Comments on: Mini to Lease 500 Electric Cars in US in 2009 http://gm-volt.com/2008/10/21/mini-to-roll-out-500-electric-cars-in-us-in-2009/ Real-time news, information, and discussion about the Chevrolet Volt. Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:07:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: DaveP http://gm-volt.com/2008/10/21/mini-to-roll-out-500-electric-cars-in-us-in-2009/#comment-75655 DaveP Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:38:03 +0000 http://gm-volt.com/?p=1341#comment-75655 Oh, pleeeze. BMW is late to the party. Electric car leasing/crushing was SOOOoooo like 10 years ago! :) Note to BMW: Come back when you are serious enough about electric cars to sell them. Stop wasting everyone's time trying to make a media splash to shore up your (poor) green credentials. Oh, pleeeze. BMW is late to the party. Electric car leasing/crushing was SOOOoooo like 10 years ago! :)

Note to BMW: Come back when you are serious enough about electric cars to sell them. Stop wasting everyone’s time trying to make a media splash to shore up your (poor) green credentials.

]]> By: wwskinn3 http://gm-volt.com/2008/10/21/mini-to-roll-out-500-electric-cars-in-us-in-2009/#comment-75587 wwskinn3 Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:22:50 +0000 http://gm-volt.com/?p=1341#comment-75587 Never thought about a Mini. I like it - anyone know where I can buy one of these electric motors and some of the other stuff to do my own conversion. (Houston, TX) Lot of people doing it. Put say 12 12v gell cells together and you have a comuter car. If not a Mini then how about a VW Bug - small, lightweight, handles well. Would be an excellent project if I can find the Motor and other stuff. I'll keep my Explorer for longer trips. Never thought about a Mini. I like it – anyone know where I can buy one of these electric motors and some of the other stuff to do my own conversion. (Houston, TX) Lot of people doing it. Put say 12 12v gell cells together and you have a comuter car. If not a Mini then how about a VW Bug – small, lightweight, handles well. Would be an excellent project if I can find the Motor and other stuff. I’ll keep my Explorer for longer trips.

]]> By: THOM http://gm-volt.com/2008/10/21/mini-to-roll-out-500-electric-cars-in-us-in-2009/#comment-75555 THOM Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:51:32 +0000 http://gm-volt.com/?p=1341#comment-75555 This is obviously a GM PR site. Anyone other than GM comming up with an electric car and it is crap! ....PRETTY HARD FOR ME TO CUT DOWN A CAR THAT HAS 4X, YES FOUR TIMES , THE ELECTRIC RANGE OF THE VOLT and will be released in the real world 2 years earlier (that is if GM doesnt cut the project; which i am sure will happen) This is obviously a GM PR site.

Anyone other than GM comming up with an electric car and it is crap! ….PRETTY HARD FOR ME TO CUT DOWN A CAR THAT HAS 4X, YES FOUR TIMES , THE ELECTRIC RANGE OF THE VOLT and will be released in the real world 2 years earlier (that is if GM doesnt cut the project; which i am sure will happen)

]]> By: Matt http://gm-volt.com/2008/10/21/mini-to-roll-out-500-electric-cars-in-us-in-2009/#comment-75531 Matt Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:26:08 +0000 http://gm-volt.com/?p=1341#comment-75531 Im pleased that someone here has mentioned the EV1! Lets hope that this car nor the Chevy Volt meet with the same fate. I recently saw the Volt at the Sydney (Australia) International Motorshow and hope it makes it down here in production. We have not had an electric car here before.! Im pleased that someone here has mentioned the EV1! Lets hope that this car nor the Chevy Volt meet with the same fate. I recently saw the Volt at the Sydney (Australia) International Motorshow and hope it makes it down here in production. We have not had an electric car here before.!

]]> By: Andrew http://gm-volt.com/2008/10/21/mini-to-roll-out-500-electric-cars-in-us-in-2009/#comment-75366 Andrew Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:50:46 +0000 http://gm-volt.com/?p=1341#comment-75366 Couple points: 1. That EV Mini up there costs $57k. You would have to be very rich or a fiscal idiot to pony up that much money for that car. 2. BMW are geniuses doing this for two reasons - good PR and thwey get real-time data back form real customers on what works and what does not. In the software world we call this the "Agile" method of engineering. Put incremental upgrades out in quick succession (i'm talking 6 - 8 weeks) and use customer feedback to tweak the product rapidly. This model as opposed to the "take 9 months to ship the product, only to find out you forgot about something silly that you would have found out about 8 months ago if you had asked your customers to test your Beta version. GM would be wise to get as many of these cars in the hands of real drivers sooner rather than later - regardless of the issues with new tech and bad PR from failures. The reality is that regardless of how intelligent GM thinks they are, i will guarantee you they will forget about 1 or 2 key things that there customers want/need if they don't get real consumer feedback early in the cycle. Couple points:
1. That EV Mini up there costs $57k. You would have to be very rich or a fiscal idiot to pony up that much money for that car.
2. BMW are geniuses doing this for two reasons – good PR and thwey get real-time data back form real customers on what works and what does not. In the software world we call this the “Agile” method of engineering. Put incremental upgrades out in quick succession (i’m talking 6 – 8 weeks) and use customer feedback to tweak the product rapidly. This model as opposed to the “take 9 months to ship the product, only to find out you forgot about something silly that you would have found out about 8 months ago if you had asked your customers to test your Beta version.

GM would be wise to get as many of these cars in the hands of real drivers sooner rather than later – regardless of the issues with new tech and bad PR from failures. The reality is that regardless of how intelligent GM thinks they are, i will guarantee you they will forget about 1 or 2 key things that there customers want/need if they don’t get real consumer feedback early in the cycle.

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