Who are they kidding with 40 miles?

[jonwa]

The Volt gets advertised as having a 40 mile range.
It's predecessor the EV1 was directly based on a prototype vehicle created by AeroVironment called the GM Impact.
It got 160 mile range back in the 90s.
There are companies converting the Scion Xb to electric and getting 140 - 180 mile range. It's a four seat non-aerodynamic brick.

With the resources GM has, they had better figure out how to create a four seat vehicle that Americans would drive, that gets at least 200 miles on a single electric charge, or just give up now.

[MrBogey]

The Volt gets advertised as having a 40 mile range.
It's predecessor the EV1 was directly based on a prototype vehicle created by AeroVironment called the GM Impact.
It got 160 mile range back in the 90s.
There are companies converting the Scion Xb to electric and getting 140 - 180 mile range. It's a four seat non-aerodynamic brick.

With the resources GM has, they had better figure out how to create a four seat vehicle that Americans would drive, that gets at least 200 miles on a single electric charge, or just give up now.

It's battery size. They have a smaller battery so they can afford a gas engine's weight. That's why this is a RE-EV and not an EV. That's why this has a 600 mile range and not 200 with quick gas refueling making it even further.

[DaV8or]

The Volt gets advertised as having a 40 mile range.
It's predecessor the EV1 was directly based on a prototype vehicle created by AeroVironment called the GM Impact.
It got 160 mile range back in the 90s.
There are companies converting the Scion Xb to electric and getting 140 - 180 mile range. It's a four seat non-aerodynamic brick.

With the resources GM has, they had better figure out how to create a four seat vehicle that Americans would drive, that gets at least 200 miles on a single electric charge, or just give up now.

How about the industrial giant Mitsubishi? They're only getting 100 miles out of the Miev, should they give up now too? I guess these Scion modders have it all figured out. They are EV geniuses, whoever they are. 180 EV miles out of heavy steel brick and the best Tesla can do is 200 miles out of an expensive high tech lightweight roadster. Pretty lousy for over $100k, I guess they should throw in the towel too.

Let me guess, all car companies should be building four to five passenger electric cars with 200 mile range, for around $25k and available yesterday or they should just all quit. After all, the EV has been around 100 years and we all know the technology is there, just mean old GM and their big oil company cohorts won't let us have it right? The EV-1 was nearly perfect in every way, maybe too perfect, so we were denied. Given advances in technology in the last 15 years, a 200 mile EV-2 should be a piece of cake, right?

I suggest you research EVs a little deeper, find out their limitations and the technical reasons why and you will start to understand better the reasons why we are where we are and be able to appreciate the beauty of Volt and what GM is trying to do.

[kubel]

Welcome to the forums!

I agree, range is low, especially compared to the range one could expect from a gas car. But all-electric range costs money, lots of money. GM realizes that 200-mile range is not affordable, so they settle for what most Americans drive (and can afford to pay for), which is under 40-miles per day. Then they add a genset for extended range driving to fill in during those non-average trips.

I happen to think the idea of low-range EREVs is a perfect solution for the transition from gas to electric. Right now, 40-miles is all that's affordable. But as more and more cars adopt partial AER vehicles, the cost of batteries will drop.

[mwalsh]

I happen to think the idea of low-range EREVs is a perfect solution for the transition from gas to electric. Right now, 40-miles is all that's affordable. But as more and more cars adopt partial AER vehicles, the cost of batteries will drop.

Then perhaps it might be good to make the Volt retroactively BEV only by removing the ICE generator and installing a supplemental battery pack?

[Jason M. Hendler]

According to GM, EV1's cost $80,000 to produce, and given that the cost was due to the quantity of commoditized batteries, the price wasn't going to drop. GM has found a way to drop the price, use fewer batteries with better performance, to reduce size, weight and cost.

[Guy Incognito]

It's predecessor the EV1 was directly based on a prototype vehicle created by AeroVironment called the GM Impact.
It got 160 mile range back in the 90s.

The EV1 was a pure battery electric vehicle (BEV)
The Volt is a serial plug-in hybrid.
The Volt's potential maximum range is dependent on the size of its fuel tank.
The EV1's potential max range was dependent on the size and type of battery

There was an EV1 Series Hybrid Prototype, which would put it in the same category as the Volt, but only the prototype.

I was a fan of the EV1 jonwa, many of us feel its loss.

[Texas]

According to GM, EV1's cost $80,000 to produce, and given that the cost was due to the quantity of commoditized batteries, the price wasn't going to drop. GM has found a way to drop the price, use fewer batteries with better performance, to reduce size, weight and cost.

Didn't you just post that mass production lowers the price? You just made that argument in another post about hydrogen cars and how I was misleading people on their costs. The hydrogen car is a lot more complicated and uses far more exotic systems than the EV1 did. I wonder what your excuse will be when they tell us that they cannot produce the hydrogen car at competitive prices. I'm guessing you will talk about conspiracy theories, environmentalists, unexpected advances in other technologies, etc. Please admit one thing. Mass production does not always lower the price of a product to commercially acceptable levels. You can mass produce the following Ferrari F1 but with all of the special materials used and the quality needed how cheap do you really think you can get it? Will the resulting price make people choose this over something else that is on the market?

[kubel]

Then perhaps it might be good to make the Volt retroactively BEV only by removing the ICE generator and installing a supplemental battery pack?

For many people, that would work well. But most people that are considering the Volt don't want a second car for their average low-distance trips, they want a single car for all of their driving (even those non-average extended trips).

[RLM]

A little off the sense of this thread, but I drive a GM car (Buick) with guages for either instantaneous MPG or average MPG. These readouts are useful for developing efficient driving habits. Miles per KWH would be impractical since the reading would be infinity when coasting, but Watt hours per mile which I could strive to minimize would be appreciated.
PS I'll take my volt as a Buick Electra, thank you.