May15
The Chevrolet Volt — or at least its electric-gasoline hybrid powertrain — is finally being put through its paces on real roads, and GM is happy to report it’s hitting its advertised range of 40 mile on electric power alone. Earlier reports had an older Malibu body hiding Volt mechanicals, although GM denied it was running the Volt powertrain.
“Today is a big day,” said Bob Lutz, GM Vice Chairman, in an AutoObserver interview on Tuesday. “Today is the first day it is running on the street on battery power.”
Last week, the Volt was being tested on a dyno with simulated real-world conditions before being let loose on Milford, MI roads near GM’s facilities. GM is serious about meeting the Volt’s November, 2010 launch deadline, offering engineersa blank check for its development.
Lutz went on to say the Volt is reliably meeting the objectives that have been set for it. “Even with a rough calibration, even with the wrong drive unit, the wrong body, etc. etc., it has been hitting its 40 miles on electric power.”
He went on to say the biggest challenge will be to integrate the motor with the engine seamlessly and efficiently, as the engine will need to charge the electric motor, and not drive the wheels directly.
It sure would be nice to be able to drive to work and back without using a drop of gas. Of course I’m still not saving money, due to spending $40k on the car and my hugely increased electric bill.
The electric bill may not be hugely increased (depends on where you live in a country and cost of electricity). But I doubt that car will come with 4 wheels for 40K. It was a start figure, so expect closer to 50K. Which can buy you 2 Priuses at todays prices. Did I miss the point of Volt?
Actually, you could get deeply discounted H3 and all the gas it will suck during lifetime for 50K.
The Volt is a nice idea… but it is going to miss its target market completely. If you can afford a $40,000 car you aren’t worried about saving some gas.
Also… dyno testing… bah. That’s not real at all. I would expect the Volt to get something around 30 miles on all electric… which would still be nice. But no hybrid car ever gets as advertised mileage.
no matter how much it costs, like the Prius, this will be an image car. People will buy it just to “appear” to care about the environment. It’s not like electricity comes from magic, most of it comes from coal burning plants. This is just the first application of the technology for GM, and subsequent models will be more efficient and significantly cheaper.
What do any of you know about testing vehicles? Electric cars are not a new idea. I think this car is a great idea though, beats the hell out of your precious toyota and honda hybrids.
I don’t think you can compare a Prius not getting its advertised mileage to this. The Prius uses a gas engine to power itself a good deal of the time. If the Volt advertises 40 miles to a full charge with average driving, I’m sure it will accomplish that.
It’s disappointing it won’t be a $30k car like was originally planned. That is cheap enough to get it into the hands of a lot of people, and even if they lost money on each one sold, it would help propel GM as a leader of technology. If it really debuts at $50k, then it’s just a niche product like the Tesla or any other electric car and not really as big of a deal.
Just because you can buy an expensive car doesn’t mean you’re not concerned with gas price, it’s just not necessarily as large of a threat to your budget as others. But with comparing the Volt to a similarly priced car you’re taking a shot in the ass on quality, features, and snatch. And just to help you on your transition out of high school, 40k isn’t a lot of money if you budget for a vehicle at that price and cut back on your other expenses. It depends on what you find to be more important, a sweet ass ride or splitting half of what you earn with that parasite you call a wife. Choices my friends. Make smart choices.
Two kids in the back seat, soccer practice gear, back packs plus and thing that was left over from the last shopping trip in the trunk and AC going on a hot summer day or heat going in winter. Now what is the range on electricity?
“It depends on what you find to be more important, a sweet ass ride or splitting half of what you earn with that parasite you call a wife.”
Seriously…spoken like a man with some experience. Ha-Ha!
I realize that 40k puts the Volt out of range for most of the folks who could really use it, but understand that as production of the batteries ramps up, that cost will drop significantly. Remember your neighbor who had to be the first with the 40″+ hi-def plasma five years agos and spent 4-5k? And now you can walk into Costco and get a bigger and better one for under 2k? To be the first with anything you often pay a higher price for the exclusivity. (Ask the first gen Prius owners) The technology of this car will be a paradigm shift for domestics (and many imports) and will have (hopefully) lasting positive impacts for GM.
40 miles for 40K. $1000 per mile, not bad. Once again, the “green” thinking deludes peoples thinking.
^^ What are you the only retard that drives a car once?
If this were a Toyota I know a lot of people would be claiming the Volt as great, awesome, and maybe even cheap for 50K (it uses NO GAS for 40 miles!!!). But since it’s a Chevy it’s just a niche car, it’s not that neat, and it’s expensive. I’m not trying to insult those that have posted, I’m just calling it like I see it.
Look, it’s 50K. Yes, that’s a lot of cash. But if it can run on electricity alone for 40 miles (about the milage for a lot of commmuters)then it MIGHT be worth it. Yes, a big “if.” And to worry about your electricity bill? It might be a bit more on the electric bill, but nobody knows for sure how much. 10 bucks more a month? We’ll be paying that for 2 gallons of gas by the time the Volt launches. And real world driving? Well, if we take the Prius for what it was worth when it first came out there should be nothing to worry about. Right? Right.
The Volt covers all the bases for the enviro-freaks. 40 miles using barely any fossil fuels, barely using any foreign oil, and not polluting our air. And it spares me the pain of paying $4 or more for one gallon of gas. I don’t do math, but I’m sure for 50K this thing might pay for itself over time. Kinda like the Prius…
“But since it’s a Chevy it’s just a niche car, it’s not that neat, and it’s expensive.”
Don’t take what I said out of context, I did not say it will be a niche car because it’s a Chevy and not a Toyota, I very much like Chevy and don’t praise them any more or less than competitors. I said it will be a niche product solely because its price will put it out of range of most buyers.
And no, the math really doesn’t work out. Even if my trips were ALWAYS less than 40 miles, which they’re not, and even if there was NO electricity increase, which there would be, and let’s even say that gas was $5/gallon, I would be saving about $2000/year. That’s great, but when the car cost $25k more than another normal sedan, it would still take me 12 years to break even.
61Vette, Jay Leno has electric car in his collection form beginning of the last century. Was used by ladies to get from one house for tea to another. It was US made and could travel more then 10 miles on a charge. That was 100 years ago. What changed since? Nothing at GM. Even co-chairman is the same age as Leno’s artifact.
In difference to GM Honda and Toyota did something 10-15 years ago to perfect technology and if Honda failed in my mind, Toyota did much better job. GM killed EV1 project 15 years ago when gas was $1/gallon to chase ever bigger Suburban & Hummer and last year Lutz found new religion, despite the lack of global warming: electric car. How many families will afford it at those prices? I agree that there are a lot of wealthy people who care about environment (actually the money people have the more they care about something and somebody else) and all of them drive either Prius, RH400, hybrid Camry, Highlander and diesel powered Mercedes. Will you convert them to Chevy drivers even with 40 miles on electricity? Maybe right or wrong. Try to do the math and see if 50K car with some expense for electricity and gas will ever pay itself off compare to 25K car with good mileage. For argument sake you can even use bad mileage car and figure out if you outlive the payout period.
I agree with xyunya that the price point will be out of reach to be a mainstream car. However, I think GM is learning that they were not going to be able to ramp up production of the battery packs as quickly as they needed and would not be able to sell the car in numbers to spread the development costs. Hopefully, they will be able to address this over time and make it more affordable.
Personally I couldn’t care less about the Volt or any other electro/hybrid crap. Just skip that **** and get straight to the Hydrogen powered stuff.
DialM4Speed…not sure where you live, but I haven’t been able to find one hydrogen re-fueling station anywhere! There are, however, nine 110v duplex outlets in my garage. I will take the Volt!
DialM4Speed: hydrogen would be great except for the minor problem of how long will it take to build the infrastructure so that you can actually fill up the tank?
I’m just saying hydrogen doesn’t use batteries that will wear out and need to be replaced ($cha-ching$) And if I’m correct several months ago GM gave select consumers hydrogen powered cars to begin real world testing.
I’m not getting something, isn’t the Volt supposed to use a small engine for charging and always use the electric motor for running? If so then how is this bad? It’s only 2008, it will use less gas, turn more reliance
on electricity. And from there on you can get electricity from wind, water, etc.
Why so much hate?
Without a disaster or huge change change in a short time (yeah right) taking small steps is the way to go. How can you know for sure what the future will hold? Companies have to take different routes.
At least the Volt will prove an “green image car” can look good, a complete contrast from the gay effeminate-male looking Pious (sic).
Come on guys. We understand the Volt’s cost in absolute terms. But even most Prius owners bought their car on time,60 or 72 month terms probably.Not many people pay cash for new cars under $50K. I’m sure GM will have some very generous terms available. Give the Volt a chance. It is clearly a better looking car than the Prius. The Volt is leaps and bound ahead of anything Toyota in terms of technological ambition. Hope it works.
I’m not sure why all the negative on this. This sounds like a great advancement for GM. It’s good to hear that the General can make more than just gas hogs. As to the price I don’t see where the price has been set yet by GM. I’ve heard the statement by Lutz that the Volt might come in the high 40’s k but that could just be the top of the line model or what could be an initial run models; nothing has be said about mid-level or low-end models that may be available. I doubt GM would want to face the same ridicule that it faced with the EV1. It’s funny that this project is getting all the negative reaction the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius faced when they first came out. Stop with all the Poo-Pooing and giving GM some credit for at least heading in the right direction.
I think Volt is great. What I don’t like is GM talking out of both sides of its mouth, telling us how green they are while aggresively lobbying against environmental regulations, and bashing CAFE. It was only several months ago that LL quoted Bob Lutz as saying that global warming is “bull****.”
“Personally I couldn’t care less about the Volt or any other electro/hybrid crap. Just skip that **** and get straight to the Hydrogen powered stuff.”
Hydrogen power is a farce. I want to be able to plug my car in to charge it not have to put COMPRESSED HYDROGEN into….
The whole hydrogen system is really kind of scary. Use electricity to make hydrogen, compress it, store it, transport it, unload it, put it back into your car, and combine with oxygen again to make…..electricity.
It goes around in a big fat circle, taking up tons of needless steps in the process.
Self-sufficient energy positive homes + electric cars using advanced nano-technology batteries = the future.
Why pay $50k for a Volt when you can pay $30k for a Malibu and have 20,000 left over for fuel. Even at $5/gal $20k will take you 100,000 miles if that Malibu gets 25MPG.
RaineMan - good math. My point precisely. Now comes the question: why are they spending money to build this car at any cost nevertheless?
Or get a cheaper car, RaineMan, like a Versa or a Fit or even a ForTwo. Yeah, the Volt looks better, but that price is just way too much for me to swallow. It’s not even an import, and it’s more expensive than cars with heavy tariffs. On top of that, GM isn’t really known for the reliability of their electronic components. Yes, they are getting better, but they have a long way to go. Their IC engines are some of the best in the world. But it’s the little things like headlights, power windows, dash lights, multifunction switches, cruise control, etc., that cause concern in my mind as to how well they could make an electric motor.
LOL!!! Whether or not Global Warming is “bull****” or not has nothing to do with it. The cost of gas being $4 is what this is about. Everything is driven by economics. The Volt will sell as gas becomes more expensive and the cost of this powertrain and its accompanying batteries goes down, this will sell well and make GM money.
Someone call the UN because reading a lot of these comments are pure torture on the level of water boarding. How in the hell did some of y’all make it this far in life without a basic analytical skill set? Seriously, do some of you just type bull**** comments here so you can come back the next day to beat off to them?
Like several people are trying to say here, the Volt is not just a new car, but new technology. Yes, electric cars can be built in the clean and neat vacuum of a lab and by some technecks, but to mass produce a car like this with this technology and at a $40K price point is something to marvel at. Do you really think Toyota, Ford, or Honda wouldn’t already be selling a Volt type car if it were so easy to mass produce? GM isn’t just trying to build one car with this technology, they want portability to any platform they choose. Re-usability and modularity are the keys to making this technology profitable.
And trust me, if people will spend $40K for a Challenger (sold out for the year?) or $60K for a pickup truck, they’ll be lining up out the door for this car, even if it’s for the simple fact that they want to “feel good” about themselves. At minimum, the average driver will save about $2K per year in fuel costs, making it less than ten years to recoup the additional cost of the vehicle. Five years from now—as in the plasma example—when the car costs only $30K and goes 100 miles on one charge, this car will be worth it for everyone to drive.
Wait, that was no fun. How about this…. GM sucks! What a mistake! Why don’t they listen to us LLN readers about matters of science and technology? Don’t they know we went to community college and watch Lost? We know so much more than the average douche! Oh, and the new Camaro is already old and stale. Thanks GM for making my life so terrible and for making it so hard for us to get laid. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go beat off to some comments I made on a CNN blog yesterday.
20K, Clean Diesel. 140Hp/236 torque(available at 1,500 rpm). 4.50 a gallon(where I live, for diesel)..But..55 MPG(maybe 60)..hwy.. 0-60 in approx 8 seconds(4 cylinder diesel).
Jetta..2009 model.
Should last 250-300K miles, easily.
The rest.. I’ll wait.
People that really care about “the environment” buy Honda Civic hybrids. People that want to show others that they care about the environment buy a Prius. The Prius is for posers, although I wouldn’t mind one if I won it, but I wouldn’t buy one. I got my 2002 Saturn SL-1 5-speed sedan used for $5250 and I get 42 mpg on the highway and 39+ in town. Not a bad investment for a commuter car. I’m still waiting to hear about the possible cancer risk with electric and hybrid vehicles, that might put a bit of a wrinkle in the plan… Give me a clean diesel anyday.
Gilby,
People that really care about “the environment” move to within walking or cycling distance of where they work. Heck, even the tires riding on the road are bad for the environment. These people buy these cars because they drive a lot, and they hate spending the money at the pump. I hate it, too, which is why I carpool.
I was wondering… if you break down(on a trip/out of state/town, etc.) in Any Hybrid… say, away from the dealerships(and had no choices), and had to go to a local garage… would it be a big problem to get things fixed,especially if the issue is not with the gas engine,etc..?
This is great news if it is true! I get 70+miles on a single charge, 9 year old batteries with all testing 100% capacity, and only 75 cents to charge it up for another 70+ Mile jaunt. The Volt will sell at 40-50k only if you can do the 40 miles of EV only driving. There are at least 100,000 early adopters of this technology at the high price they will bring….then Toyota and Honda , and the rest will bring their new models out changing the whole car market. This generator-battery electric platform is a GAME CHANGER and I hope the oil companies don’t spoil the idea before it gets traction.
Even Nostradamus pails in comparison to all those prediction of Volt success. The bottom line, that 4 passenger car at 40K stripped and closer to 50 with A/C even if runs on air is out of reach for 98% of population in US. Remaining 6 millions will wait in line to buy one.
LJ to answer your question: if you break down with without hybrid and have to go to a local garage you screwed. Now we are talking degree or how deep you are screwed with hybrid. Definitely much more then without. The moral: pay to be towed to a dealer (less damage in the long run).
Billions of Dollars to go 40 Miles.
Something is wrong.
xyunya- You obviously have some sort of beef with this vehicle and Chevrolet. How do you know it won’t come with air conditioning, and how do you know that it will be a 10 grand option? Further more, how can you say things haven’t advanced from Jay Leno’s electric car, when this is living proof? It’s right before your eyes; what, you can’t see it?
This is 40 miles on just electric range, without totally depleting the batteries, without the Volt’s body and with the inefficient mechanics carried over from the Malibu. The Baker Electric (the electric vehicle Jay Leno owns) would only do about 10 miles at 10 miles per hour, and top speed was around 15 miles per hour. Much, MUCH different than any current electric vehicles.
I would agree with you on these millions spent for very little; but get over yourself. All you’ve mentioned so far out is how ridiculous the Volt is; I think it will sell as they expect it, but more importantly be a halo car.
If anybody doesn’t like it just because it’s a pathetic Chevrolet; declare yourselves full of ****.
I just saw our dedicated-hybrid vehicle plans for Lexus a few weeks ago and it looks real good, surprisingly. Like current-IS good. None of that weird looking Prius hatch stuff. There is definitely a market for a upscale mpg-oreineted hybrid…and this upcoming Lexus is probably going to steal a lot of sales from Volt. Especially if the Volt comes at anywhere near $40K. When it comes out, it’ll have our new Li plug-in tech too. I already know I’m going to buy one.
I truly… honestly… sincerely don’t understand how anyone can **** on this car for any other reason than it’s being made by GM. The sheer, unadulterated bias gets pretty old after a while.. especially with comments like;
“Billions of Dollars to go 40 Miles.
Something is wrong.”
Does anyone honestly think that the technology used in the Volt is going to be a one-off application? They’re developing an entirely new platform, of which the Volt will be the first of many models. Also, why are nay-sayers jumping on the $50K figure? That number hasn’t been stated anywhere except from said nay-sayers. They’re targeting $40K for this car and there’s no reason not to expect otherwise… Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if GM lost money on the first Volts just to make sure it meets or beats that goal. This technology is a big step forward, regardless of the manufacturer… and $40K for the premier model isn’t all that ridiculous (remember, there are people who pay $100K for a hybrid that only gets 21mpg). GM will continue developing this technology and as it trickles down through other models, the economics of scale dictates that it will get cheaper as it does.
Personally… I don’t think $40-grand for a brand new car is all that much, especially one that will be as jam-packed with technology as the Volt will be. 40 miles without a drop of gas is fantastic… especially when in a car that also has the capability to keep going after that initial charge is used. With that sort of range, I’d never have to fill up seeing as how my daily commute is barely half of that.
Also… for those balking about what it will do to someone’s electricity bill - I don’t know how much everyone else pays for their electricity, but mines not all that much. Whatever the increase will be, it’ll only be a fraction of a pittance of what I pay for gas every month.. even then, there’s not much stopping me from just charging it up at work.
So the only somewhat substantial gripe that I’ve seen is that GM is just too late to the party… Well, I don’t know about everyone else… but I’d rather them be late than not show up at all.
You can all piss, moan, and **** on this car all you want… none of it takes from the fact that this’ll be a fantastic car.