held on May 18th "to discuss safety considerations for electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries." In addition to NHTSA's presentations, the Department of Energy, automotive manufacturers and battery makers will participate. Given the bias of the participants, the symposium sounds like it is going to be less informational and more infomercial. The press release for the gathering states, "Electric vehicles show great promise as an innovative and fuel-efficient option for American drivers. Significant research and other activities related to the safety of these vehicles are...

It's déjà vu all over again! GM again caves to Chinese pressure. In September it was the electric car. In April it was the Cadillac. The Chinese government made its latest move in December. That's when The Guardian reported that the Chinese government raised its already high 25% tariff upon American-made vehicles, concerned that increasing numbers of big-engine cars were being purchased by Chinese consumers: General Motors faces the greatest impact, almost 22% extra on some sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and other cars with engine capacities above 2.5 litres. Chrysler faces a 15% penalty, while a 2% levy will be...

Last week's earnings report from General Motors revealed a troubling statistic for shareholders. GM's market share for North America shrunk from 18.3% a year ago to 16.7% for the latest quarter. Not coincidently, a survey by Yahoo Autos revealed that a full 13% of consumers would now "never" consider purchasing a GM vehicle while another 15% are less likely to purchase. A negative perception of the auto bailout process and the continued political overtones at GM are the reasons for the boycott. Another recent Rasmussen poll showed that 59% of Americans view the auto bailouts as a failure. The...

I wonder how much CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere when a Chevy Volt explodes? The list of required knowledge for first responders gets longer all the time. Now firefighters are being alerted to potential danger during rescue procedures involving hybrid or electric vehicles... At a conference of in Las Vegas this weekend, the National Fire Protection Association provided a day of training for trainers — firefighters who will return home to share with their ranks practical knowledge about the cars. Safely disabling the the batteries tops the list. High-voltage batteries that operate the vehicle systems carry enough juice to...

The WSJ yesterday reported that auto company executives are skeptical regarding the prospects for plug-in electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt. The skepticism was displayed at the annual Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress. Among the skeptics was General Motors' executive director of powertrain-engine engineering, Sam Winegarden (in photo). It seems that not all criticism of the Chevy Volt and cars like it are driven by a right-wing conspiracy to enrich oil companies. Mr. Winegarden presented a chart comparing the amount of energy delivered by a given volume or mass of fuel. According to the article, "On his chart,...

The Chevy Volt — manufactured by bailout recipient General Motors, championed by President Barack Obama and touted as a solution to global warming. No wonder it’s become an election-year punching bag for conservatives. From Rush Limbaugh to Mitt Romney, critics on the right have tried to turn the electric-gasoline plug-in hybrid car into a synonym for Big Government overreach. Fox News business anchor Neil Cavuto recently called it a “Fred Flintstone car” and the “dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.” “It’s going to lead to a lot of divorces,” Cavuto said, theorizing that spouses will fight over who forgot to charge...

A Jacksonville.com report gives a good explanation for why some Florida localities are purchasing Chevy Volts. When Jacksonville's chief of fleet management, Karim Kurji, was asked what the advantage of going green by purchasing Volts was he hit the nail on the head when he replied, "Federal money." The story goes on to reveal that the total federal taxpayer money used to subsidize one Chevy Volt purchased by Atlantic Beach was over $33,000. It now appears obvious that the Obama Administration and General Motors are willing to pay just about any price, even if the taxpayers are footing the...

One of the auto industry's most closely guarded secrets, the enormous cost of batteries for electric cars, has spilled out. Speaking at a forum on green technology, Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally indicated battery packs for the company's Focus electric car costs between $12,000 and $15,000 apiece. "When you move into an all-electric vehicle, the battery size moves up to around 23 kilowatt hours, [and] it weighs around 600 to 700 pounds," Mulally said at Fortune magazine's Brainstorm Green conference in California. "They're around $12,000 to $15,000 [a battery]" for a type of car that normally sells for about...

Mitt Romney has been criticized for stating that the Chevy Volt is an idea whose time has not come. We have gotten to a stage in the election cycle where even the slightest of criticisms against the Volt leads to outcries of a right wing, "wrong-headed" conspiracy to hurt sales of the vehicle. What has not been reported is the fact that the Obama White House was the first to say that the car was not ready for prime time. A White House viability report from 2009 states that the Chevy Volt "holds promise" but is "projected to be...

VIDEO at link (CNSNews.com) - Former Vice Chairman of General Motors Bob Lutz said he would raise taxes on gasoline to compel American consumers to buy more electric cars. “If I were emperor of the United States, I would raise the fuel tax in the United States by 25 cents a gallon per year,” said Lutz during a panel discussion on energy independence co-sponsored by the Hudson Institute. “So that people making a purchase decision, ‘Wow it’s 4 dollars this year, $4.25 next year, $4.50 the year after that, you know what? We better buy a compact this time.’” Lutz...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: If you will pardon me, a little housekeeping, a personal thing here. Yesterday afternoon in Washington at the Hudson Institute -- also not an insane asylum, this is a conservative think tank -- they had a panel discussion on improving America's energy security, and on the panel was Bob Lutz from General Motors, who said this. LUTZ: My plea to the right, and I have written e-mails to Rush Limbaugh, who likes to describe me as "My good friend Bob Lutz," although I never get an e-mail response from him. All of these people I find frustrate...

Another important story goes unreported by TV networks receiving millions of dollars in ad revenue from General Motors. Viewers getting their news from Obama-friendly sources continue to hear about how great GM is doing. For those getting their news from internet sites not beholden to Government Motors, the reports aren't as good. March US market share for GM fell to 17.5% in March, the lowest level for "Old" or "New" GM since 1922. One has to wonder if the political motivations at GM are hurting the company. A good deal of GM's multi-billion dollar marketing budget went towards promoting...

The report by the NY Times that it would take up to 27 years for Chevy Volt buyers to save enough money in gas costs to make up for the high price of the car must be very confusing for apologists of the vehicle. The normal defense for any criticism is to accuse sources of having a right wing hate of the car. But the NY Times? The very vocal Volt defenders, who are quick to attack anyone who doesn't agree that the car is a technological marvel worthy of billions of dollars of taxpayer largess, will have to...

While General Motors’Chevy Volt assembly workers are sidelined for five weeks (and more this summer) because demand for its strongly hyped electric car is weak, the prospects for its chief rival – Nissan’s Leaf – are shaky at best. Nissan North America, Inc. – a subsidiary of its Japanese parent – is the beneficiary of a $1.4 billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturingloan from the U.S. Department of Energy, to convert a plant in Smyrna, Tenn. to produce the Leaf and batteries for it. The project’s promoters say the alterations will lead to 1,300 new jobs, enabling Nissan to produce...