GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

News from this week:

After years of following progress reports on the Volt, I finally got the call from the ordering manager at Paradise Chevrolet in Ventura stating, “your car is ready and all is perfect”. Manager Per “you will be assimilated” Bjorge had provided weekly updates regarding timetables at GM and progress of my Volt #555. An equally good source for Volt tracking is found at http://www.camarotracking.com. My Volt #555 was delivered this past Friday the 14th at 9AM. Most Volts are being sold at MSRP as was mine. I asked the dealer about a free second 120V charge set as part of the deal. This request was denied. However, I was able to negotiate on the extended service contract. I settled on $375 less than the asking price. My offer was $400 less. The dealer replied with, “best I can do is $375 less”. Those Bjorges are tough.

The Volt feels very good on winding roads in the L shift position. Acceleration is ample in Normal mode and more than ample in Sport mode. It goes without saying you must watch steep driveway ramps and speed bumps. As the front air dam is positioned low to the ground. I will offset this negative comment by saying a friend had a look at my Volt and called it “Bad ass!”. He really liked the look of the air dam and what he calls “the steel grill”. I am driving the Volt at 66mph-72mph on the freeway, and moderately in town. My first charge delivered 43 miles of battery range, with the following recharge displaying 40 miles reserve. This is in beautiful Southern California conditions of 62 degrees with the climate control set to ECO 72 degrees.  About 95% of my driving is done in Normal mode using L shift position. I find no downside to being in L shift position all of the time. I love it.

A history:
I first stumbled upon the Volt during an internet search in 2007. Found a clip of Volt Nation 1 wherein some guy in a suit was saying he was going to drive without gas. This guy turned out to be Dr. Lyle Dennis. Up to this point I was in the dark concerning electric cars. I didn’t even know about the EV1 being available to lease. I also found Lyle’s web page http://gm-volt.com and was considering registering on the “want list” but I didn’t. The list had 7000 names on it at the time. I wasn’t sure I was willing to drive electric at that point in time. I eventually joined the group of 10,000 members by entering my email address and deposit tolerance level.

During the period of 2007-2008 I worked as production foreman for a plastics company in Oxnard, California. Sales were good and we had recently expanded to a bigger building. Our product was preferred over our competitors from Asia because of our high quality, options on size and color, and quick delivery. Then came $140 per barrel oil. Overhead strangled our company and we went out of business. I worked my last 40 hours out of loyalty for the company without pay.

I will add a footnote to this story. Knowing the Volt would cost more than any other car I had previously owned,  I had to become creative in ways to generate the cash needed to buy a Volt. I decided to research the stock market and find a small company that had solid management and a good product. I used a search engine at T. Rowe Price. This narrowed this list down to about 100 companies. The one I chose is called Radient Pharmaceuticals. The price was at $1.18 per share and I began to accumulate. The price dropped to $.80, and I bought more. Dropped to $.40, and I bought more. Finally the price dropped to just $.24 per share. My hopes of owning a Volt were nearly dead. I had just lost $15,000 trying to earn a $20,000 profit. Then positive stock news was announced. India, China, and South America were interested in the RPC product. The stock price climbed to over $2 per share in one week. I sold all shares and had profited the entire cost of a 2011 Volt.

The demo drive:

I was very fortunate to make it down to El Segundo this past October 17th. Had a great demo drive in a Silver Volt and met our beloved Chelsea Sexton. There were three GM reps present to assist with Volt features and engineering information. The demo drive went great with my wife and son having their first taste of the Volt experience. I describe the acceleration of the Volt as comparable to a 302c.i. Ford 8 cylinder. I have owned two of these and burned through a couple dumpsters full of gasoline in the process.

(above photo) Chelsea Sexton and GM reps at Volt Unplugged El Segundo

Over 1000 Volts have now been produced with hundreds safely in the garages of new owners. Lyle Dennis is a big part of this reality. Just a regular guy who looked forward to being able to drive without gas. GM-Volt.com and the new Volt Owners Facebook page continue to grow and gain fresh energy as they plug-in to the public each day. I feel a good word needs to be passed along concerning my fellow posters here at http://gm-volt.com. Harrier, Tag, Mr. Petit, Nasa and all the regulars and visitors that are making these important years both entertaining and informative. Hope to have the opportunity to get together at a future Volt Nation rally.

And now the image we all want to see. It’s not only a freeway ready electric car. It’s the 2011 Car Of The Year. Garage charging on house current. The 2011 Chevrolet Volt!

I am fortunate to be a member of the Chevy Volt Customer Advisory Board and have been driving the Volt since early November 2010. I have been having an incredible experience with the car and I will share my thoughts/experiences when my three month trial period ends in February 2011. In the meantime, I wanted to share a Letterman style Top-10 List I created entitled, “Top-10 Reasons to Buy an Electric Car” which I thought the GM-Volt.com web community would enjoy. I originally created this Top-10 List with the hopes that it would appear on David Letterman’s show, but it turns out his writers could not accept outside material, so I thought the next best place for the premier of this Top-10 List would be on GM-Volt.com. I realize that the daily topic is usually quite serious, but I thought a little comic relief might be fun for a change of pace.

Let’s see who can come up with the 11th best reason to buy an electric car.

#10. Great Way to Stay “Current”

#9. The Neighbors Objected to my NUCLEAR Powered Car

#8. It Comes in Many Colors, Yet All of Them Are Green

#7. Save Some Money…Ask Your Dealer to Deliver it Free of “Charge”

#6. If Your Kids Drive Too Fast, Just Flip the Circuit Breaker

#5. Impossible to “Pass Gas” in an Electric Vehicle

#4. If You Crash, Can You Be Charged with Assault and Battery?

#3. Outdated Gasoline Stations Can Become Polar Bear Safe Houses

#2. Better Than Trying to Drive Your Electric Refrigerator

#1. Hey Letterman, I’m a Volt…Can You Give Me a Plug?

I’ve had my Volt for just under a month now, and while I’ve greatly enjoyed the car, I thought I should write some details about the Chevrolet Customer support experience in regards to the Volt, given my “unique” situation. While my dealer experience was less than stellar to say the least, I feel it necessary to write about how phenomenal the support has been from General Motors.

First, I should probably discuss a bit about my situation and experiences with my dealer, though it certainly isn’t my intent to bad mouth them, and I will in fact leave out many issues I had with my dealer that weren’t related to the physical car. I also think my negative experience with a dealer is more an exception than the norm, as I’ve read many great dealer experiences in these forums. As most of you may know from my forum posts, my scheduled date to receive my car was delayed when I received a call from my dealership stating that my Volt had been dented. Apparently there was construction at my dealership, and they made a real bad call by parking it next to a pile of construction materials. Those construction materials subsequently fell over, resulting in both driver side doors being dented, as well as damage to the driver side quarter panel. (Dealer: -1) Needless to say, I wasn’t very pleased. This call came in about 16 hours before I was going to leave with a friend to get my Volt, and about 1 hour after I sold my existing car. GM got involved rather quickly, with numerous personnel responding to the situation. They offered me a rental car given that I sold my car hours earlier. (GM: +1) I declined, however, as I figured I could carpool with some friends in the interim. GM also over-nighted door panels and parts to make sure that whatever solution I chose could be done quickly and effectively, to minimize delay of my Volt. (GM: +1)

I was given numbers to various GM personnel and told to call them whenever I had questions, and they also updated me frequently, whereas the dealer had gone silent. (GM: +1) Eventually, I settled on having my doors repaired, rather than new panels installed. My thinking (and there are varying opinions here) was that repair of the doors would minimize the amount of the car’s factory finish that had to be touched or repainted. I made sure the dealer knew that any “paint booth” time for the car meant the battery should be removed due to the high temperatures, though they didn’t seem too interested in hearing about that. After the work was done, I drove 5 hours to take delivery; the doors looked magnificent, and I was about to be the proud owner of a new Volt!

However, just prior to delivery, I noticed that the center display wasn’t working. My dealer said it was working before, and wasn’t sure what the problem was. The dealer didn’t have any technicians on hand to look into it; they all took the day off, as this was the day before Christmas eve. The dealer wasn’t able to call a technician in either, because they are a union shop and apparently it’s not that simple (or so I’m told). I called my Volt advisor who was very sympathetic and told me she was going to start calling area dealers to see if another place nearby could assist. (GM: +1) Meanwhile, the dealer managed to get a hold of a Volt hotline at GM. (Dealer: +1) GM decided to send a Field Service Engineer (FSE) to the dealer, and also send parts their immediately in case something may need to be replaced. (GM: +1)

The FSE arrived within an hour and immediately began diagnosing the problem. It was eventually determined that the Nav unit needed to be replaced, and they weren’t sure why the failure occurred. However, the part wouldn’t arrive until the next day. GM offered me a hotel room and a rental car, but I declined as I needed to travel about 7 hours to visit family for the holidays, and wanted to ensure I got there in time for Christmas. The FSE then said he would likely make the 7 hour trip after Christmas to replace the Nav unit and see to it that my problem was resolved. (GM: +1) So, I left with my Volt, sans a working center display.

On my way to family, I stopped at my friend’s in-law’s house to get some items I left there, and when I started the car back up, I received a “Reduced Propulsion” message on the display; it seemed as if the engine was driving the car directly through an electric motor, with no battery system to speak of. I hit the OnStar button and my call was immediately answered. I asked if they could do a diagnostic which they did, and they said the battery system needed immediate servicing. They suggested, however, that I could try turning the car off and then on again. I did, and I didn’t receive the error again… Great! I drove off, and didn’t stop again until I needed gas. Once my tank was full, I went to start my car, and again came this “Reduced Propulsion” message. This time, I couldn’t get it to go away. I called OnStar again, and as I was waiting to be transferred to a higher level technician, I figured out that I could avoid the error by making sure I took my foot off the brake immediately after pressing the power button. I told the OnStar technician this and he said he would make a note of this behavior and appreciated my feedback and patience. (GM: +1)

After that, I eventually arrived to visit family, and enjoyed the holidays with them. The error message did not come up again so long as I used my little trick to avoid it. A few days later, the same FSE that had helped diagnose the radio problem made the 7 hour drive and replaced my nav unit, fixing my center display. After that, I had difficulty recreating the “Reduced Propulsion” message, so he just said to give him a call if anything cropped up again. (GM: +1) I also had many people at this dealership checking the car out, and loving it. Despite being in a state that isn’t even an initial market for the Volt, they had two certified Volt technicians, and they were ecstatic to be able to see the Volt “in the flesh”.

Throughout this time, I received multiple calls from my Volt advisor providing me information and soliciting some from me too. I was eventually told that GM would very much like to replace my battery, so they could do some analysis on the error I received, as they had not seen it previously. They also wanted to make sure I wouldn’t have any further issues, and were very apologetic. They said they would overnight a battery to my hometown dealer, and as soon as I made the trip back home, they would do the swap. (GM: +1)

I met another FSE from my hometown region, and he performed my battery swap without any major issues. This dealer also had many people interested in seeing the car, taking quite an interest and asking many questions. I was told by the FSE that a battery engineer from GM would likely be calling me to ask for more details surrounding the error I had seen. He also provided me his number and told me to call him if I had any issues whatsoever. (GM: +1)

I received another call from my Volt advisor, again apologizing and asking if there was anything they could do for all my troubles. I mentioned the possibility of a Voltec charger, and she said she would look into it. A few days later, i was told they were going to provide me with one free of charge. (GM: +1)

Shortly after, I received a call from the battery engineer, and spoke with him at length about all the details surrounding my battery issue, as well as the other issues I encountered in case they were related. He was very professional and we had a great conversation. I mentioned that, in my mind, it may have been the lack of removing the battery if the car went into a paint booth for the clear coat to be cured, which he thought could be a possibility as well. (I mention this because I don’t think my battery issue in any way reflects on the quality of the Volt.) In the end, he gave me his phone number and email address, and told me to contact him anytime if I needed anything. He also extended an offer to me to tour the various parts of the GM Hamtramck operations, including the plant, test track, and battery facility, should I ever be in the area. As if that wasn’t exciting enough, he also stated that I should expect a call from Mickey Bly, the Executive Director of Advanced Battery Development, to extend the same offer and chat with me some more, stating Mr. Bly had also read some of my GM-Volt blog entries. (GM: +5)

While I haven’t heard from Mr. Bly yet (I suspect he’s very busy), this whole chain of events have had one very consistent element present: unrelenting and amazing customer service from GM. They truly are putting their best foot forward with the Volt, and their customer service has been nothing less than exemplary. I hope that everyone who reads will also see that, even with the issues I had (which weren’t that bad, and mostly related to the dealer), the Volt delivers a truly amazing experience, both in the way it drives, and the customer service from GM that comes with the car.

I have since been driving problem-free, and am thankful for all of the support from GM: the engineers, advisors, FSE’s, not to mention from our own WopOnTour. Everyone at GM has been more than helpful, and I don’t feel that can be overstated. In a world where good service is often overlooked, I want to tip my hat to everyone at GM who is a part of such amazing customer service. You make the Volt experience even better than it already is, and I didn’t think that was even possible!

The Chevrolet Volt is an elegant solution.  It is a brilliant car that is a masterpiece both of design and engineering.  Understandably GM has focused its PR and marketing efforts on this nascent vehicle which is expected to reach high volumes as price comes down in the following years.

Other companies such as Nissan have focused instead on the less utilitarian pure electric car, filling the niche for would-be owners who are willing to make some sacrifices in order to be able to drive only on electricity at all times.

Ford for its part has announced it will offer both a pure electric Focus and a plugin hybrid C-MAX

Many pure-EV advocates have pushed for GM to offer a pure electric car in addition to the Volt.  Though there have been reports of global development of EVs for markets outside the US, there has never been any direct proof or quotes such a car would be built for the US.

Until now that is.

GM’s CEO Dan Akerson told reporters at the Detroit Auto Show, that indeed such a car was in the works.  Akerson said this car would be aimed primarily at drivers in big cities and would be a niche vehicle, with the Volt filling the more mainstream role.

“It’s more of a metro car or an urban car, where the extended-range electric vehicle, the Volt technology offers much more flexibility,” Akerson said.

It is not clear the timeline as to when this car will arrive. GM did announce it will begin selling a pure electric car in China within two years.

It seems likely the US electric car will be subcompact in size, similar to the new Chevy Sonic gas-powered vehicle the automaker just debuted.

Along with other comments from Akerson indicating GM will be building two additional EREVs and a PHEV, this car will complete a comprehensive suite of electrified vehicle offerings from the company for the US market over the next several years.

Source (Detroit News)

As exciting and important as the Chevy Volt is, many consumers would like to see the same technology in a larger form factor or multi purpose vehicle (MPV).

GM has displayed a Volt MPV in the past as a concept car, and once then vice chairman Bob Lutz said the company was studying an EREV crossover like the gas-powered Chevy Orlando currently on sale overseas.

On the sidelines of the Detroit Auto Show, GM’s CEO Dan Akerson told reporters GM indeed has solid plans to launch such a car in the US.

He did say GM’s current foremost objective is to “focus on cost reduction” of the current Chevy Volt. Though the Volt wont making any profit in its present iteration, Akerson expects it to become profitable within three years lending to volume increases and cost reductions.

Akerson confirmed there are “likely” plans in place to launch a plugin hybrid version of the Cadillac SRX as well the first definite word of a minivan version of the Chevrolet Volt by the 2012-2013 timeframe. He also mentioned the possibility of even another small hatchback extended-range electric car.

In fact Akerson said he intended for all of GM’s four brands to eventually have its own plugin electric model.  He hopes electric cars make up 10% of the company’s sales in 10 to 15 years.

He said that GM’s new car plans were delayed because of the bankruptcy process taking place in 2009.    “The facts are, with the bankruptcy, we lost a year in terms of development,” Akerson told reporters. “That’s why ’12 and ’13 are critical to us here in the United States.”

Overall Akerson is both surprised and happy about consumer demand for the award sweeping Volt.   “We have been pleased and a bit surprised with the initial demands, initial orders for Volts,” Akerson said. “We don’t want to miss the opportunity.”

As such he told reporters GM will further be pushing Volt production beyond the 10,000 to 15,00o units initially announed for this calendar year.  Instead Akerson said he expects 2011 production to top 25,000.

Source (Automotive News) and (Detroit Free Press)

At this year’s Detroit auto show, Toyota unveiled the long expected Prius MPV as well as a diminutive Prius c subcompact concept.

Originally the environmentally advanced leader of automakers, the last couple of years has seen the aggressive strides of competitors GM, Nissan, and now Ford, all introducing either pure electric or plugin electric cars, with both Volt and LEAF deliveries already underway, eat away at Toyota’s environmental marketing monopoly.

To its credit, Toyota has sold over 1 million Prius hybrids worldwide over ten years, and the car is now in its third generation. This announcement reveals the company intends to expand the iconic hybrid from a single model into a family or series of Priuses.

The Prius PHV, which is a plugin hybrid version of the standard Prius with a lithium ion battery and 13 mile EV range will enter the retail market in mid 2012, the company announced. The plug-in will be initially offered in 14 West and East Coast states (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Virginia and New Hampshire) where nearly 60 percent of all Prius models are currently sold. Availability in all remaining states will be a year later.

In addition to this vehicle the automaker introduced two additional non-plugin hybrid models.

The first is a minivan sized car called the Prius v, with the v standing for versatility. The Prius v shares the same Synergy drivetrain only possess 50% more cargo space. Despite its size, the car manages a respectable 0.29 coefficient of drag, meaning it is highly aerodynamic.

It manages spacious seating for five with impressive rear leg room and considerable rear cargo space. To reduce mass a specially designed resin moonroof is available.

The addition of all this size and mass to the drivetrain’s load not unexpectedly drops the fuel economy from that of the standard Prius which gets 50 mpg combined. The Prius v is expected to be rated at 42 mpg city, 38 mpg highway and 40 mpg combined, which Toyota says is the highest for any SUV crossover or MPV on the market.

Normal, Power, Eco and EV driving modes are available. The car will go on sale by the end of 2011. Pricing has not been announced.

Finally Toyota also introduced the Prius’ little sister called the Prius c. At this point the c is just a concept, though Toyota plans to bring it to market in the first half of 2012. It is a diminutive car smaller than the Prius but that still retains four doors and seating for five.  The c stand for city -centric and the car will offer high mileage cordless hybrid driving at a budget price.

Source (Toyota)