Why has the Volt taken so long ?

[Antoni Scott]

I'm very excited about the Volt. I will definitely buy one. Recharging the batteries at home makes a lot of sense. Since coal powers 50% of all generating stations, good ol' home grown coal beats imported oil, any day. I'd gladly pay any coalminer what he want's rather than send my money to oil countries that vow to destroy us all.

The question is, why has the Volt taken so long ? When I get mine ( and I definitely drive less than 40 miles a day) buying a gallon of gas will be like going to the dentist. I can't wait to see is how the oil companies will justify the high price when no one uses the product. I hope I live to see the day.

Let's hope GM is behind the 8 ball. Their track record has been dismal so far. I won't buy another car until I can plug it in. Right now I have a year 2000 Saturn SC1. By design or by accident (probably by accident) the car gets an amazing 40 mpg on the highway, over and over. Today, eight years later, the new Saturn's get worse mileage while the price of gas has more than doubled.

Antoni

[Texas]

Welcome to the forum Antoni. Believe it or not it takes 3 -5 years to design ANY car from scratch. Even just an old fashion ICE model. The list of tasks would probably give you a heart attack. From marketing studies to crash test certification. Things sure have gotten more difficult from the good old days of building something in the garage and having it out on the market in a few months. Huh? Well, sniff around the forums and you will get a small taste of all the different issues people come up with. Glad to hear you won't buy anything but a plug-in. Don't forget to tell your friends.

[BigRedFed]

Let's hope GM is behind the 8 ball. Their track record has been dismal so far. I won't buy another car until I can plug it in. Right now I have a year 2000 Saturn SC1. By design or by accident (probably by accident) the car gets an amazing 40 mpg on the highway, over and over. Today, eight years later, the new Saturn's get worse mileage while the price of gas has more than doubled.

I dunno. I had a 2000 SC1 and it too got better gas mileage than I ever thought it would. I had to drive it down to DC alot going over hills and through traffic and was averaging around 32 mpg w/ All weather tires. The thing was a little beast. Then I got the Honda Civic hybrid and gave it to my niece and she wrecked it. Ah well. Wouldn't mind having another one of those.

As for why it got such great mileage, I think it was probably due to it's aero dynamics which were probably more of an accident than by intent. I think they wanted the SC1 to look sporty, but be a family vehicle at the same time. Do to the sporty "look" it had create aero.

Finally, as for why it has taken so long to get something like the volt out, it's all about the Benjamins. If you've never watched it, watch "Who Killed The Electric Car". It boils down to, it's all of our faults, the oil companies, the car companies, the government and the consumers. We all allowed it to happen. Now GM is doing it right and we will soon be on our way to a better freedom.

[Jim I]

Antoni:

Texas is right.....

The amount of time it takes to design, test, spec out all the thousands of individual parts, get bids, build test units, get government approval, build a new or remodel an existing assembly plant, train the workers, train the service techs, prepare for necessary spare parts and documentation for 4,500 Chevy dealerships, etc, etc, etc would just overwhelm you.

This car was announced as a concept in Jan, 2007. It is slated to be available for sale by the end of 2010. In the car world, and for a car with this much different technology, that is REALLY fast!

[BillR]

If you've never watched it, watch "Who Killed The Electric Car". It boils down to, it's all of our faults, the oil companies, the car companies, the government and the consumers. We all allowed it to happen. Now GM is doing it right and we will soon be on our way to a better freedom.

I've never seen the movie, but to me that is probably the most fair assessment that I have heard. Maybe GM didn't pursue the EV-1 as much as they could have, but I'm sure in the era of $1.25 per gallon gas, millions of people were not standing in line to get a vehicle with only 125 to 140 miles of range (maybe less with the AC on).

To Jim I,

I am not an automotive engineer, but I have seen an automobile assembly line in operation, and I would venture that considerable man-hours and greenbacks have to go into just designing and building the machinery that makes an assembly line operate.

[Antoni Scott]

I think everyone is giving GM a pass (except BigRedFred) . They don't deserve it. GM has acted with contemptuous disregard for the American people. The EV1 could have freed us from the stranglehold of imported oil 15 years ago when gas was a third the cost, but somehow GM decided people weren't interested in it. Yes, by all means watch "Who killed the Electric car?" but have your blood pressure medication close by. This is very, very sleazy. Even today, GM's CEO. Bob Lutz seemed about as unenthusiastic aboult the Volt as was pres.Bush signing legislation to build that wall to keep illegal aliens out.
Either way, we are in a mess. The Volt is better than the EV1, but the question begs asking. Who can afford a $40,000 Volt when a $15,000 Ford Focus gets 35 mpg ? You can drive a long way with $25,000 worth of gas. The Volt's high price tag will ensure us that few will but it and continue to keep us addicted to oil .
Antoni Scott

[willdryden]

I think everyone is giving GM a pass (except BigRedFred) . They don't deserve it. GM has acted with contemptuous disregard for the American people. The EV1 could have freed us from the stranglehold of imported oil 15 years ago when gas was a third the cost, but somehow GM decided people weren't interested in it. Yes, by all means watch "Who killed the Electric car?" but have your blood pressure medication close by. This is very, very sleazy. Even today, GM's CEO. Bob Lutz seemed about as unenthusiastic aboult the Volt as was pres.Bush signing legislation to build that wall to keep illegal aliens out.
Either way, we are in a mess. The Volt is better than the EV1, but the question begs asking. Who can afford a $40,000 Volt when a $15,000 Ford Focus gets 35 mpg ? You can drive a long way with $25,000 worth of gas. The Volt's high price tag will ensure us that few will but it and continue to keep us addicted to oil .
Antoni Scott

1 You have obviously not seen some of my posts. I have been highly critical of GM in some of the posts. I hope I am wrong.

2 Bob Lutz is not GM's CEO. The CEO is Rick Wagoner; Lutz is GM vice-chairman. Lutz was CEO of Exide batteries right before their bankrupcy. Sure shows he knows a lot about batteries doesn't it?

3. What makes you think the Volt is better than the EV-1? It might be if it is the only car you own, but for a second car I would prefer the lower maintaince of the EV-1 over the Volt.

[Altazi]

2 Bob Lutz is not GM's CEO. The CEO is Rick Wagoner; Lutz is GM vice-chairman. Lutz was CEO of Exide batteries right before their bankrupcy. Sure shows he knows a lot about batteries doesn't it?

Well, it shows he knows a lot about bankruptcy . . .

[Grasshopper]

Lutz's strengths are in design and marketing. He should not have been CEO at all, it's just not his strength.

What the Volt needs is engineering, design and marketing - so Lutz seems to be well suited to his current role.

[LampCord]

I think everyone is giving GM a pass (except BigRedFred) . They don't deserve it. GM has acted with contemptuous disregard for the American people. The EV1 could have freed us from the stranglehold of imported oil 15 years ago when gas was a third the cost, but somehow GM decided people weren't interested in it.

OK, once again, in harmony...

The EV-1 cost $80,000 to manufacture. That would have made it one of the most expensive passenger cars on the market.

Comparable to a fully loaded Audi A8. If you can afford an $80k car you're not really concerned about $4 / gallon gas. Nobody was going to pay $80,000 for an economy car.

I don't know why people have so much trouble wrapping their head around that simple fact. I guess its just easier to believe in conspiracies than to look at the numbers.

Maybe GM is to blame for not doing a better job of publicizing the actual cost. Maybe they were embarrassed that it cost that much. Maybe they didn't want their investors to know they wasted that much time and money on a car that never had a prayer.

I know "Who killed the electric car" is partially to blame for this. While it was a very interesting 'documentary' they conveniently left out some important facts. Like the price. Instead, they used anecdotal data and well crafted interviews to imply shady behavior that was completely unsubstantiated. But I guess that sells tickets.

GM is not evil. They are just a car company trying to build what people want for a price they can afford. If that makes them evil, then every car company on the planet is evil.

I'm not giving GM a free pass. I'm just treating them like every other company. What I'm not doing is singling them out for criticism that could just as easily be levied against every other car company that didn't build an $80,000 car that no one would buy.

But I guess every other car company didn't have an attack piece disguised as a documentary made about them.

What GM is doing now is building the most innovative new technology in the entire automotive industry. Every other company, Nissan, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Mercedes and a bunch of fly by nights you've never heard of are scrambling to keep up. Grudgingly.

The fact of the matter is, if GM wasn't building the Volt right now, it would probably be 5-10 years before anyone else would have even tried.

Toyota wouldn't even look at the new battery technologies until GM started this project.