GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

Today the first Volts have arrived to dealerships from Detroit, and are being picked up by customers across the nation. Today there will be 5 simultaneous deliveries including one to a retired airline pilot named Jeffrey Kaffee, in Denville, NJ who is the first overall. Kaffee traded in his Prius for the Volt. With the number of deliveries multiplying rapidly in the coming day weeks and months, people taking ownership now have to now decide whether to buy or lease the car.

At an MRSP of $41,000 the cutting-edge Volt comes in at a relatively affordable $33,500 after the $7500 federal tax credit it deducted. GM’s banking partners have formulated some creative methods for dealing with the credit such as floating the buyer a zero interest separate $7500 loan that comes due when they get their tax refund.

The lease option was created to make the car even more affordable, making the car available to a larger group of drivers.

The terms of the lease were spelled out in the Summer as $350 per month with $2500 down for a 36 month lease with 36,000 miles.

What hasn’t been known is what the car’s residual value will be at the end of the lease, and what the customer could then buy it for.

Volt marketing manager John Hughes notes that every deal “will be a little different,” and “depends on the equipment and how the deal is written.”

“There’s some variability in it,” he said. “We’ve given dealers all the parameters.”

Rather than spell out those subtleties for us and long with the myriad of disclaimers that accompany them, Hughes said it was best we “talk to dealers to ask details.”

Gordon Lai, a sales manager at Singh Chevrolet in Riverside, California, offers us the following details which he said came directly from GM:

US Bank (National)

Term: 36 Months
MSRP: $41,000.00
Selling Price: $41,000.00 [If dealer charges more, the payments change upward.]
Acquisition Fee: $695.00
Cap Cost Reduction: $2,000.00
Down Payment: $2,150.00
Balance/Amt. Financed: $37,545.00

Program Rate: 0.60

Program Residual: 43.00% (12,001 miles to 15,000 miles per year)
Low Miles Residual: 44.00% (12,000 miles or LESS per year)
Base Residual Value: $18,040.00
Federal Credit: $7,500.00
Contract Residual Value: $25,540.00

Program Payment: $349.51
Featured Payment: $350.00
First Month’s Payment: $349.51
Down Payment: $2,150.00
Security Deposit: $0.00
DUE AT LEASE SIGNING: $2,499.51* [plus fees noted below]
Advertised Due at Signing: $2,500.00

Total Monthly Payments: $12,582.36

Disposition Fee: $395.00 (Due at Lease End)

*Other Fees Due at Signing: All DMV Registration Fees, DMV Doc Fee, 8.75% Sales Tax on First Payment.

“The figures above are SPECIFICALLY for a Base Model Volt sold at MSRP only ($41,000),” said Lai.  “Add any options, dealer markups, increases in Sales Tax, etc… and the Payment goes up, or the ‘Out-of-Pocket’ down payment goes up.”

Here we are at the beginning of the release of the Chevy Volt to consumers across the country and GM is apparently already looking ahead.

Many of us fans of the Volt have long expressed a desire to have an extended range electric crossover, and a car that could at least seat five.

GM has always listened carefully to this site’s community and many of the decision makers review our comments closely and regularly.

In April, at the Beijing Auto Show, GM unveiled the Volt MPV5 Crossover concept which looked a lot like a taller Chevy Volt. More recently GM’s head of Europe, Nick Reilly, said in an interview that the company had plans to bring such a car to production by 2015, at least in Europe.

Today a new report surfaced in Car and Driver indicating GM may soon be unveiling the US version of the 5-seat Voltec crossover vehilce.

The report notes that GM recently bought the domain names Chevyamp.com and Chevroletamp.com and that the car will thus be called the Chevy Amp.

The report also goes on to suggest GM will reveal the vehicle perhaps in production form at the Detroit Auto Show this coming January.

We have seen other great EREVs show before that never came to be, such as the Cadillac Converj.

But a solidly performing high-tech larger utility sized Voltec vehicle that significantly reduces gas use could certainly sell in volumes though.

I’d add a third row.

Guess we’ll have lots to talk about the next four years.

Source (Car and Driver)

On December 13th at 3:30 PM the first truckload of Chevrolet Volts left the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant grounds headed for waiting customers around the nation.

And a dream four years in the making comes true.

The first batch of cars, of which nearly 400 have already been produced, began leaving Michigan for destinations around the country.

A five truckloads carrying 45 cars left Monday, and through the course of this week 350 cars will be delivered to dealerships.  These initial destinations will include California, Greater New York, and Washington DC.

“Today is a historic milestone for Chevrolet,” said Tony DiSalle, Volt marketing director. “We have redefined automotive transportation with the Volt, and soon the first customers will be able to experience gas-free commuting with the freedom to take an extended trip whenever or wherever they want.”

According to Volt director Tony Posawatz these batches of cars will be of mixed VIN number and not necessarily in order of construction.

“These are all people’s cars,” said Posawatz. “There are no fleet or demo cars.”

Rather than have a press conference about the first delivery as Nissan did with the LEAF, GM is simply announcing the beginning of steady Volt deliveries which will continue from here on out. The first customers should have their cars within the next day or two.

Posawatz confirmed GM plans to build 15,000 Volts in the 2011 calendar year. Mid-year they will change from 2011 to 2012 models. GM is actively studying how quickly they can ramp up production considering the intense demand.

“We’ll turn up production in 2011 and were determining if we can turn it up sooner,” added Posawatz.

And there shall be many a Happy Holiday this year.

Source (GM)

Drivers of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt have three driving modes to choose from; normal, sports, and mountain mode.

The mountain mode is rarely used.  It acts to cause the range extender turn on at higher charge point of the battery.  This allows a deeper battery reserve for use when travelling up a long steep grade.  In nearly 2000 miles of driving I have never found the need to use it.

When the car is powered on it is in regular mode by default.  This provides a standard accelerator experience. Pressing the drive mode button twice causes the car to shift into sports mode.  Once engaged the driver will feel the car surge forward, and it becomes much more spirited in acceleration.

GM Volt director Tony Posawatz once mentioned that the car would get the same efficiency or EV range whether the driver was in sports mode or regular mode.  Top power out put is the same 110 kw, and flooring the pedal produces the same response in both instances.

“On the various EPA federal test procedure cycles, the efficiencies are basically the same, says Posawatz.

It is true, though that driver behavior is a more prominent factor.  Aggressive use of the accelerator in sports mode will lead to more range reduction than the same use of the accelerator in normal mode.

“Sport mode may cause you to have a bit more fun and if you fully realize the fun opportunities, you will be a bit less efficient,” says Posawatz.

In my experience driving the car, I tend to prefer sports mode, and use it all the time.  Tony Posawatz also drives a captured test fleet Volt and uses it a bit differently.

“I have found that I use Sport mode and have fun when I know that I will make it to my charging station without using gas and with time to charge,” he said.  ”It is my guilty pleasure.”

“Similarly, I have changed my driving a bit to see if I can beat the “video game” and improve my numbers,” he added.

Braking is another issue.

When in D mode, the car softly coasts similarly to a conventional car when the foot is off the accelerator. L mode engages a strong regenerative drag when the foot is off the accelerator that allows the driver to simulate a downshift effect and get motor braking, sparing the disc brakes from wear.

It has been my preference to drive at speed in D mode, but when needing to slow or in stop and go traffic I use the L mode.

Posawatz explains that overall efficiency doesn’t differ much between these two settings either.

“Relative to D vs. L, there also is not a lot of difference in efficiency between the two,” he said. “Going down Pikes Peak, you want to be in L.”

“You want to use the coast of drive and then shift into L as you approach a stop, he added. “I use the L a lot because it is a more engaging drive, especially in Sport and on winding roads.”

I recently have been able to experience a function of the Volt that I have only imagined about for some time.

One of the advantages of the Volt over a pure electric car is its ability to use the engine at times to help condition the battery.

Extremes of temperature reduce the energy and power storing capacity of lithium ion cells. So when the ambient temperature is very low, the Volt can power up the gas engine to help heat the cells to their optimum operating temperature, around 70 degrees F.

I had my first experience with this function the other night when it was cold outside and the car had been sitting in an outdoor parking lot.

I arrived to the car and it was 25 degrees. Immediately after turning the car on, a screen popped up on the dash which read ”Engine Running Due to Temperature.” The normally prominent battery state of charge display was faded and reduced into the background (shown above).

The engine clearly was revving at a higher than ususal speed making it quite audible, more so than I ever heard during routine driving.

It ran for about a minute and a half and then shut off, placing the car back into EV mode.

On the next day, the car was in my garage where it was warmer and the engine did not go on at start. A few minutes after leaving home when the temperature dropped, the car repeated the engine on routine.  The temperature below which the engine will turn on is 26 degrees F.

It happened a second time after I briefly stopped off for coffee and came back to the car. I also found surpsisingly during the middle of my 30 mile commute it happended one more time for minute and a half while I was at highway speed.

For the total of the three minute and a half engine runs, the screen indicated 0.1 gallons of gas were used.

I have included a brief video of what the sound was like, as captured on my iPhone, below.

In the end, the experience was no big deal, and actually kind of cool and reassuring to see this advanced and careful engineering in action.  Also there was peace of mind knowing the big battery is being so carefully pampered, and that this car was truly built for any climate.

On this date of 12/11/10 Nissan begins to make good on its visionary CEO Carlos Ghosn’s promise to mass-produce electric cars on a large global scale.

First announced in March of last year, the LEAF electric car program has been moving fast and furious.  The company stopped taking orders in the Fall when they reached 20,000 US consumers who had put a $99 deposit down to reserve their car.  The company shocked the world when they announced the surprisingly low price of $25,280 after tax credits for the car ($20,280 in California), and have gotten many rave automotive reviews for the vehicle.

Indeed Ghosn plans to produce up to 500,000 EVs per year shortly, and a US-based assembly plant for the car and a separate one for the batteries are being developed in Smyrna Tenessee that will go online in 2012.

Today the very first consumer in the US will pick up his brand new LEAF in the San Fransciso Bay area of California.

The man is named Olivier Chalouhi and is a 31-year old tech entrepreneur who is credited as the first person to order a LEAF in one of the US launch markets.  Those initial markets include  Southern California, Arizona, Oregon, Tennessee and Seattle.

The eyes of the world will be watching as Chalouhi  picks up his black Nissan LEAF SL at North Bay Nissan of Petaluma. The delivery will be followed by a press conference at San Francisco City Hall Plaza.

Perhaps nowhere else in the country are EVs more popular and important  than in California, when too the initial Volts will be sold.

To commemorate this occasion, Carlos Ghosn has written the following memo which was paced on the Nissan LEAF Facebook page:

For more than 100 years of car manufacturing, we have been tethered to the same gasoline engine concept. That is, until now.
On the eve of the market debut of the Nissan LEAF electric car in the United States and Japan, a date that the Renault-Nissan Alliance has been working toward for many years, some are watching our efforts with great skepticism. That does not come as a surprise. If necessity is the mother of innovation, then skepticism is its father. From the two, solutions come to life.

Advances we have achieved in technology now allow us to move forward with the affordable, mass-marketed 100% electric cars – Nissan LEAF being the first.

This drive toward new, sustainable mobility is born from one simple premise: Electricity is the new fuel for cars. The electric car has the potential to transform the industry, and it has already begun to change the way we think about cars and fuel.

Recently, a reporter asked me how the Environmental Protection Agency should indicate miles per gallon on the fuel economy sticker that goes in the window of each new Nissan LEAF. My response: Miles per gallon? Infinite. There is no gallon. Though the EPA rates Nissan LEAF at 99 miles per gallon, it is a measurement as outdated in the new mobility age as the idea of tailpipe emissions. An electric car has neither a tailpipe nor emissions.

As the global community thinks more and more about sustainability, more is at stake than simply seeking ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. There is a need to shift away from a total dependence on this finite resource – oil – as we continue to meet the transportation needs of people all over the world. If the car is sustainable, then so will be the industry.

Skeptics point to concerns about the lack of infrastructure for electric vehicles. We share this concern. That is why our approach extends beyond the car itself. We are engaged every step of the way – from car and battery development to battery-recycling and charging stations.

We realize that public and private cooperation is essential to the success of the electric car, and we have more than 80 partnerships with governments and organizations worldwide to develop the infrastructure to support EVs and widespread marketplace acceptance. In the United States, these partnerships reach from Hawaii to Connecticut, from Washington State to Florida, and every day more partnerships are being negotiated.

There are moments in life when you can feel that you are on the verge of something truly significant. It is a feeling of optimism and potential, the result of preparation and the right timing.
Little by little, the skeptics are becoming believers. Governments, industries and a growing number of consumers are overwhelmingly embracing a car that many have not yet driven. Soon, more and more people will have an opportunity to see, drive or own their own electric car. In Nissan LEAF, they will fully understand all the benefits we have been talking about: the quiet ride, quick acceleration, smooth handling and – best of all – zero emissions.

This is the future of mobility, and the future is starting now.
# # #
Carlos Ghosn
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Renault-Nissan Alliance

Congratulations Nissan and Mr. Ghosn, we applaud your effort, and wish you well.  As with the Volt, buyer in the rest of the country will have to wait up to 18 months before they can pick up their cars.

Also unveiled this week is the movie trailer for the upcoming film Revenge of the Electric Car.   The film is written and directed by Chris Paine who also created the 2006 film called Who Killed the Electric Car, the story of the EV-1 that played a role in jump starting the electric car revolution of which we are bearing witness.   A little known fact is I started GM-Volt.com without having known about the EV-1 story at all, and having never heard of or seen the original film.  Of note Paine declined to interview me for the film despite GM’s strong suggestions that he do, due to the role of this site in the car’s development.  See the video below: