Chevy Volt Tidbit

Well, there was this EV-1...
Then there was the Volt concept with 40 mile AER, about 50 mpg cs mode, nicely under 30,000. Now: 40 mile AER perhaps, then 37ish cs mode, 41,000 + 20,000 markup.

Then there is the fact that the Prius and Camry are both larger than Volt: former are 5-passenger mid-size, latter is 4-passenger compact. Volt is heavier.

Then there is the fact that some gas use will be required to maintain lubrication and so forth; it is enforced by the ECU, so never a drop is not going to happen. No material use for some, I'll grant you that.

All that said, I am happy to see volt nearing production, and hope it succeeds. Maybe it will lead to "lesser" or "less is more" models later that don't put forth the experience of a 265 HP V6 with nearly 300 ft-lb of torque. I don't want to have sex with it, just obtain transportation in an economical fashion.

 

I've seen a Volt in person at an auto-show and it looked much larger than my Prius.. but granted, I've never seen the two side by side.

 

It is bigger than your gen1. And probably longer with bigger tires than the gen2/3. But smaller on the inside than gen2/3, especially in cargo. 20 percent fewer passengers at 150% of the price.

They should hire me to come up with the ad campaign...

 

For the bulk of the customers that will have one or two people in the car does it really matter that it seats 4 instead of 5? I doubt it.

But the reason people are comparing it to the prius gas milage is that is what gm originally had a goal of. Then they put in an absolutely horible choice of engine. The gas milage will be lower than gm speced not because the 50 goal was bad, but because the choice of the cruize engine with the turbo removed was bad. IMHO it is likely gm hasn't been talking about the numbers because people might have been screaming about poor engine choice in time to change it.

The mpg in cs mode is not very important. GM by keeping the number secret has raised the importance and led to all this speculation. IMHO bad move from a marketing POV, but does gm really know how to market this car. It is important to there future as a halo vehicle with technology they can move to other cars. They just need to get the number out there and stop the talk. GM said that they got more interest when they announced the price, and the lease rate is far bellow the ev1 in a much more capable car. Those driving 10K-15K miles per year on leases are not going to use the CS mode often. Those prius drivers that go 100 miles per day will not be trading in there cars, and likely would complain about a better handling, quieter car anyway. Get the number out there, check out sales volume, then do away with the poor engine choice. But that is just my opinion.

 

Here's why you are dead wrong on engine choice, austin: With a more economical engine they would lose a percentage of those customers who climb pike's peak on a typical day.

/facetiousness off

 

lol. Yes it is getting almost as much horsepower as the engine in the prius II, and has the benefit to the customers of using premium gasoline.

 

That feel is only good under 30 MPH. Above 50 MPH, it will feel like a slug. Nissan is claiming Leaf is faster than VQ engine equipped vehicles at low speed acceleration.

 

The limited person and cargo room might be a problem for people considering it as their only car. Remember, these are the same people who rationalize the Volt over a Leaf because of the (expected) rare ICE use requirement.

And in two+ car families, the ICE option is even less relevant.

I posited the PHEV vs BEV question to my wife, who tends to reflect mainstream opinion annoyingly often. She picked the PHEV, and essentially described 'range anxiety' as the reason. Since I disagree, I probed further and by the end of discussion she was mostly convinced.

So from that data sample of one, I can imagine GM's 'range anxiety' FUD resonating with undecided buyers, but as EV experience grows, the Leaf will have an easier time in marketplace.

Mostly I am just pissed off that so many taxpayer dollars will be spent by GM on marketing what is essentially FUD.

 

I wasn't aware that "everybody" was expecting the Volt to get Prius fuel economy. What many of us were expecting, was for the Volt to live up to ANY of the initial promises. This car was going to be cheap. This car was going to be high-performance (acceleration). And it was going to get exceptiona gas mileage in CS mode. Early on GM regularly hinted at 50 mpg, and never complained when anybody reported it as such.

Compare all that to what's being offered up, and you'll get an idea of why there's a bit of "bashing." Are you found now?!

 

Too lazy to put in the Camry numbers now .... but Volt is made for shorter, fatter people

 

THIS is MY favorite Volt tidbit:

"GreenBriefs: Chevy Dealers Intending to Mark Up Volts, Honda Expands Line of Solar-Generator Products, Nissan to Help Develop 'CO2-Free Island'" Green Car Advisor

.

 

I have no stopwatch handy but timed it w/my iPhone's 4 stopwatch (part of the native Clock app) and it came out to the 8.x range. I did this more than once.

Sorry John, see above. I'm not familiar w/Pinnacle Studio, but is it possible that the frame rate being used by the software is wrong?

Beyond this, I also found http://gm-volt.com/2010/08/25/gm-de...staining-fuel-efficiency-is-less-than-30-mpg/ and http://gm-volt.com/2010/08/26/gm-sa...ng-mode-mpg-when-final-epa-label-is-released/. It just seems like they're continuing to evade the question. Sigh...

They surely had numbers in their 1776 mile "Freedom Drive". Or, just run the EPA test cycle w/a depleted big battery. Just tell us what it got!

 

Good lord! If the dealers are able to get away with this and they all do it together, then the Volt will fail. Geez.

I really hope GM puts the smackdown on such dealers.

 

I'd trust the original source file measured in HD video-edit software before playback through a browser plug-in, especially since you can mark exact frames to let it do the measure rather than using a stopwatch.

Whatever the case, the 10 seconds from Prius hasn't ever been a problem. So, I'd just give it a checkmark for meeting design criteria... unlike Volt not delivering a PZEV emission rating and not being affordably priced.
.

 

While I agree that 10 seconds is definitely "adequate" it does NOT meet the design criteria. This car was supposed to be cheap AND fast, and with great CS mpg. The only design creteria the Volt has met is that it has some battery range.

 

It won't meet realworld EV range neither. I just read an engineering doc said it would get close to 25 Miles.

 

Darrell,

Can you guess what battery performance will be like in freezing winter compared to 80F summer ? I ask you as all-around EV nut, even though I know you have lead a sheltered climate existence ;-)

 

Well, the thing I do get here is heat. We get several weeks well over 100F here each summer.... most recently just last week. Ug. I (literally) passed out while riding my bike last week, but the Rav kept going just fine....

There are examples of my car (talking about the Rav4EV here) in hotter places than here... and far colder places than here. Some of the cars are regularly operated in the snow. But the thing is... I'm using NiMH. I have experience with that chemistry, and with the lead acid that was in my EV1 and my Ranger. Short answer: Lead acid sucks in the temp extremes. NiMH is way better, but not great. Li-Ion should be superior in the cold... and probably about equal in the heat.

Bottom line: Li-ion range will suffer in extreme heat as energy will need to be used to keep the pack cool. Range will suffer in extreme cold since no battery chemistry is as efficient in the cold as it is in "mild" temps. But you asked freezing to 80F. In that range, I think both the Volt and the Leaf will do very well - meaning no huge range hit.