Comments on: GM-Volt Exclusive: Bob Lutz Details Volt Mule Energy Use in Highway Driving

By: student

student — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 20:45:46 +0000

Sorry, but given real history, I still think Toyota and Honda will beat them to the street in terms of product, quality and price.

I’ll believe in the Volt when I see it on the roads for 2 years at least – enough time to get past the ‘initial quality’ nonsense that GM still touts in their ads, long after the economic disaster and subsequent admissions to congress that their vehicles lacked in quality and design compared to ‘foreign’ imports (many of which are built here now).

While I’m interested in the Volt as a concept, I think that given GM’s past record on electrics and innovation, we should wait til it actually shows up in showrooms and works as advertised without weekly defect repairs. Will the $20+ Billion in aid packages given by the US and Canadian governments translate into some kind of savings or coupon to average leading edge buyers, or will it evaporate into marketing and executive bonuses again?

Show us the car already; we’ve shown you the money.

By: Justwatching

Justwatching — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:05:28 +0000

No battery to date can equal 1/4th the power density of a gallon of bio diesel.
No one in their right mind will pay $40,000+ for a over complicated electric golf cart with such a short range and long recharge time. This car is a dead duck. Just a rich man’s toy.

By: JohnS

JohnS — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:37:06 +0000

Now that’s a nice looking Chevy and a big step in the right direction. I’m not a big fan of alternatively fueled automobiles. In my opinion power production should be left to the power company. My foremost worry with this automobile would be that the gasoline in the tank could go bad. I imagine that not everyone will benefit from a plug-in but for those who can it will be measureless.

By: Nick Szegedi

Nick Szegedi — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:46:26 +0000

Of all the cars manufactured by the Big 3, The Chevy Volt is the only one that we should save. If GM is forced into bankruptcy, I hope this car is resurrected under a new entity. I would by stock in that company.

By: nights

nights — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:51:55 +0000

it sounds like gm is still in the oil company’s pockets.
1- we the consumers are not going to be buying power from an indian gas station/
2- we are not impressed that he can drive 20 miles on a 60% charge when we know he couild with current technology be driving continiously withour external charging.(the dam car chan charge itself as it drives alone).
3-Gm has spent years delivering sorry, awful automobiles at hugh outragerious prices to us which costs thousands to keep running. (it’s a quality problem stupid, and short 20 mile hops in front of a camera is not going top convence anyone).
4-You’ve been so unbelivable for so long that you have to come up with something belivable before i buy it and this blookland bridge you are trying sell us want sell.
5- It has to go all electric with home/office charging as well as on the road chargiong with batteries which don’t have to be replaced at robbery prices every 4 yrs.

By: PJK

PJK — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 01:04:16 +0000

Here in Pgh the Volt will do very well… most commutes are less than 10 miles…. mine is 9 miles each way… should be perfect. I’m ready for the electric driveline… no tranny.. no annoying shifting… smooth acceleration…. nice.
Would like a more utilitarian vehicle like the HHR. maybe GM will make the HHR a plug-in… that would suit me just right.

By: Rashiid Amul

Rashiid Amul — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:07:12 +0000

#272 John1701a,

Heck if I know. My old Sunbird was in the driveway with two other cars in Vermont when the temperature was -17°F.
My car was the only one to have started.
I know batteries are affected by cold, but at what temperature or by how much they are affected, I honestly have no idea.

I’m not really part of this discussion. I was just trying to help by providing the only link available to us concerning temperature and battery.

Like you, I have never seen the reference to -30°F either.
I guess we will find out when the Volt comes out. I think you have colder winters in MN than I do in CT.

I lived near Appleton, WI for a winter, and I know it was colder there than CT.

By: john1701a

john1701a — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:32:34 +0000

40 below
_______________________________

A threshold is the point at which the engine will or won’t run for required warm up. Anything colder, it will. Anything warmer, it won’t.

There is nothing to support the claim that -30°F is a threshold. For that matter, there isn’t even a reference to that particular temperature.

Put another way, it was 21°F here this morning. Would the engine have run?

By: Rashiid Amul

Rashiid Amul — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:31:07 +0000

#268 John1701a says,
So… where’s the reference to a specific temperature threshold?
——————-
The article from the link I sent you states:
“With respect to that, he describes an interesting scenario where its 40 below in North Dakota and the battery needs to be warmed in order to function properly. He notes this would be a big challenge for a pure EV, but in the Volt the car would start out with the combustion engine on and “run for a few minutes to warm up the battery so that the battery can take over.”

By: greg zaccagni

greg zaccagni — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:01:52 +0000

I don’t totally blame our US manufactures for their present situation. Americans like their big cars & trucks and they were happy to accomodate. If we were gurateed that gas prices would stay down to their present level of UNDER $2.00 per gallon american consumers would be buying big vehicles all over again.

I was encouraged when GM came out with big SUV hybrids (tahoe, yucon, escalde etc.) with gas mileage similar to economy cars in 2008. One was even named “green car of the year.”The solution seems obvious. In exchange for the US tax payers bailing out these companies, why not demand US manufacturers make any vehicle they produce having less than 20 mpg a hybrid? Then they would finally satisfy the CAFE MPG ratings the government has been trying to implement for years. Nothing works better than tying money to compliance to motivate someone to do something. In this case something we the government has been seeking for years without success.

The economies of scale in making ALL big vehicles hybrids would greatly reduce the cost of manufacturing hybrids so that the upcharge would be perhaps 1/2 of the usual $5k we see and the remaining $2,500.00 would be covered by the tax rebate the federal government already provides consumers for purchasing a hybrid! If there is no longer a premium to pay who will complain that their new big car has to be a hybrid?

Overall Gas consumption would be down, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, the economy would be stimulated by new auto sales, US auto makers would be able to repay their loans & employees keep their jobs, air pollution would be reduced etc. Consumers WANT the big cars and U.S. auto makers already have them. Give the big cars similar mileage to the little ones and we can all have our cake & eat it too!

I believe in turning negatives into posotives. Allow me to find the silver lining in your mortgage lending needs today.

http://www.MortgageAdvisor.info & http://www.GregZaccagni.com

http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/01/ultrabattery-combines-supercapacitor.html