Posted on 03/08/2014 5:27:27 AM PST by Kaslin
Here’s the good news about the ObamaCar known as the Chevy Volt: There haven’t been any reported fires connected with the ObamaCar since the company recalled 8,000 of the electric vehicles—that’s one in six vehicles.
That is no fires, if you don’t count the people who’ve been “fired” from the Volt production line as sales continue to make Obama’s “one million” electric car promise just another broken dream in a crooked scheme.
Obama promised that by the time he finished as president, he’d put a million electric cars on the road.
Thankfully, he won’t quite make it.
No telling how much it would cost to put a million on the road after calculating the costs of putting 60,000 on the road.
So far the GM has manufactured only about 62,000 cars, if you count sales of the European model the Ampera.
“Sales of the Volt meanwhile fell 25.6 percent from February 2013 to 1,210 units last month,” says the GM Authority blog. “And while the Volt still holds on to the overall sales lead over the Leaf, Volt sales appear to be slowing in 2014. In January, Chevrolet moved 918 units of the Volt, down from 1,140 in January 2013 and 2,392 in December 2013.”
And despite slashing the price by $5,000, 2013 saw fewer Volt sales than 2012.
“The Volt saw a boost upwards from a November slump and sold 2,392 units in December,” says AutoblogGreen. “That puts the plug-in hybrid's annual total at 23,094, just down from the 23,461 sold in 2012.”
If Ralph Nader contended that the Corvair was “unsafe at any speed,” then I contend that the ObamaCar demand has reached it’s apex and is “unwanted at any price.”
That might be because no one can actually tell buyers what it might cost to replace the batteries in the car.
Continues the AutoblogGreen:
We called up Keyes Chevrolet in Los Angeles and were quoted a broad price range of between $3,400 and $34,000 to replace a "drive motor replacement battery" in a 2012 Volt. Tellingly, perhaps, the dealer we spoke with was not sure what replacing a 'drive motor replacement battery' (and the 'Grade B' version, at that) entails, and told us we'd have to bring a Volt in to see what's wrong with the pack to get a real estimate. We got the same confusion and numbers to replace the battery from Berger Chevrolet in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We asked GM to clarify what this $34,000 charge includes, but that information was not forthcoming.
GM’s hilarious official response to this was a non denial denial: "The high end of what you provided is not consistent with what we would expect the customer to pay," says Kevin Kelly, manager of electrification technology communications for General Motors.
And that’s the ObamaCar problem.
GM actually has manager responsible for “electrification technology communications”?
So THAT’s where the $11 billion…and more… went in the auto bailout that taxpayers got stuck for.
Divide by two, carry the one and… for only $215,696 per battery taxpayers could provide FREE batteries to every Chevy Volt owner.
That is if they could rely on a plant to manufacture the things.
Because here’s where it gets really silly.
GM expected sales of the Chevy Volt to be so robust that they got the government to “invest” $150 million in a third party manufacturing plant owned by Korean company LG Chem that can produce 50,000 to 600,000 batteries per year.
For a car that’s selling only 25,000 per year? And supposedly has batteries that last 8 years or 100,000 miles?
And still they can’t quite nail down how much it will cost to replace the batteries in the Chevy Volt.
And that’s the great telltale: We know, despite denials from the White House and GM, that the Chevy Volt really is an ObamaCarm designed by the softest minds in the federal hierarchy.
And its problem isn’t its power source.
No.
Its problem is the same that all great, signature ObamaProducts have.
Its problem is simple math.
It doesn’t add up.
Trade the “V” for a “D.”
It makes zero sense to ever replace a battery in a Volt, since after 8 years even if you wanted to keep it going it would make more sense to invest in a new generation of electric car anyway.
Obamamath says get the battery. Common sense says...
Only idiots would buy a Chevy volt, or any other Government motors car. Just like only idiots would buy 0bama/DemonratsCare
My guess is that by Year 6 or Year 7 battery life will be down significantly as it would in a cell phone or computer.
So instead of a 150 drive, you may only get 50 for each charge.
8 year life is disingenuous.
I remember when the Prius first came out in the late 90s.
Everyone talked about how the battery replacement cost would make them unsaleable after 5 or 6 years.
Yet I’ve never found anyone willing to give me their used Prius....
The engineering and tech foundation of an electric car has not changed in over 100 years.
No reason to predict a breakthrough in the next 8 years
Odds are the dealers don’t know because they never had to do it so they’re throwing out a lowball number for replacing a small part of the electric drivetrain versus replacing the whole thing.
So sickening. I was talking to a guy who got stuck behind a volt on his way home in the Texas hill country. It would not go over 45 mph on some hills on a two lane road and had traffic lined up behind for about one mile.
Only Dems are buying it. They deserve to get soaked.
Oh, and no one will know for the next 5 years the actual cost as the batteries are warrantied for 8 years and it’s only been about 3 years of sales so far.
If it only was doing 45mph it’s because the driver is a slowpoke. The car doesn’t have any issue with speed or acceleration. It can easily do 90mph without breaking a sweat.
“I remember when the Prius first came out in the late 90s.
Everyone talked about how the battery replacement cost would make them unsaleable after 5 or 6 years.
Yet I’ve never found anyone willing to give me their used Prius....”
I think the Prius is a well-designed, well-executed hybrid, and is the paradigm for this class of cars.
However, Prius owners are motivated by different things than other motorists: they are greenies, they feel edified by their low fossil fuel use, they are not particularly interested in driving, and they are looking for an appliance to get them from place to place.
A case in point: I have been friends with a typical liberal New England yuppie couple for many years.
He, a Liberal weenie lawyer who does not know one end of a screwdriver from the other, has a 2nd-generation Prius, which has served him very, very well. She, a physician from an old New England family, drove a VW Passat wagon, recently replaced with a Jetta TDI Sportwagen.
She HATES the Prius because of heavy steering, large turning circle (even the much larger Passat wagon had a much smaller turning circle), and harsh, uncomfortable ride.
The difference? Although by no means a motorhead, she ENJOYS driving and appreciates a well-handling car. She is unwilling to trade a fun but utilitarian vehicle for a boring one.
Do this simple test: as you drive around, see if any Prius drivers seem to be having a good time, as opposed to those driving any “driver’s car.”
Math doesn’t have to add up for $ocialists. $ocialism Is Legal Plunder - Bastiat BIG GOVERNMENT I$ CRONY $OCIALI$M
Some of the damage they have inflicted on us, our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren, etc., etc.
Grandpa, why do we live as debt slaves?
DEFUND $ocialist collectives. DEPOPULATE $ocialist plunderers from the body politic.
Some obvious ones…
http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/caucus-members/
live - free - republic
Well, he did say it was a gray haired granny with a Wendy Davis for Gov. bumper sticker, so she was probably just trying to tick off people going home from work.
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