Chevy Volt Halted. Who did not see this coming?

[crazyal]

Chevy sells more corvettes than they do volts.

 

[Bird]

I got an e-mail today about the Volt, and when I checked it on Snopes, they say it's FALSE, but it looks like some miscalculation with the numbers, but basically a true story.
snopes.com: Cost to Operate the Chevy Volt

 

[EddieWalker]

The developing world is ... developing ... and so is its oil consumption. On the other hand, oil production is flat. In the U.S. we have several different resources we can use to make electricity; coal, nuclear, hydro, blablah. Whether or not they are "clean" compared to dinosaur juice, I don't know; but at least the money from coal electricity stays largely within our country.

Where does the electricity come from to charge the batteries in those electric cars?

On Top Gear, a British Car show, they had to wait ten hours for the electric cars to charge up that they where testing. Since there wasn't a charging station near them, they went to a Marina to plug in their cars, and then spent the day sight seeing.

Production in the US if flat because our governement will not let anybody drill new wells. They issue permits, but the regulations make it impossible to actually drill anything.

The rest of the world is keeping the price up by limiting production. The higher the price, the more money they make.

The Volt is just another government boondogle to try and force something on us that we don't want and doesn't work.

Eddie

 

[Ivan49]

When I was in Germany this fall we had a new Opal that was called an intermediate size car it had 8 km on it when we picked it up. With gas at 7 to 8 dollars a gallon I was wondering what this was going to cost.
We picked up the car at Frankfurt and got on the Auto Ban and in 5 th gear it was equal to 3rd or 4 th gear in a US car it had a 4 cyl in it. We got 40 to 45 miles a dallon in town and it got 60 miles to a gallon on the highway. So they could make the milage better on the cars over here if they wanted. I don't know if they still are but Opal use to be owned by GM.
Friends over there has a VW diesal and it gets almost 70 miles to the gal. Most cars are diesal but they cannot be brought to the states with out being an export model. When they are brought over here they get half the milage as they do in Germany.
Germany is a very green country so I think the gov here is not going to allow the millage to increase anytime soon.
When we bought our Escape I looked at the price on the Hybrids and it was less that 10 miles to a gallon different not worth the extra money in my books.

 

[Bird]

Opal use to be owned by GM

And sold in this country by Buick dealers. I believe the 2 or 3 year old one that I bought in 1973 to tow behind a little motorhome was called an Opel Kadett, 2 door sedan.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Has anyone done the cost analysis on Hybrids Vs standard vehicle to see how cost effective they are? When I purchased our 08 Camry they where introducing the Hybrid. At that time the sticker price was around $4000 difference for a comparably equipped car. I do not recall the claimed mileage difference between the two but I don't think it was more than 10 MPG highway.

Roy

Same story as the diesel in the VW I mentioned above. Takes more miles than most people would put on in 15 years to see the benefits. Plus you have higher insurance, higher maintenance cost, ect.

Not only that I read somewhere that while the greenies like the hybrid idea in reality of it is the battery manufacturing is such a dirty process the worst MPG pickup driven for equal miles has about 1/2 the environmental impact on the earth.

Chris

 

[JoelD]

Funny I saw my first volt last week, big car

Just purchased a new ford fiesta

40 mpg and 12,900, can't beat it as a commuter car, high safety rating as well

I also don't get the small incremental mileage of hybrids

Joel

 

[westcliffe01]

[FONT=Arial, Geneva][SIZE=-1]The wheel goes round... Instead of using technology developed and proven 15 years ago, which would be a lot less expensive by now given that amount of time to cover development costs and amortize the factories, we always have to start from scratch, just like our defense contractors.

15 years ago we had an electric vehicle that used NO gas, and got 75-130 miles per charge. For a LOT of people, that will be perfectly adequate or more than adequate for the daily commute. The maintenance on the car as far as the powertrain is concerned is virtually non existent. If more people actually worked from home, there is no reason to believe that a solar PV array would not provide all the "gas" you would need for anything other than cross country road trips. Same applies to anyone who is retired. If you only need 20 miles, you should have the option of a smaller battery or a less powerful motor, these are very easy changes. One size does not fit all.

This class of vehicles is never going to replace pick up trucks or other vehicles that people use for longer distance transport. The Volt concept fails because it tries to do everything, and hence does nothing well. We have exactly Zero vehicles with an engine capacity of less than 1.4l If I could buy one of the small compacts with a 800cc engine, it would do me just fine for my 10 mile drive to work. Others ride bikes in the summer but I think the roads are in too bad a shape and don't like bugs in my teeth or hornets in my helmet.

Give us choices. Make it legal to drive the Japanese KEI trucks on the road.

The EV1 1996 to 1999 (15 years ago)

Propulsion/Electronics

Configuration: Transverse-mounted, front-wheel drive

Motor Type: Three-phase, alternating current (AC) induction, electric

Power Rating: 102 kilowatts (137 horsepower) @ 7,000 rpm

Motor Torque: 150 Nm (110 lb-ft) @ 0-7,000 rpm

Power Management System: Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power inverter

Battery Packs:
Standard: 26 valve-regulated high-capacity lead-acid modules
Optional: 26 valve-regulated nickel-metal hydride modules
1 underhood accessory module

Rated Maximum Battery Pack Storage Capacity:
Standard: High-capacity lead-acid battery pack - 18.7 kW hours/60 amp hours (312 volts)
Optional: Nickel-metal hydride battery pack - 26.4 kW hours/77 amp hours (343 volts)

Battery Pack Weight:
Standard: High-capacity lead-acid battery pack - 1310 pounds
Optional: Nickel-metal hydride battery pack - 1147 pounds

[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Geneva][SIZE=-1]Performance

0-60 mph acceleration in less than 9 seconds

Electronically regulated top speed of 80 mph (129 km/h)

0.19 aerodynamic drag coefficient (25% lower than any other production car)

Estimated Range*:
Standard: High-capacity lead-acid battery pack - 55 to 95 miles per charge*
Optional: Nickel-metal hydride battery pack - 75 to 130 miles per charge*

Estimated Energy Consumption Information (kW/hr per 100 miles):
Standard: High-capacity lead-acid battery pack - 26 city/26 highway
Optional: Nickel-metal hydride battery pack - 34 city/30 highway[/SIZE][/FONT]

Estimated Time from Zero to Complete State of Charge at 70 degrees with normal humidity:
Standard: High-capacity lead-acid battery pack - 5.5 to 6 hours using the 220-volt (6.6kW) charger;
22 to 24 hours using the 110-volt (1.2kW) convenience charger

Optional: Nickel-metal hydride battery pack - 6 to 8 hours using the 220-volt (6.6kW) charger

 

[radioman]

problem is that they are adding too much "junk" IMHO in todays cars. electronic windows, locks, mirrors, doodads all over car. they gotta have fancy covers on seats, etc. IF they just do away with all that to drive price waaaaay down then we can buy them since its cheaper.

If someone wants to add all that, let 3rd parties do it. its a job maker.

We need diesel in more vehicles, not hybrids crap.

 

[Tomtint]

Diesels are way to bogged down with "clean emission" garbage now. A friend of mine has a 2009 F350 diesel that would get 12-13 mpg. He pulled all the BS off of it, re programed it and now gets a honest 23 mpg.