Posted on 08/07/2014 12:41:23 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
General Motors Co said Thursday it will show the next-generation of its slow-selling Chevrolet Volt hybrid electric car in January.
The current Volt is priced just under $35,000 and has a driving range of almost 40 miles on its electric charge. Nevertheless, sales so far this year through July fell almost 9 percent from a year earlier to 10,635 vehicles.
The Cadillac version of the Volt, the ELR coupe, has also failed to catch on as GM has sold only 578 during the seven-month period.
GM said it would spend almost $400 million to upgrade tooling and equipment at the plant for the next-generation Volt.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
What are they gonna do? Put a S-10 truck bed on it and call it an El Voltmino?
How much does a charge last with the temperature at 20deg with the heater on high?
You had me at “the Cadillac version of the Volt”, haha.
There was once a saying that really caused people to think and to think deeply.
“We can surely do this. I think, though, it would be foolish to do so.” ( maybe even STUPID)
It fits in this scenario, doesn’t it?
After that 40 miles, it runs on a gasoline engine, same as a regular car.
I'm shocked.
While I am not a fan of the GM Volt, the 40 mile range is only the plug-in "pre" charge. It also has a gasoline tank and engine. It is not an pure electric like the Nissan Leaf.
You first run on whatever electric charge is in the batteries. After that the gas engine will kick in and allow the car to be driven an additional 344 miles on a full tank (9.3 gallons) of gas. http://gm-volt.com/chevy-volt-faqs/
Wait just a little while and pick one up on the "Deep Discount Lot!"
It would make a great replacement for your Cushman golf cart for tooling around the Shady Palms Retirement Mobile Home Park in South Florida!
They could probably sell a few to be used in the movie sequel - "Cocoon 3"
~Ronald Reagan
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When I saw the headline, I thought GM might have decided put the Corvette motor in it. If they did, they might sell some.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
What did Alessandro do to deserve this?
Alessandro Volta, that is.
Ford sells that number in F-150's about every 4 days.
For those who don't need all 40 miles of range, they have a cheaper version! Decent people celebrate every bit of bad GM news, and with a business idea like that we can count on more slow sales until this corrupt company finally dies.
“How much does a charge last with the temperature at 20deg with the heater on high?”
Less than 15 miles, even without the heater on high. Eric Bolling tested one and never made it to work, twice!
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1430236461001/eric-bolling-test-drives-chevy-volt/#sp=show-clips
That little gas engine runs on premium gas, due to high compression. The resulting 36 mpg is not that much to write home about, considering that a 10 year old Prius will give you 45-50 mpg on regular gas. There are also standard (non-hybrid) cars that come close to that efficiency.
The EV powertrain in a Volt is a useless, expensive gizmo that is only good for a short range. Add heater, defroster, headlights - and the battery will be flat before you leave your driveway. All the rest of the trip will be on expensive gasoline, and you will be carrying a lot of electronics around, and all these boxes will be constantly converting one kind of energy to another.
Furthermore, the gas engine in a Volt is not a backup for when the battery is discharged. It is a source of energy on its own:
Even when the gas engine is on and partially driving the wheels, it cannot operate without electricity flowing to one of the other motors.The gas engine, under most conditions, will be used to drive the generator and produce electricity, and will not be used to drive the wheels.
There is no "direct" mechanical linkage between the Volt's gas engine and the wheels, rather there is an indirect linkage that is accomplished by meshing the power output of the engine with the power output of one of the other two electric motors.
Motor Trend's reporting that the magic cutoff speed of 70 mph is what the car uses to determine whether or not to make the engine to partially drive the wheels is incorrect. The engine is used to partially drive the wheels when the car calculates that it will be a more efficient use of the engine's power. There is no hard cutoff point.
This means that a Volt driver will hear the gas engine kicking in whenever the car decides that it makes sense. Probably that would be the case at freeway speeds.
Can I make an observation, that maybe the market is telling GM that the volt is a dud???
In spite of marketing efforts, and pushing the excitement which liberals have for a “green” car, these Volts just aren’t selling.
Is the market trying to send a message to GM? Are they listening?
Do they expect different results if they re-tool and get a different version of the Volt out there?
At what point do they cut their losses and admit that this car just isn’t popular?
As for monthly charging costs, it's been very little compared to the savings in gasoline costs........
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