Volt Sleeps With the Fishes

[AZCamaroFan]

I wasn't going to comment any further about this but i learned some new information tonight via Bill O'Reilly:
1. The Volt catches on fire
2. It will fry you if you drive down the street
3. When his guest brought up the Prius Bill replied 'No one buys the Prius either."

[camaro-dreamer]

Apparently Volt>Fisker Karma

[PAUL SS]

Originally Posted by AZCamaroFan

I wasn't going to comment any further about this but i learned some new information tonight via Bill O'Reilly:
1. The Volt catches on fire2. It will fry you if you drive down the street
3. When his guest brought up the Prius Bill replied 'No one buys the Prius either."

That's going to be a huge problem, how will anybody get out of a Volt within three weeks of an accident to avoid being burned?

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by PAUL SS

That's going to be a huge problem, how will anybody get out of a Volt within three weeks of an accident to avoid being burned?

This is breaking story from Automotive News

Washington DC At a hastily assembled late night press conference the NTHSA made a stunning announcement. "Based on extensive research we have found gasoline is a highly flammable substance that can burst into flames on impact. This study was initiated over a series of fires dating back to the Ford Pinto."



Effective immediately by decree of the NHTSA gasoline has been banned. Based on research from the Chevrolet Volt we have found that if you try hard enough you can create the conditions to cause a fire. Effective immediately by decree of the NHTSA all forms of electric vehicles including golf cart have been banned.

The methane gas released by horse and cows is highly flammable. Effective immediately by decree of the NHTSA the use of horse and cows has been banned. The methane risk spurred additional research into human released methane gas. Effective immediately by decree of the NHTSA gathering of human beings in numbers larger than three has been banned in closed areas of less that 1,000 square feet.

[Brokinarrow]

Originally Posted by AZCamaroFan

I wasn't going to comment any further about this but i learned some new information tonight via Bill O'Reilly:
1. The Volt catches on fire
2. It will fry you if you drive down the street
3. When his guest brought up the Prius Bill replied 'No one buys the Prius either."

i hate our media outlets... i hate them SOOOO much

[motorhead]

I've enjoyed the spirited debate in this thread. Maybe the volt is one of the reasons that the government wants gas to be at european levels.

[Camaroshark]

Originally Posted by camaro-dreamer

Apparently Volt>Fisker Karma

Tax money from the US went to that abysmal failure too.

[Camaroshark]

Originally Posted by motorhead

I've enjoyed the spirited debate in this thread. Maybe the volt is one of the reasons that the government wants gas to be at european levels.

I think this administration's idea is to make the price of current energy alternatives artificially high so that the alternative, "green" options don't seem so absurdly priced.

It's wrong-headed. Once those other alternatives are developed to the point where they become affordable, the market will adopt them. We won't need to subsidize them directly via cost to all consumers. The public doesn't need the further debt burden.

The Volt is a prime example of this. We are directing taxpayer dollars to subsidize the Volt. Bad move -- and not the function of our government or the taxation system... never was intended to be so.

Putting that aside, The Volt has had fire issues, even catching fire when not plugged in / charging. It's also had issues not making the miles per charge that were spec'd. It's also $45,000

When one looks at an option like a Nissan Sentra at $15,000 MSRP (base 4cyl model) whose average annual fuel cost is $1,652 (I did an article on this) per the USGOV fuel standards web site, it's not hard to see that a car that can tweak 28-32 mpg and save you $25,000 on the price is a far better alternative. You have 15 years of fuel to buy before you hit the price of a Volt. The insurance is cheaper on a non-hybrid to boot.

So the problem with the Volt isn't the inherent concept. It's the problems combined with the cost to manufacture and cost to the consumer. It's completely out of market for a "possible" and very slight perceived fuel / operating cost advantage.

[el ess A]

When I see Corsa come out with a Volt catback system, THEN I'll be convinced the car has staying power. Until then, it's not worth the money.

Real or perceived, the public's view of EV isn't positive. Maybe if AMC Pacer fans would have stuck together to defend that car, maybe they wouldn't have seen sales drop off a cliff. Oh, wait...it didn't matter.

[PAUL SS]

The Volt is not the be all end all, and neither is the Prius. They are the beginings, you have to start somewhere and allow the technology to evolve and advance. To give up on electric cars now would be a big mistake. What If the Wright Brothers gave up on flying or Don Garlits gave up on a rear engine dragster? You have to start somewhere and learn and improve.

[Lou_Dorchen]

Originally Posted by PAUL SS

To give up on electric cars now would be a big mistake. What If the Wright Brothers gave up on flying or Don Garlits gave up on a rear engine dragster?

The difference is that since the dawn of time man has wanted to fly and there is a proven market for racing. Americans just don't want electric cars.

Originally Posted by el ess X

Real or perceived, the public's view of EV isn't positive.

Correct. And neither technology nor engineering/reliability issues (real or perceived) matter either. If they were the deciding factors in the American market, BetaMax would have crushed VHS. Mac would have a much larger market share then Microsoft Windows. Time Warner Cable and their garbage receivers and crappy service would be bankrupt. AOL would have never made hundreds of billions of dollars. No matter how ahead of their time they are, or how well they are designed and manufactured, or what companies make them, the electric car just cannot survive in the American free market.

[Brokinarrow]

Originally Posted by Lou_Dorchen

The difference is that since the dawn of time man has wanted to fly and there is a proven market for racing. Americans just don't want electric cars.

Speak for yourself buddy. I'd love to have an electric car, so long as I can travel over 300 miles per charge and get a full charge in 15 minutes. Once electric cars can do that and still be affordable you'll see a lot of people begin to switch over. The automobile itself had a pretty crappy reputation when it first started. They were unreliable, you had to hire a mechanic to stay at your garage because it was constantly breaking down, they weren't fast, etc etc. Eventually the tech gets worked out and becomes common place though.

[Lou_Dorchen]

Originally Posted by Brokinarrow

Speak for yourself buddy. I'd love to have an electric car, so long as I can travel over 300 miles per charge and get a full charge in 15 minutes. Once electric cars can do that and still be affordable you'll see a lot of people begin to switch over. The automobile itself had a pretty crappy reputation when it first started. They were unreliable, you had to hire a mechanic to stay at your garage because it was constantly breaking down, they weren't fast, etc etc. Eventually the tech gets worked out and becomes common place though.

Rewriting history isn't the answer either.

The Ford Model T was introduced in 1908, and the assembly line was implemented to meet demand in 1913. Developement of said assembly line had actually been going on for years even before 1913. Ford couldn't make Model Ts fast enough to meet demand. Contrast that to the Volt which has so far undersold predictions so badly that you now have workers at the Volt assembly lines being sent home for 5 weeks due to lack of demand.

If everyone that shares your 'I would love to buy a Volt myself, but....' attitude actually bought Volts themselves, it would have surpassed expectations instead of failing to meet them. Since we are talking about why electric cars dont sell, I'm curious, why didn't YOU buy a Volt?

[JusticePete]

Batteries charge very quickly and retain capacity, thanks to new structure

Battery technology is the key to the long term success of the electric vehicle and this U of I rapid charge technology maybe the key, or not. Until then the Volt is a great solution for those motivated by technology or ecology.

I am some where to the right of Attila the Hun according to my wife. Less government is better government. I can see that many of the technologies we take for granted has been driven by government funding. How many of us have a Teflon pan in our kitchens? The Space Race in the 60's drove technology and the technology industry

International economics play a role in the success of the Volt. The Japanese government has been providing Toyota funding for hybrid and electric vehicles as a key technologies that will lead to increased manufacturing in Japan. The Japanese government government writes Toyota a check to cover the loses they incur with the development and sale of the Prius. It isn't quite that direct. The end result is we have a foreign government selling subsidized vehicles in the US and we expect companies like GM to compete with them?

GM, Ford and Chrysler have inflicted plenty of damage to themselves with poor decisions. Those have been compounded by our tax and trade polices, over-regulation of industry and the environmental policies. Suffice it to say that USA based manufacturing has been crippled by far more than bad decisions made at the corporate level.

Back to electric vehicles and the Volt. One of the biggest challenges GM faced with the Volt is too much available torque. To squeeze every last mile out of the batteries weight watching is critical. Light weight parts are key. The light weight shafts were shredded by the available torque on hard launches. Torque management and stronger shafts resolved this. It leads to my interest in electric vehicles. If the rapid charge technology from the U of I isn't the solution, there will be another. When longer life or rapid charge batteries are available then electric powered vehicles become very exciting. Instant maximum torque