I saw a VOLT for the very first time last week. I followed it on the interstate for a few miles. Not a bad looking car actually. I can’t believe they cost over 40k. What a ripoff.
I never knew they had a gasoline motor in them. I thought they were purely battery powered. I think that’s a cool idea adding a gasoline motor for power, but eliminating the transmission...its kinda like the drivetrain of a train...diesel-electrics ya know.
Too bad about the price. If they could’ve made them for half the price they would’ve been the greatest things on the planet since the model T Ford.
“Too bad about the price. If they could’ve made them for half the price they would’ve been the greatest things on the planet since the model T Ford.”
Yep. If they had committed to building 100,000/yr they could have sold them all at $25K and made a profit.
I understand that they couldn’t do that, however, with an entirely new design. If there had a been a serious flaw found — not the bogus overblown battery fire issue, but something real — they would have had to eat a huge loss.
People don’t realize that with a gasoline vehicle, there is never any such thing as a “new design”, as it is built on reusing 100 years of refinement. With the Volt it was not “refinement” but entirely new system integration issues that were bound to have teething pains.
Brilliant design...
2 energy storage systems - batteries + gas tank
2 prime movers - electric motors + internal combustion engine
1 regenerative braking system - motor/generator + hydraulics
What do you think it costs you up front for all that extra crap? And Obama still hasn’t repealed F=MA — what do you think it costs you to accelerate all that extra mass? Sure, you get some of it back on braking, but not all of it. And let’s not get started on maintenance costs — what do you suppose it will cost to replace all those LiIon cells? Lastly, what about safe disposal of the highly toxic batteries?
No Rube Goldbergs for me. The whole thing in just nuts.
You're right about the price. IMO- This would be a great car for people who live in the city or have a short drive to their place of work. Heck, this would be a great idea for Europe, where roads are narrow and full of curves, but distances are relatively short. The big holdup is the price.