The Volt looks to me to me a huge step in the right direction. Unfortunately money does mean something to me and if the Volt’s much over $30,000 I won’t be able to afford the Volt.

I might wait for a couple reasons to buy the Volt. The first is that I need a battery only range of 60 miles. I know that would require a 22KW battery pack, but hopefully that might be an option in the future. The second is that hopefully someday GM would use a 1L diesel ICE to power their generator. The diesel would have more torque to handle the generator and the mileage increase would be very significant.

I do hope for GM success. I would like to be back in a GM powered car someday. I sure wish someone would build a small (S10 sized) diesel powered truck too

Now on the other hand if they undersized the engine and it doesn’t have the power to charge the battery a lot of people will be disappointed.

The only thing people should care about reguarding the engine is

#1 will it get the job done?

#2 will it deliver the MPG that they said it would while running smoothly and quietly

everything else does not matter

http://www.ecomotors.com

or

http://www.propulsiontech.com

Some European Volkswagen models are equipped with an 1.4 L TSI engine up to 170 hp. That´s nice sporty but is it really innovative too?
If the Volt get´s an engine of such size there would be nothing revolutionary new on this story.

My 1996 Corvette got in the high 20’s any my 98 Vette got even better than that. From what I understand the newer ones are even better. If a V8 Vette engine delivers high MPG why would it matter to anyone care how many cylinders it has?

All anyone should car about is if the Volt gets the job done and delivers the performance that was promised.

It seems to me that some people have such an intense hate of gas engines and especially V8s that they have allowed the hate to cloud their judgment.

All I care about and really all anyone should care about is if the car delivers the goods. I get the feeling that if GM delivers a volt with a battery range of 70n miles and an ICE that gets 40 mpg some people would call it a failure if it had 8 cylinders. Do not measure success or failure by counting engine cylinders, the only thing that matters is that it will be able to perform within the numbers we were promised.

People are arguing over something that does not exist. Before you complain wait to see one in a showroom and take it for a ride to see how well it works.

When you buy a new Hi-Deff TV do you care about how many wires and transistors it has, or do you even care what is inside? All I care about is how good is the picture. we should judge the Volt the same way. Please ignore how big the gas tank is, how many spark plugs, how many quarts of oil the ICE takes, all that matters is if it works

GM is not making this car just for you, That want the car to be something that the majority of drivers want and they have done their homework and realized that the biggest objection to their first try at making an electric vehicle was the limited range. In order for this car to be a success it must be something that most drivers want. GMs entire future depends on the success of the Volt and if the get it wrong the company may go under. The worst thing for GM would be to have Volts stuck on the side of the road because their battery was depleted. Can you imagine if people saw stranded Volts along the side of the road for everyone to see. How much confidence will the public have in this new technology if the see stranded Volt drivers trying to flag down a passing car for help all over the country. The best part of the Volt is you will never need to use the ICE if you don’t deplete the battery but if you mess up you won’t have to walk home. The ICE is a back up, the same way a reserve chute is to a sky diver. All cars have airbags but you still buckle up your belt just in case you need a back up device.

Let’s assume that by getting rid of the ICE you can gain enough room for additional batteries that will increase the range to 100 miles. I think that if you tell most people they that they will need to buy and maintain a second vehicle with an ICE or rent a vehicle with and ICE every time you need to travel more than 100 miles they won’t buy the car.

A lot of people have said there is a cut off point of $30,000 to $40,000 and anything over that is unaffordable. So what happens if they discover they need a second car for long trips.

GM already built an electric only vehicle and they realized they made a mistake by not having a range extender.

This car will appeal to the most people because it removes the fear that people have of being stranded late at night in a snow storm.

By the way I have lived in a few different states and driven through most of the USA and there are a lot of places where even a 100 mile range won’t get you where you need to go and back home again

I think that when you get to the meat of the situation, a NA 1.4L 4 cylinder may perform at ~99% of the efficiency on the Turbo 1.0L 3 cylinder with lower end costs, greater reliability, and lower repair costs.