What’s ailing the Chevy Volt? (They asked so fire away!)

WASHINGTON POST ^ | 3/4/2012 | Brad Plumer

[tobyhill]

On Friday, GM announced it was halting production of the Chevrolet Volt until April, so as to maintain “proper inventory levels.” Sales of the electric vehicle have been disappointing, with the company missing its target of 10,000 Volts sold last year. Why hasn’t the car caught on?

GM executives have said the recent frenzy over a Volt battery fire in crash tests has hurt sales. On the merits, the fires weren’t a huge concern — the Volts only caught fire days or weeks after extreme lab testing, and according to a government investigation they’re no more likely to catch fire than gas-powered automobiles. Still, panicky headlines ensued. Conservatives started denouncing the company (Rush Limbaugh called GM “a corporation that’s trying to kill its customers”). And GM needed to retrofit new vehicles. Add that up, and GM sold only 603 Volts in January, down from 1,520 in December.

But the scare over batteries is only a partial explanation. After all, Volt sales rebounded in February to 1,023 vehicles sold, and it looks like the fire scare is slowly subsiding. But neither the pre-panic nor post-panic numbers were anywhere near the rate needed to meet GM’s goal of 45,000 Volt deliveries this year.

[ArmstedFragg]

One indication that even the left is acknowledging what a disaster the Volt is comes from the fact that a couple of days ago their online sock-puppets started repeating talking points claiming the car was designed during the Bush administration. When they start blaming it on Bush, you know it’s a failure.

[MtnClimber]

It is not just the volt. It is my severe distaste for Commie Motors. No Gumermint Motors, No Italian Chevy/Dodge for me. POUND SAND ZEROIST MARXISTS!!!

[MissMagnolia]

Snicker ..... :-)

[piasa]

Maybe it’s because instead of that new car smell it’s got the Lord-of-the-Flies-Obama-pheromone odor about it.

[ponygirl]

(They asked so fire away!)

I see what you did there....

[RetiredTexasVet]

If you wanted a decent ultra efficient car, then you probably should buy a Prius which costs less than half as much, has proven reliability, doesn’t spontaneously burst into flame and is built and guaranteed by Toyota which is a much better and more honest company than Government Motors.

[ntnychik]

Sorry, GM was dead to me as soon as dealerships were stolen and stockholders cheated.

There wasn’t much news coverage at the time, and crickets ever since. Does anyone know if there are lawsuits working their way up the legal system. This is a Constitutional issue, after all.

[Raycpa]

How much does it cost to recharge per mile?

[ReagansShinyHair]

Is that really what it looks like? Somehow I haven’t seen any ads for it. That looks like it was already kind of crushed from the top.

[nascarnation]

Show me your math on the Prius costing less than half as much, please.

[jjotto]

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2011-chevrolet-volt-full-test-road-test

...In our experience, using only standard-household 120-volt power, it took about 13.4 kWh of electricity to replenish the Volt’s 9 kWh of usable energy...

...Assuming 35 miles of electric range for the Volt yields a cost per mile of just 4.6 cents. That’s almost 40 percent less than that of a Volkswagen Golf TDI diesel getting 40 mpg and 24 percent cheaper than a Prius getting 45 mpg...

[Inyo-Mono]

In California, though, it'll start selling, as it's yet another way to buy your way into the HOV lane.

Except in the remote, rural areas of northern and eastern of California where many have to drive over 40 miles up steep mountain roads in deep snow to reach work each day. Never going to fly here.

P.S. What is a HOV lane?

[FrankR]

Here is an advertisement from a 1902 Waverly electric car:



Even with 1902 battery technology the Waverly touted 60 miles on a charge.

Actual use tests show that the Volt only goes 25-miles on a charge.

The Waverly was eventually abandoned due to lack of sales because of its limited range.

Now, if 60-miles per charge was too little for a 1902 society, why the hell would GM think America would go gah-gah crazy over an over-priced, lead-sled, that only goes the equivilent of one gallon of gas would take it if it had an internal combustion engine?

Sure, it has that little lawn-mower engine [sic] to cripple it on over to the next (virtually non-existent) charging station, but even the little lawn-mower engine [sic] requires HI-TEST gasoline...and only has a limited range, and, it does not recharge the battery at all.

No one wants to hire an expensive electriction to come and install the charging apparatus in their home, and even if they did, chances are the battery is not going to die in their driveway, but on some road - say, about 25-miles from their home, and your brand new charging station. Can you say "Tow Truck"?

Now the price; $41,000? You've got to be kidding! Battery replacement, over $8,000 (not couting labor)? Would you going to ever put $8,000 into a three-year old car?

What, exactly, would be the trade-in value on, say, a three year old Volt with a dead battery? Never mind the wrecker bill to have it towed to the dealership.

The Volt is supposedly built on a Chevy Cruise frame/body...OK then, what is the trade-in value of a three-year-0ld Chevy Cruse? We're not talking BMW here, it's a Chevy Cruise compact. So trading in a Chevy volt with a dead battery would be worse than trading in the Cruise with no motor.

obama has taken our homes, our retirement, our jobs, our savings, and our energy...and now we are supposed to laughingly invest in obama's folly to support his union buddies, which will evenually cost us upwards of $45 grand.

We're supposed to visit grandma at Christmas (providing obama doesn't outlaw Christmas in his next term) over 100 miles away...which involves four, 8-hour battery charges, and that's ONE WAY? To go to Grandma's and back will take over 64 hours on the road, which will include food, motel bills, and whatever you'd pay to get it recharged, IF there happened to be four recharging stations along the route.

No, GM does NOT want to ask me what is wrong with the VOLT...the VOLT is a JOKE, a canard, and another one of the three-card-monte president's insults to our intelligence, our freedom, and our integrity.

The Volt is too small to be useful (no back seat becase of the battery) and too large to be a paperweight, so I can readily see why sales suck.

General Motors, I knew ye when...Government Motors, I don't want to know at all.

[nascarnation]

Nat gas fueled IC engines will trump battery for vehicles, I believe.

The economics of nat gas vs gasoline/diesel are getting better nearly every day.

[MtnClimber]

I am not buying a goobermint motors car no matter the price. Screw the communists.

[nascarnation]

What is your source for 3 year battery life?

[getarope]

Chevrolet Volt: The EV-1 for this generation!

[okie01]

What’s ailing the Chevy Volt?

Easy.

It's a bad idea.

Do I get a prize?

[okie01]

What’s ailing the Chevy Volt?

Easy.

It's a bad idea.

Do I get a prize?

[Age of Reason]

One of the potentially greatest advantages of an electric car is it’s simplicity.

But I’m sure this Volt thing is an overly complex contraption because it can’t make up it’s mind whether to be a gas car or an electric car.

Reminds how early steamships kept being built with sailing rigs or how some were equipped with both paddle wheels and propellers.

If you can’t keep it simple, forget it.

[factoryrat]

Natural gas (CH4) is an ideal fuel for an IC engine, and for a fuel cell for that matter. I can easily agree with that.

[MarkL]

...We averaged 35 mpg for our gas-powered miles and saw 33–34 mpg at a steady, near-80-mph cruise—not exactly spectacular compared with today’s hybrids...

With 80mph cruise speed, I averaged about 35mpg in my 2000 Toyota Corolla. If I were to buy a new Corolla, it would be less than $20,000. It's not mathematically possible to make up the difference in cost through "savings," no matter how long I were to own a Volt, given my driving needs.

Mark

[Kickass Conservative]

My 2011 Mustang, Base V-6 with Automatic, gets around 24 MPG combined mileage, when I keep my foot off it. It has 305 HP and is almost as fast as my old 99 Mustang Cobra.

Unlike my Cobra and the Volt BTW, it burns Regular Gas. Around here, Premium Gas costs and additional .20 to .25 a Gallon. It adds up...

Driving back from Vegas last year I got 34.95 MPG doing about 75 - 80. Had I not hit some traffic, I would have broken 35 MPG.

I'd be happy if the Taxpayer just gave me half the $7,500 Tax Rebate the Volt Buyers got. /s

[tobyhill]

What happens to the batteries in a Texas Summer with 110 degrees or a Wisconsin Winter at -30 degrees?

[nascarnation]

Isn’t it classic?
The one thing the fedgov totally ignores (nat gas) becomes a huge private sector success story.

[Venturer]

Eggs actly.

Nobody has $40,000 dollars to dump into a POS.

[TigersEye]

That is really what it looks like. Grill is a hybrid Mack Truck/Cadillac. Corvette front fenders. Hood from Subaru wagon. Rear end from a Ford Pinto. Roof and glass a takeoff of a ZZ Top chopped Ford Coupe. Wheels made to look like warehouse fans.

[Kickass Conservative]

To paraphrase the Soup Nazi, No $7,500 Tax Credit for you!

[Gator113]

It’s made by Obama supporting union thugs, Muslim Obama wants to force me buy one, it’s based on lies and corrupt politicians, it won’t tow my 8,000# boat, it won’t tow my Airstream trailer, it’s production is financed by stolen money, the dems like it, there is no place to put hay in it, it makes anyone in it look stupid....... AND it’s not a Toyota Tundra.

[editor-surveyor]

A Volt is a great car for a Democrat.

Short trip radius, useless in an emergency like when Obama’s friends set off ‘suitcase’ nukes and you have to evacuate. Unable to tow anything. Just an all around piece of crap suitable for crap-heads.

[CodeToad]

$25,000 over any other small car like it, all to go only as far as 1 gallon of gas could take it, and fueled by electricity made from coal power plants they want to shutdown in the first place. Some how they call that “green”. I call it dumber than dirt. Liberals always are.

[nascarnation]

Grill is a hybrid Mack Truck/Cadillac. Corvette front fenders. Hood from Subaru wagon. Rear end from a Ford Pinto. Roof and glass a takeoff of a ZZ Top chopped Ford Coupe. Wheels made to look like warehouse fans.

Really?

[Gator113]

financed by stolen money=financed ‘with’ stolen money

[Overtaxed]

Recharging one might burn down your garage.

After N.C. Fire, Duke Energy Advises Customers to Suspend Use of Electric Car Chargers

[jjotto]

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/03/blind-spot-the-twilight-of-the-volt/#more-433724

...just two months after Volt sales began trickle in, Obama’s Department of Energy released a still-unrepudiated document, claiming that 505,000 Volts would be sold in the US by 2015 (including 120,000 this year). By making the Volt’s unrealistic sales goals the centerpiece of a plan to put a million plug-in-vehicles on the road, the Obama Administration cemented the Volt’s political cross-branding.

When GM continued to revise its 2012 US sales expectations to the recent (and apparently still wildly-unrealistic) 45,000 units, I asked several high-level GM executives why the DOE didn’t adjust its estimates as well. But rather than definitively re-calibrate the DOE’s expectations, they refused to touch the subject. The government, they implied, could believe what it wanted. Having seen its CEO removed by the President, GM’s timid executive culture was resigned to the Volt’s politicized status, and would never make things awkward for its salesman-in-chief. And even now, with production of the Volt halted for the third time, GM continues to play into the Volt’s politicized narrative: does anyone think it is coincidence that The General waited until three days after the Michigan Republican primary (and a bailout-touting Obama speech) to cut Volt production for the third time?...

[Jack Hydrazine]

Not as many dolts exist to buy O-bum’s Volt as was expected!

[Kickass Conservative]

That was the Concept car. Doesn't look a thing like that.

[Bernard Marx]

Dictatorships tend to have "pet" state-approved automobiles. Hitler built Volkswagens and the Commies Trabants. Now we have the Volt, a symbol of Obama's push for socialist dictator status. We can rename it the Voltswagen.

[TigersEye]

Really.

[FrankR]

"What is your source for 3 year battery life? "

I didn't say it had a "3 year battery life", I asked what the trade-in value would be on a 3-year-old VOLT with a dead battery.

You probably don't know what a "rhetorical question" is, so I understand your confusion.

So, let's say a five-year-old VOLT with a dead battery...or how about a 10-year-old VOLT with a dead battery. Actually, they would be much older model years, and would bring even less.

I was trying to be as kind as possible to this POS car, but now that you've weilded your hair-splitting knife, we'll look at all scenarios.

Batteries die...they all eventually do. WHENEVER the VOLT battery dies, you're left with an empty, expensive, and useless, car body.

But wait! There's another factor.

If I go to one of the home center stores and buy, say, a new battery for my lawn mower, or even a re-chargeable drill...there is the infamous "disposal fee" for the old battery. Can you imagine what the "disposal fee" will be for a battery the size of the one in the Volt will be? It's pretty complicated just removing the thing, and then you have to pay some sort of EPA fee to have it disposed.

Three year, five year, fifty year...it doesn't matter, and it's not the point.

[tumblindice]

Way too expensive, has about enough range to pickup movies at Redbox but not take them back, and it tends to explode.
Other than that, it’s gold Pony Boy, just like you.

[Oberon]

The kicker is, this car does not represent any significant advancement in technology over a 1915 electric car.

Yes, a much bigger engineering budget was spent on it. Yes, a lighter, fancier battery chemistry was employed in it. Yes, it meets modern crash-test and other safety standards.

But for all that, I could buy a 1970 Ford Courier, replace the engine with the motor out of an electric forklift, pack the bed with standard-tech lead-acid batteries (with helper springs added to the rear suspension), and probably get comparable performance.

And have maybe a quarter of the cost invested.

[antiRepublicrat]

I’m thinking of getting a Leaf after they’ve been out for a while. Even the range on the current model will take care of all of my weekly commuting and errands just using nightly wall plug charges. I drive further out every week or so, and that’s where the gas-powered car comes in.

I’ve run the numbers and it looks equivalent to 100 mpg at today’s gas prices, without the need for oil changes and such.

Now all I need is to buy a PA and go “vroom vroom.”

[editor-surveyor]

But Prius is guaranteed sales from liberals that love everything ugly, and without purpose.

Volt needs to be uglier.

[Squawk 8888]

the result is a "car" that I would pay money NOT to own.

With the subsidies being dumped on it, you ARE paying money not to own it.

[MarkL]

Remarkably similar to production and distribution of products in the old Soviet Union. The government's numbers never quite jibed with reality, but it didn't matter, everyone just "went along with it." Of course, this is the sort of thing that's normal with central planning.

Mark

[funfan]

Limited range wouldn't be able to get to work and back
my husband work is 25 miles away and if you get stuck in traffic I would think that would use some battery charge as well.

we have no where to plug the battery in at our home our garage is not used for parking it is used for storage and our laundry is in the garage so are we supposed to run a
cord outside to our car parked on the street only to have it used by other people who park in front of our house not a good idea.

In California where I live my electric provider PG&E gives you a baseline allotment each month of your kilowatts ours is 338 and we use about 580 each month. They put you on a tiered system from 100-101% of your baseline, 101-130
130-200% and so on each bracket has a different and higher cost the 100-101 was .12 cents a kwh and the 130-200
was .29 cents a kwh. If I had to charge the battery every day it would add about 200 more kwh to my electri bill each month and I would be in the 300% baseline bracket which is even more than I listed above.\

I don't want a car that I can't drive where I want when I want and I don't want a car which would force me to use public transportation because my car does not work for my needs.

[jjotto]

Like Soviet planned industries, GM is already dead, with various subterfuges used to animate the corpse with government subsidies. When they end - and they will - GM will enter conventional bankruptcy.

[RobbyS]

Obama and his friends have a magical idea of science. He probably doesn’t know one end of a test tube from another.

[Seaplaner]

With the subsidies being dumped on it, you ARE paying money not to own it.

True, that. Also, we are paying some of the costs for the fools who do buy this alleged car.

That stipulated, I would pay even more to not own a Volt. There is no other car away from which I feel this strongly repelled.

.