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  1. #1
    Titanic Struggles Caveat Emperor's Avatar
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    Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    After much hype for GM's first "Plug In" hybrid electric car, the grand sales total for year 1?

    7,671 cars.

    Dealers in many parts of the country are refusing delivery of additional Volts due to low customer demand, and GM is now revising future sales figures significantly downward.

    http://jalopnik.com/5878376/gm-deale...re-chevy-volts

    I feel like there just isn't a market for Plug-In vehicles in America. I also think it probably hurts a lot that the people MOST likely to buy electric vehicles (young, urban-dwelling professionals) are probably the people least likely to own a residence that has a garage or spot where the vehicle can be charged daily.

    Either way, major dud for GM (who has invested a non-insignificant amount of money getting this project out the door).
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  2. #2
    Sprinkles are for winners dougdirt's Avatar
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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    Electric cars are good ideas, but at this point, simply won't work on a large scale for the reasons you mentioned.

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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    I think its biggest problem isn't that it needs to plug in, it's that it costs $15k more then a Prius.
    Last edited by KronoRed; 01-23-2012 at 07:00 PM.
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    Potential Lunch Winner Dom Heffner's Avatar
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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    Quote Originally Posted by KronoRed View Post
    I think its biggest problem isn't that it needs to plug in, it's that it costs $15k more then a Prius.
    Yep. Why would I throw the savings on gas right back into the car?

    If it saves money, make it save money.

  5. #5
    Member hebroncougar's Avatar
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    Heck, I'd buy one, but the price is outrageous.

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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    They absolutely can work on a large scale & in fact are the only way the U.S. will ever switch over to electric vehicles. For U.S. drivers the big issue is range & due to the stupid way we've built our cities, this makes sense. The Volt and whatever the Prius plug-in will eventually be take care of this issue.

    I think CE is on to something with the garage issue, but it isn't only space, it is also the fact that any 'ol socket won't do or it takes forever to charge. So you need to install a 220 Volt outlet to get it done with speed and that is added cost.

    I agree that it ultimately comes down to price & institutional memory. It is too expensive and people are too timid to try something completely new. I mean there really aren't that many that can afford the damn thing, limiting the potential pool.

    That said, plug-ins make too much sense not to eventually find their market here.

  7. #7
    Sprinkles are for winners dougdirt's Avatar
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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    Quote Originally Posted by Spazzrico View Post
    They absolutely can work on a large scale & in fact are the only way the U.S. will ever switch over to electric vehicles. For U.S. drivers the big issue is range & due to the stupid way we've built our cities, this makes sense. The Volt and whatever the Prius plug-in will eventually be take care of this issue.

    I think CE is on to something with the garage issue, but it isn't only space, it is also the fact that any 'ol socket won't do or it takes forever to charge. So you need to install a 220 Volt outlet to get it done with speed and that is added cost.

    I agree that it ultimately comes down to price & institutional memory. It is too expensive and people are too timid to try something completely new. I mean there really aren't that many that can afford the damn thing, limiting the potential pool.

    That said, plug-ins make too much sense not to eventually find their market here.
    I did say that for now, they won't work on the large scale. And they won't because I can't drive to Dayton and back from Cincinnati with one.

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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    Quote Originally Posted by dougdirt View Post
    I did say that for now, they won't work on the large scale. And they won't because I can't drive to Dayton and back from Cincinnati with one.
    You can, just one half (or a bit more) of the trip would be running as a gas hybrid. That's why I think plug-ins are the only way to get U.S. drivers using electric. With the longer distances we are accustomed too, we can't rely on batteries alone. It's the big reason I don't see the Leaf being able to grab market share until the infrastructure is built out, whereas a cheaper version of the volt or a the prius hybrid plug-in could.

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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    15-20 years from now, I think we'll all be driving electric. It makes too much sense not to. But it's not going to happen on a large until gasoline becomes prohibitively expensive. And when that happens, battery life and charging technology will hopefully have advanced far enough to make the range issue a non-issue.
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  10. #10
    Sprinkles are for winners dougdirt's Avatar
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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    There are several other issues keeping us from getting only electric cars anytime soon:

    People like me who travel long distances, but don't fly. Electric cars aren't going to be making 10+ hour drives anytime soon.

    Sports cars. The technology simply isn't there to make it feasible to match the power of a gas powered car for anything close to an acceptable price.

  11. #11
    Member improbus's Avatar
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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    Quote Originally Posted by dougdirt View Post
    There are several other issues keeping us from getting only electric cars anytime soon:

    People like me who travel long distances, but don't fly. Electric cars aren't going to be making 10+ hour drives anytime soon.

    Sports cars. The technology simply isn't there to make it feasible to match the power of a gas powered car for anything close to an acceptable price.
    Part of the point of electric cars is to preserve gasoline so that we can enjoy our sports cars running on gas for years to come.

    I think the fundamental issue is that we are trying to shoehorn electric cars into our preconceived notion of a what a car currently is. We need to think of electric cars differently. They are going to be commute machines, nothing more, nothing less. They are the laptops/tablet pcs of cars. Now, that doesn't mean that we need to ditch our desktop computers (gasoline cars), but each car will have it's specific use. Gas won't be going away anytime soon, it is too useful and to entrenched in our daily society, but that doesn't mean that electric cars don't have a role to play.

    Also, Everything I've heard actually point to Hydrogen fuel cells being a more workable alternative.
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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    Most of the electric cars are meant for big city people who never go anywhere, one of those things lack the real power to even make the commute over an average West Virginia hill. They will never hit a lot of this country because of the terrain. Anyone know how much GM got from the government for producing this, I would like to see a per car estimated value just to see the kind of bang for the buck.
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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    Quote Originally Posted by Slyder View Post
    Most of the electric cars are meant for big city people who never go anywhere, one of those things lack the real power to even make the commute over an average West Virginia hill. They will never hit a lot of this country because of the terrain. Anyone know how much GM got from the government for producing this, I would like to see a per car estimated value just to see the kind of bang for the buck.
    Electric cars have good torque and will climb hills but the trade for this is a greater drain on the battery meaning you will need to recharge sooner.
    http://www.electriccarsite.co.uk/pro...-electric-cars

  14. #14
    Sprinkles are for winners dougdirt's Avatar
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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    Quote Originally Posted by Slyder View Post
    Anyone know how much GM got from the government for producing this, I would like to see a per car estimated value just to see the kind of bang for the buck.
    http://jalopnik.com/5870507/report-e...ment-subsidies

    Article from the same place. Gets into some of the numbers.

  15. #15
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    Re: Chevy Volt: 1 Year Later?

    Quote Originally Posted by dougdirt View Post
    http://jalopnik.com/5870507/report-e...ment-subsidies

    Article from the same place. Gets into some of the numbers.
    The total amount of state and federal subsidies for each Chevy Volt sold is as much as $256,824 per vehicle according to a fiscal analysis by Michigan's Mackinac Center for Public Policy. All for a car that only costs $39,828.
    Sounds about right. Ya gotta love government.

    And there is talk going on - even the UAW is inquiring to know - that GM may move production to China. We'll see on that.

    If I can afford to spend $40,000 on a car, it sure isn't going to be on a Volt. I'm going Acura baby!
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