Comments on: Chevrolet Volt Rollout Process

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:38:19 +0000

I’ll either get a Volt or a Leaf, but until they are available, I’ll keep driving the S10 I converted to electric. I went from $300 a month in gas to about $30 in electric! I can beat almost anything out there, till I get close to top speed. And I have the crappy lead acid deep cycle batteries!

By: Sparks

Sparks — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:58:23 +0000

“Bill Marsh:
# 67 Well, so much for the ‘no deposit should be required’.
I just talked to 5 dealerships in the DC area and 4 of 5 are requiring a $2000 deposit. I guess that would be because they don’t want people like me getting on lists at every dealership and giving a false impression of demand.
Probably a good idea, lots of joyriders around.. did they say anything about MSRP or “added dealer profit”?”

It’s also possible they are looking for a cheap way to finance their inventory. How does a buyer know if the dealers really have Volts allocated? You get on a list, then in November, call the dealer and get a lame excuse, (Your Volt fell off the truck) and “wait untl next month”.

I drove one recently and it looks like the enginers really did a good job getting this car ready for prime time. But I don’t have any reason to trust the dealers who sell these cars.

GM should publish a list of the dealers and their allocations. Or maybe we should build a list of dealers taking orders to see how many of us are “first on the list” at dealers in the trget markets.

By: kent beuchert

kent beuchert — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:31:03 +0000

“I’ll buy biofuels.”
Too bad biofuels are a total fraud. Gigantic water consumption, pricing edible crops out of
the range of the poor, using more energy to produce than they save. Yeah, biofuels sound like the way to go.
After all this testing, if GM still fears a costly showstopper, then they ought to go into some other business. God knows what they’re qualified to do.

By: Dave G

Dave G — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:08:05 +0000

Ole EV Guy: Dave, Just keep buying gasoline until it’s no longer available. Then what will you do?

I'll buy bio-fuels.

By: John S

John S — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:57:23 +0000

One perspective is if GM waits long enough to actually mass produce the Volt, the all electric vehicles will provide the same functionality, i.e., 300 mile range, with the same charge times of the current Volt. The Volt will not be able to compete on functionality. That will be another large investment in R&D that does not make a product they could capitalize on. They have failed in the past in many ways…. why not incur the risk earlier in the electric vehicle world in order to own that space. If they fail, it’s just another failure in a long list of failures. If they succeed, they could significantly minimize the tarnish on their current reputation.