They gotta meet and EXCEED what the competition is doing. That’s the reality of the auto industry. These days, it looks like GM needs to make damn sure that they are keeping up with TOYOTA especially … and Honda, VW, Hyundai, Mercedes, BMW, etc.

When GM gets the WHOLE package of the exterior, interior and the technology under the hood just right and the cars get good reviews from the automotive press, JD Power, Consumer Reports and so forth … THAT is when GM is going to come roaring back. They’ll be selling cars and trucks like crazy.

I want BESTSELLERS in each segment … AWARD WINNERS … flagship cars that people like to brag about at parties and all that. America loves to hear comeback stories. I’m hoping that GM is going to be on the cover of all sorts of magazines in a few years with stories talking about how they turned everything around.

2. Since an electric drivetrain takes less room than an ICE drivetrain and has more more flexibility in placement, electric drive removes contraints, not add them.

Thank you for your great post. You made many good points about the inherent limitations of BEV, in a world not speckled with ultra-fast-charging stations.

One other thing I would add is that even if you do not run into one of the bad scenarios you mention, it would take extremely long to charge the batteries on a high-capacity vehicle like the Tesla. I’m guessing that recharging from near total depletion of a huge 240 mile lithium pack could take 24 hours on a standard outlet. What if you already drove a lot and then an hour after you got home, some emergency came up? Or what if you get in really late at night and can’t sufficiently recharge to leave the next morning?

The Tesla is real neat and will be fine for most people most of the time, but people want a car to be reliable for those other times too. The Volt can be your only car. If you’re rich enough to afford a Telsa, I imagine you’ll probably keep a gas vehicle as a backup to handle those emergency situations– rr maybe a Volt… haha!

Think of it as an open source chassis (except it’s not free).

Most people have normal looking cars anyway. (Hence “normal.”) Soccer moms are not going to drive in Fisker style.

“Cars like the Chrysler Airstream, the Tucker, the 1953 Raymond Lowey Studebaker, the original Honda Insight, and the EV1, all made brilliant design statements by trying to work efficiently with the air (JMHO). Even though they were all arguably ahead of their times, I hope that future design trends go in these, and even more innovative, directions.”

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With the exception of the Studebaker, all those cars were a sales failure or disappointment and the Studebaker never sold in large numbers. Basically, if you want your design to be a big success and appeal to more than just efficiency geeks, you can’t just let the wind tunnel do the styling. Human emotions will never be logical, and so car styling can never be dominated by logic.

The above Fisker is a great example. People here are going on about how beautiful it is, but my guess is that it’s CD is about the same as the original Volt concept or worse. However, this concept is much closer to what most people actually want.

The first paragraph at that link says its their test fleet of 500 that will be released early.
Just clarifying.

Wouldn’t the mini Oscar Meyers mobile be a Vienna Sausage mobile?

Be well,
Tag
Now more than ever:
LJGTVWOTR!!********NPNS

How about being at a SOC where your BEV starts to slow down during transit back, and it is going slower and slower during the time that is is going through an undesirable ‘hood.

Or, at night time where you are out in the “boonies”??

How about going to a destination where you are counting on a 120 volt plug to be available, and, it is dead or someone else’s BEV needs to be at that plug for 8 hours?

How about when you run out of charge halfway to a destination because you did not do your math, and, your “Triple A” towing insurance has already used up the four free tows home for your “out of juice” BEV?

People just are not thinking of these things, and it is astounding how situationally-indifferent promoters of BEV are being about all this.
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OF COURSE EVERYONE
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will have weekly/monthly needs to go beyond the need of BEV’s limited ranges and whose owners will have to count on other help somehow for some reason for their transportation needs
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FAR FAR MORE
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than is implied or suggested in some of these posts.
One post a few topics back said that EV builders put range-extender Gensets in EV’s.
Not true, not even once.
Who did that, and for how long did it work distance-wise extra that made it worth it?
You would need to do exactly what GM is doing for something like that to do any good, and it is not correct to fill the thread with false (there there) information which might lead someone to make an
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EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE AND DANGEROUS
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decision to place a large amount of their money in the hands of an experimenter who does not have proven ASE-Examined credentials.
People are spending their money daily on “projects” out there in the field where there are no industry standards yet. But those very standards are coming VERY SOON IN THE VOLTEC VEHICLES.
Then, you will be able to easily point to any “project proposal” and ask “Will your deal do everything as properly and safely and reliably and be as affordable and be backed for the same warranties as this GM Volt over here?”
When the answer is always going to be a “No” (to all questions), then you have your answers. The problem with people who honestly believe they know a lot, is that the lesser-informed have no idea that these “knowledgeable” people unintentionally
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ALWAYS
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generalize that the less-informed should be caused to do something that they would NEVER finally decide to do given the true facts.
This is why the practicalities that GM is bringing forward for us are the finest of practicalities combined for where all of the composites of all technical advancements are on the planet today. Plus, GM will back that with the warranties that EVERYONE EXPECTS. Get it all in writing first, examine each sentence first, then wait about 17 months more before making your decision.
Dan Petit Austin TX.