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2018 Volt no hype, no news , Why?

14K views 42 replies 29 participants last post by  somms 
#1 ·
I find it odd that nothing has come about in terms of the 2018 volt, it could only be 6 months away or over a year.

I am hoping they roll the Malibu hybrid exhaust heat recovery into the volts 1.5 engine.

Any speculation?

(Just because the bolt is coming out doesn't mean I don't want volt updates)
 
#2 ·
probably for the same reason their isn't any news on to 2018 Stingray.... GM wants to sell 2017's.

But I hear the 2019 Volt will be extra special.
 
#5 ·
I am hoping they roll the Malibu hybrid exhaust heat recovery into the volts 1.5 engine.
Personally, I would find it surprising if they roll that into the Volt. Why? Because it is diminishing returns: The Volt uses its engine much less often, and hence, there is less heat to recover with the same expense of added parts.
 
#9 ·
I would think the exact opposite, I run my motor everyday for 2 months a year when it's cold, Erdtt could be 100% more efficient with that tech (exhaust generated heat takes seconds)
It would also reduce engine wear on a motor that is cycled often
 
#6 ·
There will likely not be much change with the '18 Volt (new colors? Slight price adjustment? Rear vision camera mirror?....and we wouldn't hear much till early next summer anyways.

I believe it won't be till MY19 when there are some significant changes (facelift? Range bump? Price chop?)
 
#14 ·
Technically, Feb/Mar has been called a 1/2 year model. I have a couple. There is a 2004.5 and 2006.5. These had massive changes from their base year models. Why they didn't call the 2017 a 2016.5 is puzzling.

Normally a Model Year about late September. So by tradition, the 2017 Bolt is late, and the 2017 Volt was way early.
 
#8 ·
It is still 2016 and for most models, the 2017 is the "brand new" model, with the dealers still clearing out the left-over 2016 models. For an existing product, they usually don't say much about the next year's model's features until they have pretty much stopped production on the current year, usually in the summer. Don't want dealers to be stuck with too much old inventory.

My instinct is that any significant changes will be in the battery chemistry and assembly to further cut cost/improve profit. Could mean a lower MSRP to offer it at the Prius Prime price point. With the Bolt out and long-range EV's from several others on-tap within a year, the Volt will have to compete more aggressively against other plug-in hybrids rather than against BEV's.
 
#11 ·
The Volt is due for a mid-life kicker in 2019, hopefully more battery range but not much more. We keep having the will there be a Gen3 Volt or not discussion on this group. My feeling is that it won't happen if GM can get the Bolt, or some other BEV, to a 400 mile range. If they stall out and can't get past 300 miles of battery range they might consider a Gen3 Volt otherwise it will remain pretty much the same, with some incremental improvements, until they decide to kill it in favor a pure battery EVs.
 
#40 ·
I don't understand why people continue to think just because a Bolt is out that GM shouldn't make another BEV. Just like regular ICE cars, a variety of vehicles is necessary to make a successful line.

It would be thoroughly idiotic on any car manufacture's part to only offer a single vehicle of an EV line. GM isn't doing a very good job advertising their flagship EV nor their flagship hybrid. Which begs the question do they even care??

As far as I'm concerned, the Bolt is a compliance car in the strictest sense of the word.

I would like to see an all EV Volt. Their is absolutely no reason why a Volt can't be redesigned to be a new vehicle in a few years to be a BEV.
 
#13 ·
I think the magic number is 400 miles of range. A BEV with 400 miles or better, plus very fast charging (Tesla's do 120KVh/hour) completely solves the problem. 400 miles is a very long day, the longest day trip that I've taken this year is 375 miles which was a 13 hour day. The only way you do more than that in a day is pure super-highway driving. If you have fast chargers at highway rest stops a 400 mile car would need to stop after 5 hours (~300 miles) to charge for 30 minutes, that would get you another 200 miles of range, enough to get you to your destination. On that type of driving you want to stop at least that frequently just to stretch your legs. A BEV with 300 miles of range is marginal because the range between charging stops would 200 miles for people who like to play it safe, and no more then 250 miles for people who like to take their chances. I'm confident that there will be 400 mile BEVs by 2021, they might be pricey but they will be available. GM is likely to keep the Volt around in it's present form until 2025 which will handle the transition period until reasonably priced 400 mile BEVs are ubiquitous.
 
#18 · (Edited)
I just took a 2000 mile r/t from my home in southern Illinois to southern Maryland via I 70 thru DC. We split the trip into two 450 mile days. We spent the night in Zaneville Oh.

It was about all I could do. My 2016 Equinox made it without having to fuel, but we stopped twice at rest stops for maybe 10 minutes each and about 30 minutes for lunch. Door to door worked out to 9+ hours.

For fun I planned the trip using a Tesla S60 (with about a 175 mile range close to a Bolt) and using their SC network would have worked nicely as I could have timed my rest stops for enroute charges and then plan my RON near a SC IN Columbus. So in my mind it's more about charging infrastructure than paying for a HUGE battery and extra weight. Give me MORE PLUGS.
 
#20 ·
17s were premature and should last for a longer model year than usual.
No 18s until next autumn.
Every other model has only just released 17s.
 
#22 ·
Things will get interesting when the end of GM 200,000 vehicle EV federal tax credit looms ahead, and if the Bolt sales take off as speculated, that could well be happening toward the end of 2017, or mid-2018. At the same time, there are lots of us Volt owners who will switch over to Bolt, all of which would seem to logically push GM to do great things for the Volt, from pricing to technical improvement. It ought to be an interesting time!
 
#24 ·
At 53 miles, range is probably sufficient. It could be a tiny bit more, but a 100+ mile range Volt would waste money, space, and weight on batteries that are not used. Much of the time, you would be dragging around a lot of expensive heavy batteries for no reason. The advantage of the Volt is that although the engine and gas tank are a large fixed weight and cost, the gas tank provides a massive amount of extra energy and range when needed. 90% electric/10% gas is probably a good duty cycle to shoot for. If you get much above that, you should probably be looking at a pure EV. Below 50% or so, dump the batteries and just get a gas hybrid. The Volt is a machine tailor made for typical drivers. At the extremes, it doesn't make as much sense.
 
#26 ·
I think this is very well stated. My thoughts are that the Volt will be a thing of the past within 10 years for sure, probably sooner than that. BEV tech and range, scaling of production and corresponding reduction in cost will be such that a Volt EREV will be obsolete.
 
#25 ·
I think they are waiting until they finish running all the 2017 Volt commercials............Have they started running the 2017 Volt commercials yet?
 
#27 ·
I want to get at least one more piece of that $7500 tax credit money. I'd expect 2018 (and probably even 2019), to have only cosmetic or minor battery changes. But if that can allow a 6.6KW OBCM (most stations around Austin are 6.6KW and charge by time), power seats and an "RS" package (w/ 18x8 rims), I'd probably go for it. And the "RS" package I could always do myself with aftermarket parts (or Cruze parts!).
 
#28 ·
Wow, the impatience and want it now attitude of being nervous over 2018 models not being announced in 2016 kind of boggles my mind a bit. :)

Model year numbers have become a bit meaningless to me, especially when the changes from year to year are so minor after any big refresh. Leaks of the 2017 Ford C-Max are being ridiculed for the only design change being the headlights...

Used to be you couldn't get next calendar year's model cars until pretty much next year, now you can buy them 6+ months before. Marketing bull is all it is...one manufacturer decided they could get a jump on the others by announcing/releasing the next model year cars a month earlier than the rest...it just sort of escalated from there.
 
#34 ·
Is it just me or does it seem like 2017 is a very lllllllong production run? There are some '17s in my area that have been sitting on dealers' lots about a year! Anybody hearing anything new?
 
#36 ·
ZEV credits go down for 2018 model year EVs so we are likely stuck in 2017 until January 2018.

Volt usually changes model year somewhere between June- August 2018 will be January

Ah well hate the wait
 
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