Chevy volt fail, production halted for now.

[Hugo Drax]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46608011

No shit. Car has no market, it's overpriced and not a good value.

 

[Ronstang]

I have been following this car since it was announced with guarded enthusiasm and optimism. I have spoken with GM representatives at every new car show each January since it was announced to follow exactly what the car was going to be and how it was proceeding. From what I was told over and over again by GM directly they failed to deliver what was promised and the thing is expensive.

When I was told what the car was going to be my first thought was "did GM find a way to defy the laws of physics? The simple answer is no. Whether I was lied to or GM just couldn't make work what they were claiming I will never know.

 

[EagleKeeper]

article stating that you get impressive range over other gas vehicles.

When I looked at one last Oct, they were claiming 400 per tank of fuel.

And you had to recharge for 8 hrs min. But GM wanted an additional $$ for you to have a charging outlet at your house.

At $33K+ the extra $3-5K buys an awful lot of gas, even at $5/gallon.
1K gallons of fuel at 30mpg for a regular fuel competitor is 2 years of normal driving to even catch up to the Volt.

And do I want to leave a vehicle at the dealer ever other day for a plug and play? Heck no.
at 100 miles/charge, that is what most would have to do to run pure electrons.

 

[fskimospy]

I knew as soon as they announced the price that it had no chance.

 

[Doppel]

I have also followed this car a lot. The problem is very simply it is too expensive. It is a good car, its owners like it, but they are wealthy, the majority make well over a hundred thousand bucks.

The car needs to come down in the ballpark of $10,000 (and that's still including the $7500 tax credit) to really start moving huge units--then it can compete with the Prius lineup. Until it comes down greatly in price it will be nothing more than a niche product of interest to a very limited market of buyers.

When I saw how sales were shaping up with this last year I decided that my prediction is the Volt will be cancelled in the relatively near future (couple years perhaps). That is a very stretch prediction--I may very well be wrong. But I am positive I'm not wrong about how they need to slash the price if they ever want to seriously move product (unless, of course, gas hits $7 or something stupid).

 

[MovingTarget]

Honestly, I'm not surprised. Don't get me wrong - I like the Volt. Its a great car. I want one myself, but there's no way that I would be able to afford one. New cars in general have gone up too much in price considering that wages have been stagnant for quite some time.

 

[Anarchist420]

Yet another reason as to why Government Motors should've failed (more than 1k workers were laid off Obama didn't even save the American auto industry. He just saved one of the big three. That's hardly saving an industry.

 

[rpanic]

If it came down 10k I would go for it. What is the cost for quick charger with installation?

 

[PottedMeat]

If it came down 10k I would go for it.

why don't they do this? they made a big profit this quarter(?) and can take the losses while people buy them cheap and spread the word. gm will need more parts driving the real price down eventually.

 

[cybrsage]

I agree with the common sentiment here...it was too expensive. I travel an average of 2 miles to work and back (ok, 1 mile to the park and ride for the bus, then 1 mile back to my house), so I am very interested in electric cars. The Volt is nice because you can go to the grocery store, do some extra errands, and go home without any worries at all.

But the price...wow.

 

[Doppel]

Drop by 10k they'd take a bath and cannot afford it. I think the quick charger is another $1500-2000 installed.

 

[Dulanic]

Little more range and a price drop and it can be successful.

 

[Craig234]

Members of a technical forum should be shocked that new technology/early adopters have it expensive before it gradually drops in price.

 

[Lemon law]

Maybe we can say the same is true for the early automotive era. But the fact is and remains, before the advent of the gasoline engine, "Gasoline" , was a worthless bi-product from the refining of oil. Too volatile for use in home lighting or home heating, gasoline was a waste product in order to get fuel oil and Kerosine. At about the same time the diesel engine was invented but not really practical for small cars. But earlier cars were initially dominated by steam powered cars that could use any energy source. But never jumped the shark into mass production. That was up to Henry Ford and others as mass production and the start of a gasoline fuel chain.

But still, the key development was the gasoline distribution chain. Without that distribution chain, The chevy volt and propane powered cars will not be be practical. But if home generated solar power ever becomes practical it could change the equation.
Especially for folks like me, who may go to town maybe ounce a week, and let solar cells for free recharge my car. Or we can invest in a better electrical grid and Thorium powered nuclear reactors make electrically powered cars more practical with better battery technology.

 

[chucky2]

I agree with the common sentiment here...it was too expensive. I travel an average of 2 miles to work and back (ok, 1 mile to the park and ride for the bus, then 1 mile back to my house), so I am very interested in electric cars. The Volt is nice because you can go to the grocery store, do some extra errands, and go home without any worries at all.

But the price...wow.

You don't buy a Volt for that. You buy a Volt so you can do that, and take the long trip to grandma's house every other weekend. The Volt gives you the extra range a Leaf doesn't have, and isn't a Prius.

That said, the Volt is way too much money. They need to get these battery prices way down before we can start dropping gas based cars.

 

[Karl Agathon]

I knew as soon as they announced the price that it had no chance.

People are encouraged to buy these cars, yet they are priced much further out of the mainstream of the average car buyer. I dont understand? What is the incentive?

 

[Nintendesert]

So how is the President going to buy one now? :'(

 

[chucky2]

The incentive is they buy cars from Government Motors. And it's a hybrid-like car, so it automatically is awesome.

 

[boomerang]

Illustration removed.

 

[Imp]

I saw my first one ever last week... Biggest city in the country...

 

[the DRIZZLE]

I'll give GM some credit because the volt does have some pretty neat technology. However, the fact that people always miss is that there are diminishing returns to improving mileage. For example, a car that gets 20mpg will cost you $2400 a year in gas (@$4/gal) if you drive 12k a year. A 30mpg car will cost you $1600, and a 40mpg will cost you $1200. Considering that there are a number of very good ICE cars that get over 30mpg, mileage just isn't that big of a factor once you reach that threshold.

I do understand the appeal of these plugin and series hybrids if you mostly make short trips but the most you can possibly save under optimal conditions is around $1000/year once you factor in the cost of electricity.

 

[werepossum]

Members of a technical forum should be shocked that new technology/early adopters have it expensive before it gradually drops in price.

Except it isn't new technology. Toyota has been making the Prius since 1997 and is on the third generation. One of the advantages of coming late to the party is avoiding the cost mistakes of pioneers, allowing you to make a superior product at a lower cost. Instead, Government Motors made an arguably inferior product at a much higher price.

I'll give GM some credit because the volt does have some pretty neat technology. However, the fact that people always miss is that there are diminishing returns to improving mileage. For example, a car that gets 20mpg will cost you $2400 a year in gas (@$4/gal) if you drive 12k a year. A 30mpg car will cost you $1600, and a 40mpg will cost you $1200. Considering that there a number of very good ICE cars that get over 30mpg, mileage just isn't that big of a factor once you reach that threshold.

I do understand the appeal of these plugin and series hybrids if you mostly make short trips but the most you can possibly save under optimal conditions is around $1000/year once you factor in the cost of electricity.

Very good analysis.

Personally I'm holding out for an American-built plug-in hybrid 5-passenger 4WD SUV capable of towing 1,000 lbs and offering a five year pay back. Preferably a Ford.

 

[Doppel]

I'll give GM some credit because the volt does have some pretty neat technology. However, the fact that people always miss is that there are diminishing returns to improving mileage. For example, a car that gets 20mpg will cost you $2400 a year in gas (@$4/gal) if you drive 12k a year. A 30mpg car will cost you $1600, and a 40mpg will cost you $1200. Considering that there a number of very good ICE cars that get over 30mpg, mileage just isn't that big of a factor once you reach that threshold.

I do understand the appeal of these plugin and series hybrids if you mostly make short trips but the most you can possibly save under optimal conditions is around $1000/year once you factor in the cost of electricity.

Yep, you save more money going from 25 mpg to 50 mpg than you do going from 50 mpg to 1000 mpg

 

[The-Noid]

This is a copy of a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago. Doesn't seem shocking what is happening with the volt.

From the Environmental and Science Technology Journal (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es903729a) a study was done by the American Chemical Society. FTA: a diesel car that uses less than 3.9L per 100 km (which many do, Volkswagon Polo, Skoda, Subaru, etc.) has less environmental impact than a FULL electric car, let alone the Chevy Volt, which obviously has an internal combustion engine. This was also done with European power plants which obviously have significantly more nuclear and hydro electric generation. (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation which aggregates the CIA world factbook.)

Based on the difference in power generation in the United States (more fossil fuel based) and the fact that the Volt is also internal combustion, this would put the needed MPG much lower (30 or 40?) to have a lower environmental impact by using a Diesel.

The battery mining/processing in itself is extremely detrimental to the environment (note: the study only estimated the end of life disposal of batteries, it could be much worse). My point all along is that more efficient cars is a better way than creating the Volt product.

There is a future in electric cars but it relies around a major change in the grid in the United States and also the ability to recycle and mine Li-Ion batteries needs to be improved immensely. In the mean time the sales numbers are a manifestation of the fact that the Volt needs a major overhaul.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

Yep, you save more money going from 25 mpg to 50 mpg than you do going from 50 mpg to 1000 mpg

The irony is that hybrids make a lot more sense for bigger, less efficient vehicles since the starting fuel consumption is so much higher. Making compact and subcompact hybrids is doing it backwards. Of course a lot of times the family SUV gets driven less than 10 miles per day anyway.