[Morpheus2009]

About time one of two possible points get addressed: 1) There’s probably more efficient storage of electricity in capacitors or 2) Consumer demand is flexible. Some folks like myself use gas guzzlers, because so many thousands of dollars aren’t worth it for a car in which a primarily travel short commutes.

[jjotto]

Have any FReepers seen the surprisingly politically correct auto press mention this Volt scam?

[beethovenfan]

Volts for dolts.

[givemELL]

How dependable and expandable is the supply of lithium? Bolivia accounts for about half of the world supply and sends it to ...China. WE are beginning a resource war inseparable from developing currency wars...and lithium is not even a rare earth element required for use in advanced electric motors and switching devices, etc. We may not get past the Chevy Volt.

Nothing but increasing trouble ahead, and the middle class is being squashed, offered crap products to buy which it will eventually be forced to buy instead of marshalling its great creative powers for the good of the country and the sustenance of the middle class by allowing it to create products of value. Govt. wants to own and control all US creation...not a sustainable idea.

[oust the louse]

nothing but the best with our money....way to spend it wisely Obama.

[Nachum]

The list, ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/

[Antonello]

We heard GM's then-CEO Fritz Henderson claim the Volt would get 230 miles per gallon in city conditions. Popular Mechanics found the Volt to get about 37.5 mpg in city driving, and Motor Trend reports: "Without any plugging in, (a weeklong trip to Grandma's house) should return fuel economy in the high 30s to low 40s."

I'll stick with my current (no pun intended) 50mpg commuter vehicle:

[truthguy]

I'm tired of all this Volt trashing even before the car is out. The early reviews from Car & Driver, Motor Trend, and Road & Track are excellent and the Volt is living up to what it was predicted to be. Investors' Business Daily is doing a hack job on the Volt but I'll bet the person(s) who wrote this article have never changed a set of spark plugs.

There is an issue of how the car performs in the change sustain mode under very specific conditions. When the car is in charge sustain mode AND at speed limits exceeding 70 miles per hour, the electric motors get a small mechanical boost from the ICE engine. This is complicated for everyone here except the Gear Heads. GM Engineers found out during testing that they could get a 15% efficiency boost in this configuration. It could have worked as all electric but it simply would not have given the same gas mileage. So what were they supposed to do? The bottom line is that the car is working great. The folks over at Investors' Business Daily simple want to see the Volt fail and its success will just kill them.

Some reminders for the folks here. The Volt was conceived of and started in 2006 BEFORE Obama was elected and long before the bailout. If GM had not taken the bailout, many would be singing the praises of this remarkable vehicle. Again, don't let your dislike of Obama and the bailout cloud your judgement of the Volt. EREV is the future of automotive technology.

Volt Range

Drive System Explained

Motor Trend Article on Volt

[6SJ7]

So it's not an all-electric car, but rather a pricey $41,000 hybrid that requires a taxpayer-funded $7,500 subsidy to get car shoppers to look at it.

41K?!! There are a lot of fully loaded luxury cars available for that kind of money. How many people are going to shell out for this silly battery on wheels?

[RipSawyer]

So, this overpriced pile of tin gets city mileage of about one fifth what was claimed, maybe. On the highway it fails to equal cars that were available in the seventies with very simple drive trains and at eighty miles per hour it won’t do any better and probably not as well as my 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis Limited Edition, a car that is very comfortable to drive and not cramped at all even for me and I am six four barefoot.

No thanks, government motors.

[raptor22]

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